There are many tales of life on the gridiron. Either it is the story of a team that came so close to Super Bowl glory and fell short or the biography of one of the greatest coaches of all time. Every year, fans tune in to watch their favorite teams play a season of football, and every fan will tell you how different each year is with different narratives unfolding. That means there are plenty of stories to document, from a team’s history to one key player to even the coaches and owners. Football has great stories that span generations; the greats of the league and the overlooked ones all have a story to tell.
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The world of football is a fascinating one, filled with as many interconnecting narratives and twists as a comic book superhero shared universe. The Super Bowl is on the horizon and fans will have to wait a few months for more football, there are plenty of stories to tell. These are the best of the best in terms of football documentaries.
Update February 8, 2024: Getting ready for the Super Bowl? This list has been updated with more great football documentaries to watch to get ready for the big game.
15 Missing Rings: The 1998 Minnesota Vikings (2008)
The NFL Network produces an amazing yearly documentary called America’s Game, where they break down the season of the previous year’s Super Bowl champions. Back in 2008, when the ball had gotten rolling on this series, there was a spinoff series to it called Missing Rings, which was about teams that could’ve and frankly should’ve won a Lombardi Trophy but fell short. 2008 saw the release of Missing Rings: The 1998 Minnesota Vikings. A one-hour documentary about how the Minnesota Vikings were poised to bring home a title that year, as they looked nearly unstoppable.
They were the third team in league history to reach a 15-1 regular season record and would be Super Bowl favorites, but would fall short and lose the NFC Championship game. Their kicker, one of the best of all time, Gary Anderson, would miss a game-winning field goal to send them to the Super Bowl.
Buy America’s Game: The Super Bowl Champions on Apple TV+
14 The U (2009)
Speaking of great college programs in Florida, the ESPN-produced documentary, The U, was produced in collaboration with South Florida-based production company Rakontur. The film tells the story of the cultural shifts in the greater Miami area throughout the 1980s, and how the University of Miami was at the center of all of that.
“The U,” as it is called, got its start and reputation for searching the schools of Florida’s low-income towns and recruiting young men from there, thus giving them an opportunity nobody else would. With this new image and raw swagger, the Hurricanes would go on to win four national titles between 1983 and 1991.
Buy The U Through Prime Video
A Football Life: Bill Belichick is in a series of many others, but what makes this two-part series stand out is that it’s about Bill Belichick; he’s a very private guy outside of football. You just don’t get a camera crew to follow Belichick around for an entire season. That being said, cameras rolled around him during the 2009 season, which wasn’t that great of a year for the Patriots.
Tom Brady had returned from an injury the year prior, and the team was a little not all there, they still made the playoffs but were a first-round exit. However, seeing Belichick behind the scenes as both a hyper-focused coach and even showing us some moments that make us remember that he’s human like the rest of us was a fun inside look at one of the greatest coaches of all time.
Buy A Football Life on Apple TV+
12 The Brady Six (2011)
Following his second league MVP-awarded season in 2010 was the release of this one-hour-long documentary, The Brady Six. Rather than the GOAT being the focus of most of it, it’s actually also a story about the 2000 quarterback draft class. There were five other quarterbacks taken ahead of Brady, and by the time the documentary had aired, one, if not two, were still in the league and barely hanging on to a roster spot.
The documentary doesn’t poke fun at the skills of the other QBs, but rather looks at the science of drafting a player into the league and how sometimes these general managers don’t know what they’re looking for until it smacks them in the face. A great scene in the film is in the climactic ending when the scouting report on Brady is being read, stating all the disheartening critiques of the man who would become the GOAT, and then Brady’s dad, Tom Sr., chimes in and says, “They missed the most important part, heart; they didn’t understand what drives somebody.”
Watch the Brady 6 for Free on YouTube
11 Undefeated (2011)
Undefeated
- Release Date
- December 12, 2011
- Director
- Daniel Lindsay , T.J. Martin
- Cast
- Montrail 'Money' Brown , O.C. Brown , Bill Courtney , Chavis Daniels
You can’t lose them all. Undefeated is a documentary directed by Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin about a North Memphis high school that has had a 110-year losing streak of playoff games. However, in 2009, head coach Bill Courtney turned that around and got the team to 11-0 and won their first postseason game.
Most of these documentaries on this list have positive themes to them, but Undefeated is the most upfront about it. It’s a movie about overcoming life’s difficult circumstances and about the lessons that come through hard work and dedication to one’s craft. It sounds generic, but there is so much to cheer for in this film with this team.
10 L.T. Life and Times (2013)
It was Bill Belichick who said recently, “I wouldn’t put anybody ahead of Lawrence Taylor”, He would know because he coached him for about a decade. LT: Life and Times was a Showtime-produced documentary that explored the life of one of the baddest players to ever lace up a pair of cleats.
Lawrence Taylor may go down as one of the greatest defensive players in the sport of football. However, if you’re going to tell the story of his battles on the field, you have to tell the story of his battles off it, too. LT discusses his issues in a very frank way, addressing his drug issues and other illegal occurrences that have landed him in hot water. It’s an honest look at an athlete who has struggled in his post-football life. L.T. Life and Times is Not Currently Available for Stream or Rent
9 ’51 Dons (2014)
’51 Dons offers a glimpse into a unique moment in football history. The 1951 San Francisco Dons took a firm stand against racism in support of their teammates despite societal pressures. The team, which consisted of future NFL stars, declined an invitation to play in the Orange Bowl after being told they could only compete under the condition that their two African-American players, Ollie Matson and Burl Toler, were excluded. Despite financial pressures to keep the team going, they declined the event and the funds.
The undefeated university team cemented itself in history by making the unprecedented decision to forgo the team’s success to stand up for the morals they believed built off team bonding. The documentary shows both the importance of this bond in sport and the result of their decision to decline the invitation to the prestigious event. Moreover, the documentary shows us how far the sport has come since its darker period when such actions were deemed acceptable. ’51 Dons is Not Currently Available for Stream or Rent
8 Four Falls of Buffalo (2015)
Buffalo Bills fans have a lot to cheer about lately, as their team seems to be finally on the mend after losing four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s. Four Falls of Buffalo was yet another ESPN 30 for 30 documentary that covered this topic. A brilliantly produced film about how great the Bills looked and played like they were deserving of being Super Bowl champions but fell short four times in a row.
The Bills Mafia has always been supportive of their team; they’re one of the most loyal fan bases out there. This film gives the city of Buffalo, its fans, and its team a lot of respect despite their frustrating losses over the years. It almost makes you want to be a Bills fan.
Stream Four Falls of Buffalo on Netflix
7 This Was the XFL (2017)
This Was the XFL is a title that was a play on Vince McMahon’s opening speech at kickoff for game one of the first season. Yeah, the XFL is back under the new management of Dwayne Johnson and his team. But the initial story of how it was conceived is such an interesting rise-and-fall story. Founded by Dick Ebersol and Vince McMahon, a new football league was meant to go toe-to-toe with the NFL but failed miserably in the ratings. This was also something that happened at the height of WWE’s popularity from the late 1990s into the early 2000s, and Vince used one brand to promote the other. But in the end, it was just lackluster football.
McMahon would revive the XFL again for a 2020 season that would end in shambles once again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. McMahon is an ambitious and controversial figure in the world of American media moguls and has recently resigned from the WWE and UFC following allegations of rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking. The XFL might be a monument to his ambition and poorly thought out plans.
Buy This Was the XFL on YouTube
6 Year of the Scab (2017)
Chronicling the story of the 1987 Washington Redskins (now called the Warriors due to the controversial nature of the same), which saw replacement players, ‘scabs,’ playing for the season during the 1987 football strike. The documentary provides an in-depth look at the impact and experiences of the replacement players and how they are still viewed negatively to this day. This is in spite of the team garnering an 11–4 record (the season was cut short due to the strike) and ultimately defeating the Denver Broncos 42–10 to win Super Bowl XXII.
Part of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary series, Year of the Scab carries the apt tagline of “All the Guts. None of the Glory,” exploring the maligned players of the 1987 Redskins. Digging into their stories and how their chance to shine was underscored by the label of ‘scab,’ which saw them only able to compete for one season despite going on to win the Super Bowl with an impressive display of skill. The documentary also sheds light on an often-overlooked period of football history, with the strike being a distant memory for most.
Buy Year of the Scab on YouTube
5 Vick (2020)
Vick was released in 2020 as one of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries. The two-part series tells the story of polarizing quarterback Michael Vick, from his days in college at Virginia Tech to the stamp he put on the NFL in his time with the Atlanta Falcons. But the real draw of the documentary was exploring the conviction of Vick for running an illegal dogfighting ring. He was sentenced to 23 months after being found guilty of the crime.
It’s this part of the story that makes people despise him, and yet Vick would leave prison after 18 months, and he would spend the last stretch of his sentence in home confinement. Vick would return to the NFL for a few more years after all of this, where he was criticized for this heinous act. Part one of the series sets up the world that would send this man down the path he chose. Part two sets up a redemption story that makes some of his doubters and naysayers acknowledge the positive steps he’s taken in his life. It’s all up to how you view it when you see it.
Watch Vick for Free on YouTube
4 Man in the Arena: Tom Brady (2021)
Tom Brady’s three years as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer were loaded with a lot of endeavors outside of football. One of which was producing a ten-part series on his career for ESPN called Man in the Arena. The title comes from the famous Teddy Roosevelt speech that Brady has always admired. A speech about the credit always belonging to the doer of deeds and how it is not the critic who counts.
There is a lot to admire in the series, and if you’re a Patriots fan, there’s a lot to be nostalgic about. Remembering that storybook 2001 season is all there for us to see—the dreaded loss to the Giants, twice—the 28-to-3 comeback. It’s all there; he even pulls back a bit into his personal life as well. Brady’s doubters would say it’s a vanity project, but Brady lovers will cherish it. Man in the Arena: Tom Brady is Not Currently Available for Stream or Rent
3 All Madden (2021)
It’s not only the documentary itself, but it’s what surrounded its release. Here’s the timeline, Fox Sports released the documentary All Madden on Christmas Day 2021, and John Madden watches it at home with his family. Madden’s wedding anniversary with his wife Virginia is the next day, it marked their 62nd year as husband and wife. Two days later he dies at 85 years old. Watching this doc on his life and career with that kind of information adds so much more admiration to a man who gave his life to the sport he loves.
The film’s final moments feel like a eulogy now. As it is, all the greats of the NFL praise him for the impact he had on the game. We then intercut to Madden, alone, sitting in a studio, watching the footage of these people praising him on a monitor. Ennio Morricone song L’Arena plays over all of this. And then the music stops and the camera holds on Madden, he looks up at the camera, misty eyed, and says that he didn’t know he meant so much to so many people. All Madden feels like a farewell to the man who elevated the football game. And he was there to see us all say goodbye and thank you. It creeps up on you with how emotional it is and can make even a person who can’t grasp the concept of what a first down is cry like a child in its final moments. All Madden is Not Available for Stream or Rent
2 Untold: Swamp Kings (2023)
More recently, Netflix added a new addition to its sports docuseries Untold, a four-part series on the Irvin Meyer era of Florida Gator football with Untold: Swamp Kings. There was no better place to be in college football than in Gainesville, Florida, during the era of Tim Tebow. The Gators would win multiple national titles during the mid-2000s, and they were the college football team that was in the spotlight the most at the time. The series tells the story of the brief window of all of that pandemonium from the perspective of the players and coaches who lived through it.
Stream Untold: Swamp Kings on Netflix
Chronicling Johnny Manziel’s rise and fall, Untold: Johnny Football provides an intimate insight into the American quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns for two seasons (2014-15). The movie follows his start as a successful college player to his time with the Browns, which became marred by his mental health and additional issues, cutting his career short.
Sports documentaries have certainly found a home on Netflix, with the other docuseries in the “Untold” series painting a rather tragic but engaging tale of one man folding under fame. While a cautionary tale about the potential downfalls of stardom, the documentary also relates the immense pressure of the sport both physically and mentally in an insightful and eye-opening way. The documentary also takes a passive approach, allowing the viewers to decide who Manziel is and whether to see him in a positive or negative light.
