In the run-up to Super Bowl LIX, we recently ranked the Top 10 All-Time Super Bowl Champions. The losing Super Bowl team is quickly forgotten regardless of how good they are and how well they played. So let’s have a ranking of the 5 best teams to lose the Super Bowl.
2007 New England Patriots
- 18-1 Record
- Lost Super Bowl XLII to the Giants, 17-14
The 2007 Patriots epitomized everything Bill Belichick and Tom Brady wanted to build. They didn’t just win every game before the Super Bowl, they set out to destroy everything in their path. For the most part, they did.
The roster had three current Hall of Famers (Junior Seau, Randy Moss, Richard Seymour), at least one should-be Hall of Famer (Rodney Harrison), plus Brady. The coaching staff consisted of Belichick and four future NFL head coaches (Josh McDaniels, Brian Flores, Bill O’Brien, and Matt Patricia). Their VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli later became the Chiefs’ GM.
In Week 17’s 38-35 loss to New England, the Giants hadn’t bowed to them as most other teams had. New York head coach Tom Coughlin and his coordinators Kevin Gilbride and Steve Spagnuolo gained valuable intel on how to attack New England by smothering their rushing attack and making them pay for their short completions, daring Brady to throw deep. Belichick’s daily grind from training camp onward exhausted his team and the Giants took them down.
1973 Minnesota Vikings
- 14-3 Record
- Lost Super Bowl VIII to the Dolphins, 24-7
From 1969 to 1976, the Vikings made the Super Bowl four times and lost all four. The games weren’t particularly close. It’s an accomplishment to have been the best team in the NFC in those years when they competed with Dallas, Washington, San Francisco, and the LA Rams.
They had a Hall of Fame coach, Bud Grant. Onfield Hall of Famers Alan Page and Carl Eller along with defensive end Jim Marshall and defensive tackle Gary Larsen led the “Purple People Eaters” defense. Quarterback Fran Tarkenton is in and running back Chuck Foreman has a case for induction.
Their star power went beyond the gridiron. Page spent 22 years as an associate justice on Minnesota’s Supreme Court. Running back Ed Marinaro later starred on Hill Street Blues. In 1976, they added Ahmad Rashad. Rashad made four Pro Bowls for the Vikings and became a prominent broadcaster and occasional actor.
The 1973 club was probably their best team, but the Dolphins overwhelmed them winning their second straight Super Bowl.
1990 Buffalo Bills
- 15-4 Record
- Lost Super Bowl XXV to the Giants, 20-19
Had the 1990 Bills beaten the Giants, they might have won three Super Bowls in four years. After that first loss, they never got past that roadblock and lost four straight.
General manager Bill Polian and head coach Marv Levy are in the Hall of Fame as are quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, defensive end Bruce Smith, and wide receivers Andre Reed and James Lofton.
Buffalo was a scoring machine putting up 95 total points in its two playoff wins before the Super Bowl. They had beaten the Giants 17-13 in Week 15. In that game, New York quarterback Phil Simms broke his foot and was replaced by backup Jeff Hostetler.
Irony: Had Simms not gotten hurt and won that Super Bowl, it likely would have punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame.
Even more ironic: The Giants probably would not have gotten that far with Simms because he was immobile while Hostetler could run. Simms would have been a sitting duck for the Giants’ three playoff opponents Chicago, San Francisco, and Buffalo — all of whom had a great pass rush.
The Giants coaching staff led by Bill Parcells, Belichick, and Ron Erhardt formulated a deceptively simple plan. Erhardt would drain the clock with running back Ottis Anderson while Belichick’s defense would let Thomas run as much as he wanted while stopping Kelly from connecting with his wide receivers. And when he did complete passes, the Giants’ defense would blast said receivers.
It worked. The Giants held the ball for more than 40 minutes. By the fourth quarter, the Giants had wrung out Buffalo’s offense and defense. A missed field goal won it for New York.
2014 Seattle Seahawks
- 14-5 Record
- Lost Super Bowl XLIX to the Patriots, 28-24
Seattle was about to win its second straight Super Bowl and beat Tom Brady the year after beating Peyton Manning and the Broncos. But head coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell decided to pass at the Pats’ goal line instead of handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch to bull his way into the end zone. A win would have cemented Carroll’s legacy as well as that of quarterback Russell Wilson.
Those were the days of the “Legion of Boom” defense with Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner, Bruce Irvin, et, al.
All they needed to do — literally — was hand the ball to Lynch and they would’ve won their second consecutive title. They didn’t. Wilson’s pass was intercepted by Malcolm Butler and the Patriots won their first championship in a decade. They subsequently won two more in the next four years. Seattle has not made it past the divisional round since.
2001 St. Louis Rams
- 16-3 Record
- Lost Super Bowl XXXVI to the Patriots, 20-17
St. Louis had won the Super Bowl two years earlier. Oddsmakers made them a 14-point favorite over New England. Nicknamed “The Greatest Show on Turf,” they had future Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner under center and versatile running back, also a Hall of Famer, Marshall Faulk as his backfield mate.
Faulk still insists that the Patriots cheated and spied on the Rams’ walkthrough the day before the game. He ranted about it even before Spygate, Deflategate, and the other accusations of Belichick chicanery came to light. It’s not an outright conspiracy theory or crying over losing when looked at in the context of past credible allegations and that New England got caught and sanctioned for its misbehavior.
Add in the fact that the Rams finally adapted in the fourth quarter and scored two quick touchdowns to tie it with just over a minute remaining and it’s not crazy to think that the 2001 Patriots were either lucky or…something else.
Warner lost his starting job in 2002 and bounced from St. Louis to the Giants where he started ahead of Eli Manning before being pulled. He had a career resurgence in Arizona, went to another Super Bowl, and wound up in the Hall of Fame.
How Are You Ranking the 5 Best Teams to Lose the Super Bowl?
Anything can happen in football and the predictions are often undone by the tiniest factors. These teams could easily have been champions had the ball bounced differently. As Super Bowl LIX approaches, how are you ranking the 5 best teams to lose the Super Bowl?
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