An Inequitable Tale of 3 Franchises

With Wednesday's news that former Minnesota Vikings' center Mick Tingelhoff is the Pro Football Hall of Fame Senior Committee's lone 2015 player nominee, I had to call an immediate time-out to do a little historical research.
As a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro selection who never missed a start in 240 games, Tingelhoff certainly has HOF credentials, but whether or not he receives the required 80 percent vote next winter to earn enshrinement to Canton is actually sort of irrelevant for our purposes here.
Bear with me.
Here's a comparison -- a tale of the tape if you will -- of three franchises who entered the pro football ranks in the early 1960s:

• Seasons: Team A 54, Team B 54, Team C 53
• Regular-season win percentage: Team C .541 (431-365-10), Team A .526 (432-378-10), Team B .463 (376-436-8)
• Division titles: Team C 18, Team A 13, Team B 10
• Playoff berths: Team C 27, Team A 20, Team B 17
• Postseason win percentage: Team A .526 (20-18), Team B .483 (14-15), Team C .413 (19-27)
• Conference/league championship game appearances: Team A 9, Team C 9, Team B 8
• Super Bowl appearances: Team A 7, Team B 4, Team C 4
• Super Bowl wins: Team A 2, Team B 0, Team C 0
• Hall-of-Fame selections (primary contributors): Team C 12, Team B 9, Team A 4

Now here's a side-by-side-by-side snapshot of the same three franchises from 1983-98:

• Seasons: 16
• Regular-season win percentage: Team A .633 (161-93-1), Team B .535 (136-119), Team C .555 (141-114)
• Division titles: Team A 7, Team B 6, Team C 4
• Playoff  berths: Team A 10, Team B 9, Team C 9
• Postseason win percentage: Team A .636 (22-14), Team B .550 (11-9), Team C .357 (5-9)
• Conference championship game appearances: Team A 6, Team B 5, Team C 2
• Super Bowl appearances: Team A 5, Team B 4, Team C 0
• Super Bowl wins: Team A 2, Team B 0, Team C 0
• HOF primary contributors from this period: Team B 6, Team C 5, Team A 3

Your franchises revealed: A (Denver Broncos), B (Buffalo Bills) and C (you guessed it, the Vikings).
As for significance of the 1983-98 span, just call it the Elway Era.
And as for the point here, the above inequity between the numbers in categories 1-8 and No. 9 says all that needs to be said.