Editor's note: Our series on the greatest NFL teams of all time continues with its ninth installment and a look at the 1994 49ers. The greatest team ever will be revealed on Tuesday, May 15.

	Steve Young hugs the Lomardi Trophy after the 49ers' 49-26 Super Bowl win over the Chargers.

Wait a minute. Don't we already have a 49ers team of this era in here? Yes we do, but the criteria are what they are, which meant this team made the list. Besides, at least the quarterback was different.

Don't think for a minute that Steve Young wasn't acutely aware of the expectations of following Joe Montana, of the whispers that he wasn't really a winner given Montana's four Super Bowl wins and the fact that San Francisco didn't win the Super Bowl in Young's first three seasons as their starting quarterback.

While on the sidelines during the waning minutes of their Super Bowl XXIX win over the Chargers, Young asked his teammates to take the monkey off his back, and the ones around him obliged and pulled off the imaginary monkey. During one moment in the locker room after the game, Young was very emphatic that no one could ever take this championship away. Steve Young is a bright person and a gifted athlete, but he's human like the rest of us.

	1994 49ers
	Record: 13-3 Points scored/allowed: 505/296 Adjusted power index: +6.27 Opponents' record: 116-124 (.483)* Record against teams with winning records: 4-2 Points scored/allowed against teams with winning records: 161/109 *For all of these opponents' records, games against this team are excluded.

One neat thing about the Power Index is that it can be used to evaluate a team's offense or defense. Not surprisingly, the 1994 49ers' +5.12 Offense Power Index is the best of the 12 teams here. If you've been paying attention, that should sound like an excellent number since an overall number of +6.00 or higher is the benchmark for great teams and the overall Power Index is just the offense and defense added together. Well, it is an excellent number.

Here are all the teams with an Offense Power Index of +5.00 or higher since 1950. Remember this uses points scored and yards gained, so don't be disappointed because the 1998 Vikings aren't on the list.

1993 49ers	+5.52
1981 Chargers	+5.26
1984 Dolphins	+5.19
1950 Rams	+5.15
1994 49ers	+5.12
2000 Rams	+5.04

No one should be surprised by this list of teams. I would also say that despite the notoriety of the 1999-2000 Rams offense, the first team to talk about when discussing the greatest offenses in pro football history is the 1993-94 49ers.

Eddie Epstein works as a consultant to major league baseball teams. He is the co-author, along with ESPN.com's Rob Neyer, of "Baseball Dynasties: The Greatest Teams of All Time." He has been a regular contributor to ESPN.com's baseball coverage and is a huge football fan.