21 greatest winning streaks in sports history

During the 1979-80 NHL season, the Philadelphia Flyers went 35 games without a loss, which is a record for North American professional franchises in the Big Four sports. What's remarkable is, during this era of ties, the Flyers never won more than nine straight games, winning 25 games with 10 ties during the streak. Philadelphia rode the momentum all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where the Flyers lost to the New York Islanders. Of note, captain and Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke scored his 900th career goal during this unbeaten streak.

Before the Warriors' record-breaking NBA streak, this old-school baseball team held the record for consecutive wins to start a season. The Maroons of the long departed Union Association outscored opponents by an average of nine runs per game during this streak, eventually finishing the season with a 94-19 record. Unfortunately, the Maroons went belly up just six years later as the Indianapolis Hoosiers in the newly formed Major League Baseball. 

Long before "The Dream Team," the United States dominated inferior competition on the hardwood in the Olympics. From 1936-72, this squad won a ridiculous 63 consecutive games, earning seven consecutive gold medals. It wasn't until the controversial 1972 game against the Soviet Union that the U.S. saw this streak come to an end. The Americans would later win 21 consecutive Olympic matches from 1976-88 before once again falling to the Soviets, a loss that led to the inclusion of pro players in the summer event. 

From the end of the 2010 season through 14 weeks the following year, Green Bay was among the best teams in the history of the game. Including a close win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, the Packers won six consecutive to end the 2010 campaign. They continued that streak until losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in mid-December 2011. Over the course of this 19-game steak, Aaron Rodgers threw 53 touchdowns compared to nine interceptions. 

The Warriors may may have topped Chicago's record-breaking 72-win 1995-96 season, but that doesn't make this run any less impressive. In reality, that's the last time we saw a NBA team as dominating as the present-day Warriors. Not only did the Michael Jordan-led Bulls win 18 in a row, but they earned a victory in 31 of 32 games that season, pushing their record to 41-3 before dropping two consecutive in early February. Chicago would go on to post four more winning streaks of six-plus games on the year. 

During the height of the 49ers' dynasty of the '80s and early '90s, they had a stretch of games that made them look like the greatest football team in history. Starting in Week 12 of the 1989 season, and including a 55-10 domination of the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, San Francisco didn't lose a football game in over a calendar year. In the 1989 playoffs, the 49ers outscored their opponents 126-26 in three games. Joe Montana thew 11 touchdowns and zero picks during that playoff run. 

The same season that saw Mario Lemieux diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma also saw him put up an absurd 160 points in 60 games. That's an average of a ridiculous 2.7 points per game. Pittsburgh averaged a whopping 5.7 goals per game during its 17-game winning streak, which helped the team finish with NHL's best record en route to its second consecutive Stanley Cup. 

The Indians are now within reach of the Giants' revered 101-year-old mark, which includes a tie that interrupted 12- and 14-game unbeaten runs. However, the Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistical custodian for Major League Baseball, has always regarded the Giants' stretch as the gold standard because tie games were replayed from the start back then.

They built a decent Hollywood movie off this baseball team — a baseball team that didn't win the World Series. With the likes of Chad Bradford, Scott Hatteberg and Terrence Long playing important roles, the small-market A's ran off the longest winning streak in AL history, 20 games. The 20th win came in a game that saw Oakland build an 11-0 lead against the Kansas City Royals. After blowing that lead, Hatteberg came through with a walk-off homer to give Oakland the record. Like every season during this small-ball era, the A's failed to win the series. Though, this one team will always have a place in history.

It was LeBron James's third season with the Heat. Miami was coming off an NBA title in a lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. Many were still refusing to give James and the Heat credit for their title the previous year. From early February to late March, Miami simply couldn't be stopped. It won a ridiculous 27 consecutive games, including 17 games by double digits. This led the Heat to a franchise-record 66 regular-season wins and a second consecutive NBA title. 

In 1999, the Purple Raiders broke Oklahoma's then-record 47-game winning streak before having their run end at 54 games with an overtime playoff loss on Dec. 11, 1999. In 2003, Mount Union surpassed its own record with a 55th straight victory. That streak ended the following week. Since 1993, Mount Union has won 12 Division III national titles.

From May 2003 to October 2004, this top-flight European soccer franchise went an astounding 49 consecutive matches without losing. Arsenal outscored its opponents by a combined 112-35 tally in those games, being held to draws just 13 times in the process. The streak came to an abrupt end on a controversial penalty call that went in favor of Manchester United during a 2-0 loss in 2004. 

During a five-year stretch in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was not a single sports team as dominating as the Tar Heels women's soccer club. This came in the midst of nine consecutive NCAA championships and a ridiculous 14 in 16 years. To put this into perspective, it's the equivalent of a college basketball team winning about 150 consecutive games while earning five straight titles. Just absurd. 

From 1992-2004, this California high school powerhouse did not lose a single game. Led by the great Bob Ladouceur, De La Salle earned the national champion distinction seven times by a combined three major media outlets. This absurd winning streak spawned the movie, "When the Game Stands Tall," which depicted the struggles of going undefeated for such a long period of time. Former NFL players Amani Toomer and Maurice Jones-Drew both played important roles on these squads. 

The 2014-15 Warriors won their last four regular-season games before winning the NBA Finals, then began the following season with 24 more straight victories, bringing their total to 28. They finally lost at Milwaukee in mid-December, but those 24 wins to begin the season were the most to start a campaign in North American sports history. In the previous postseason, the Warriors also won 15 straight games, another record. Golden State went on to break the 1996-96 Bulls' record for wins, going 73-9, though infamously blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, after signing Kevin Durant, the Warriors got revenge in a third straight Finals matchup with the Cavs to win their second title in three seasons.

Led by the great Frank Leahy, Notre Dame went undefeated for four consecutive seasons from 1946-1949, earning three national championships during that span. This represented the first Irish national titles since Knute Rockne left South Bend in 1930. Notre Dame's win over Army in 1947 also acted as payback for its last loss, also to Army, during the 1945 season. 

Largely considered the greatest women's basketball coach of all time, Geno Auriemma led the Huskies to nearly three full seasons without a loss, earning the national title in 2015 and 2016. The streak began with a victory over Creighton Dec. 23, 2014, ending in the 2017 Final Four on an overtime buzzer-beater at the hands of Mississippi State. It's the longest winning streak in college basketball history. And making it even more remarkable, Auriemma also led the Huskies on a 90-game winning streak that included two undefeated seasons (2008-09 and 2009-10). That streak ran from April 6, 2008, to Dec. 19, 2010.

In Wilt Chamberlain's second-to-last season in the NBA, he led the Lakers to a 69-13 record and the organization's first championship since moving from Minnesota. During that season, Los Angeles won an NBA record 33 consecutive games, 23 of them coming by double digits. It remains the longest winning streak in NBA history.

Winning consecutive games in today's NFL is hard to do. Winning 21 in a row over the span of two seasons is absolutely ridiculous. However, this is what Tom Brady and the Patriots did in an amazing run last decade. Starting in Week 5 of the 2003 season and spanning through the first of back-to-back Super Bowl titles, New England absolutely dominated the football world. While the offense gets most of the credit, New England's defense put up three shutouts and held teams to 10 points or less eight times. As it relates to Brady, he threw just 34 touchdowns in these 21 games, proving that it was a team-wide accomplishment for the Pats.

After losing to Notre Dame and tying Pittsburgh to start the 1953 season, the Sooners would go on to win a college football record 47 consecutive games. This is a streak that helped Oklahoma to national titles in 1955 and 1956 while spanning three full seasons. What's even more amazing here is that Oklahoma went undefeated in conference play from 1946-1959, signifying one of the most dominating eras in college football history. 

When you have the likes of Keith Wilkes and Bill Walton on the hardwood coached by John Wooden, you are going to win a lot of games. In 1970-71 and 1971-72, UCLA finished with perfect 30-0 records, earning the national title each season. This was the tail end of a span of seven consecutive NCAA titles for the Bruins under Wooden — a span that also included the likes of Lew Alcindor and Lucius Allen suiting up for UCLA. This 88-game winning streak remains the longest in men's college basketball history.