An Alternative Method of Ranking the Worst Teams to make the Super Bowl

Hello, and welcome to the penultimate entry in my Margin of Victory (MoV) series. For this round, I'll be looking at The Worst Teams by MoV to make the Super Bowl (post NFL-AFL Merger). I could've done Worst Super Bowl Winners, but I feel that this is a more interesting list.

If you've read previous entries from this series, you'll already know that regular season MoV is not a be-all, end-all of predicting postseason success. This list is no exception. It has an even mix of losers and winners. As usual, I'll be listing the team, along with their MoV and record in parentheses [Example: 1994 San Diego Chargers (4.7) (11-5)]. I will also be providing potential insight on why the season went the way it did, and what led to said team at least making it to the Big Game in spite of a less than optimal regular season, as well as the final score of the Super Bowl.

As a reminder: THE TEAMS ON THIS LIST AND WHERE THEY PLACE ON THIS LIST IS BASED ON STATS, NOT MY OPINION. While the commentary and honorable mentions are my own, this list is based on a static number.

Without further delay, here is the 10 Worst Teams by MoV to make the Super Bowl, ranked by MoV post-merger, from "best" to worst:

10: 2015 Denver Broncos (3.7) (12-4) - Starting off with a somewhat recent example, this Broncos squad was 2 years removed from a historically dominant offense, which fell flat in the Super Bowl, alongside a mediocre defense. Now, things had flipped on its head. Peyton Manning was a shell of himself, either injured or playing below even average QB standards. Brock Osweiler ended up starting 7 games at QB, and was fairly decent in them. The offense was 19th in scoring, but was slightly better in yards gained. The team did have a Pro-Bowl WR in Demaryius Thomas (RIP), as well as a solid #2 in Emmanuel Sanders, plus an older Owen Daniels as a safety blanket. But they were not enough to will the offense to greater heights due to Manning. Ultimately, what granted this team so much power was its defense, featuring the No-Fly Zone, which was #1 in passing yards allowed. T.J. Ward, Aqib Talib, and Chris Harris were all Pro Bowlers in the secondary, while the terrifying edge rush duo of Demarcus Ware and Von Miller gave QBs nightmares. Brandon Marshall (the linebacker), Danny Trevathan, and Darian Stewart were also solid contributors in a defense that also finished 3rd in rushing yards allowed. Based on these stats, I believe them being only 4th in scoring defense is deceptive, as they were likely set up with poor field position on defense due to the offense's ineptitude. Ultimately, this all resulted in many close games, with only one game in which the Broncos won by more than 2 possessions, and none the other way. They did defeat the Patriots in the regular season, who were 10-0 at the time (and this gave the Broncos the tiebreaker for the #1 seed), but they also had a couple of losses to mediocre teams (8-8 Colts and 7-9 Raiders).

Peyton Manning, despite the injuries, started all 3 postseason games for the Broncos, and was...still not great. He was sacked 9 times and had a 55% completion percentage, but he at least only threw 1 INT. They first defeated a solid Steelers team in the Divisional Round, then barely escaped a last-second collapse against the Patriots. Finally in the Super Bowl against the favored Panthers, the defense really clamped down. Denver forced 4 turnovers and sacked the league's MVP Cam Newton 7 times. The game was still in the balance in the 4th quarter, though, due to Denver's continued offensive ineptitude. However, Miller forced a crucial fumble on a strip sack, and the Broncos iced the game with a C.J. Anderson rushing TD. Overall, the team played around what their regular season averages were during the postseason, except in the Super Bowl, in which the defense excelled. If I had to say, I'd say this team did enough to win games. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. I also do think the defense should genuinely be put in Top 10 defensive units of all time conversations. I believe they performed even better than what the stats indicate. The players and Wade Phillips deserve a ton of credit.

Final Result: Won Super Bowl (24-10) vs. Carolina Panthers

9: 1980 Oakland Raiders (3.7) (11-5) - 4 years after achieving glory with Ken Stabler and John Madden following years of close misses, both were gone. In their place was Tom Flores, an unproven and much less expressive head coach, and Dan Pastorini, the former Oilers QB who'd had some playoff success. Following 2 9-7 seasons in a row, expectations weren't high for Oakland. And things went as expected when the Raiders started 2-3. In Game 6, though, the Raiders made a QB change. In came Jim Plunket, a former #1 pick who'd long been labeled a bust. And while he wasn't incredible, his stats were better than Pastorini's, and his starting presence seemed to cause a shift in the team. Notably, after numerous poor defensive showings in the first 7 weeks, they'd go the rest of the year only allowing over 21 points one time. From that point onwards, the team only lost 2 more games, both to arguably the best teams in the NFC. In general, these Raiders only lost to elite teams. The Chiefs were the only team they lost to with under 11 wins. However, they also only blew out 2 terrible teams in the regular season (the 4-12 Giants and Seahawks). Almost all of their games were within 2 scores. The defense was held up by First-Team All Pros Lester Hayes and Ted Hendricks, plus solid contributors John Matuszak and Matt Millen. The offense had two Pro-Bowlers themselves, though both selections made little sense to me (Kenny King, who had under 1000 yards from scrimmage as a RB, and Dave Casper, who only played 6 games).

Despite getting hot down the stretch though, they did lose the division to the Chargers on a tiebreaker. They kicked things off by blowing out the Oilers in the Wild Card Round. They had to follow this up by travelling to frozen Cleveland, and the low scoring reflected this. However, on this day, the football gods would smile on the Raiders, as with under a minute left, down 12-14, the Browns had 2nd down at the Raiders' 13-yard line. Normally, one would run out the clock and have their kicker ice the game. The issue was, the Browns kicker had already missed 3 total kicks that day, and was playing injured. Wanting to leave that as a last resort, the Browns pushed for a TD. However, league MVP Brian Sipe threw a pass that was intercepted in the end zone, and the Raiders survived. The play, now known as "Red Right 88", kicked off decades of suffering through insane/unlucky events for Browns fans.

In the AFC Championship, the Raiders travelled to sunny San Diego for an all AFC-West bout. There, the Raiders exploded for 21 in the 1st quarter, and hung on the rest of the way to win 34-27 against the Chargers to advance to the Super Bowl. In the finale, Oakland's opponent was the Eagles, who'd they'd lost to in a defensive battle earlier that season (7-10). Philadelphia, by all metrics, were a very strong team, and they'd made short work of the NFC to reach the Super Bowl. But on this day, the team that forced the most turnovers in the NFL continued its reign of terror, as the Raiders won the turnover battle 4-0. This largely made the difference in a game where the discrepancy in other non-scoring areas (yards, penalty yards, sacks) was negligible. Overall, the Raiders played beyond their regular season averages in the playoffs, though they did noticeably improve in the 2nd half of the season. The slow start along with their difficult Strength of Schedule hide the fact that this team was actually quite good. Nothing incredible historically, but far from mediocre. The general core of this team (plus Marcus Allen and Howie Long) would lead the Raiders to a more dominant Super Bowl run 3 years later.

Final Result: Won Super Bowl (27-10) vs. Philadelphia Eagles

8: 2012 Baltimore Ravens (3.4) (10-6) - The 2011 team was arguably stronger, but unfortunate circumstances in New England kept them from a Super Bowl appearance . Perhaps in response to their kicker missing a game-tying FG in that game, the Ravens drafted Justin Tucker, who was phenomenally accurate, even in his rookie year. On the other side of Special Teams, Jacoby Jones was a First-Team All-Pro return man. Joe Flacco was average at QB in the regular season, and no receivers had a 1,000 yard season. The offense was largely through Pro-Bowler Ray Rice, who rolled up over 1100 yards rushing and over 1600 yards from scrimmage overall. He ran behind Vonta Leach, First-Team All-Pro Fullback, while Dennis Pitta, Anquan Boldin, and Torrey Smith were solid receiving targets. Defensively, the team stepped back compared to the previous year, but still had strong players in two of the greatest players of all-time at their respective positions, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. Bernard Pollard and Haloti Ngata were also Pro-Bowlers, accompanied by solid contributors Terrell Suggs and Paul Kruger. The Team played up to its potential at the start of the season, going 9-2. However, they soon fired their offensive coordinator, and lost 4 of their last 5 (though they sat starters in the final week of the season, as they'd already clinched a tiebreaker against Cincinnati for the division). They did have 2 wins against opponents who made the playoffs, but both came near the beginning of the season, though around the same time, they had barely defeated the 2-14 chiefs, and lost to the 4-12 eagles. They had a couple of dominant wins, but also were blown out by two of their strongest opponents, the 12-4 Texans and at home against the 13-3 Broncos. The team could not remain consistent during the regular season.

The team stepped up in the playoffs, but not without its fair share of ups-and-downs. They started with an easy Wild Card Win at home vs. the Colts, before having to travel this time to Denver in the Divisional Round. In a back-and-forth classic, in which the Ravens' offense and defense stepped up vs top 5 units on both sides of the balls, their Special Teams allowed 2 return TDs, ultimately leading to a 28-35 deficit late in the 4th quarter. But then, with under 40 seconds left, Flacco hit Jacoby Jones on a miracle 70-yard bomb to tie the game. The game went to OT, which was still being played under sudden death rules. Despite this, it took until Double Overtime for Tucker to hit the game-winning FG. In the Conference Championship, once again in New England, the Ravens took care of business this time, with 21 unanswered points in the 2nd half.

In the Super Bowl, the Ravens faced the explosive 49ers. However, Baltimore made them look like they didn't belong at the game, taking a 28-6 lead following a 2nd-half opening kickoff return TD by Jacoby Jones. Then, inexplicably, the power went out in the Superdome. This turned the tide of the game, as the 49ers roared back to within 2 points in the 4th quarter. With barely any time remaining, down 5, Colin Kaepernick drove the 49ers to Baltimore 5 before the drive fell short, and the Ravens prevailed. It should be noted that despite 22 TDs to 10 INTs in the regular season, Flacco posted an ELITE 11 TDs to 0 INTs in 4 playoff games. Ray Lewis retired after the game, Reed and Boldin left in free agency, and unfortunately for Baltimore, this all spelled the end of an era. They would not make another AFC Championship game until 2023, and have yet to return to the Super Bowl. But for this team, I'd say they turned it on at the right time. The signs of a potential Super Bowl run were really not there, even though they were above average statistically.

Final Result: Won Super Bowl (34-31) vs. San Francisco 49ers

7: 2024 Kansas City Chiefs (3.4) (15-2) - The first losing team on the list, as well as the most recent, the "Devil Magic" Chiefs came off two straight Super Bowl victories seemingly lacking the energy to smooth out the rough edges, per se. While they finished with a dominant 15-2 record, and their point differential was tanked somewhat by a game where they rested their starters, they only blew out a single opponent, a Steelers team in the middle of an eventual 5-game losing streak (including the Wild Card game) to end the season. Meanwhile, they squeaked out wins through razor-thin circumstances (blocked FG in Week 9; bobbled snap in Week 12) and looked generally unimpressive even versus horrendous teams (3-point win vs 5-12 Panthers; 2-point win due to the bobbled snap vs 4-13 Raiders; scored only 21 points vs. 3-14 Browns with the 27th ranked scoring defense). The Chiefs' defense was still quite excellent, but what kept the games so close was the 15th ranked scoring offense. Obviously, the team had talent, including future Hall-of-Famers Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones, 3 Pro Bowl Offensive Linemen, and many solid contributors on defense, including 2nd-team All-Pro Trent McDuffie. But a slew of ailments plagued the offense, ranging from injuries (Rashee Rice, Marquise Brown, Isaiah Pacheco) to old age (Travis Kelce, Deandre Hopkins). Mahomes failed to reach 4000 passing yards for the first time since becoming a full-time starter. Still, the winning continued, as the Chiefs only suffered a single loss during the regular season in which they were playing starters, on the road against the 13-4 Bills. The Chiefs actually had solid competition for the division, but 11 wins couldn't cut it for the Chargers or Broncos.

In the playoffs, the Chiefs took a 9-point win against the Texans in the Divisional Round that was even closer than it appeared. The Conference Championship in a rematch with Buffalo was a nail-biter, but for the 4th time in the past 6 years, the Chiefs slew the Bills in the playoffs. This set up a Super Bowl rematch from 2022 with the Eagles, and considering the fact that the Chiefs had essentially performed at a similar level throughout 2023 as 2024, including the Postseason, a 3-peat seemed inevitable. But in an absolute stunner, Philadelphia blew the Chiefs out of the building. The Eagles took a 40-6 lead before taking the foot off the gas. It seems that the Chiefs' luck had finally flipped on them, or perhaps the fatigue from so many deep playoff runs finally caught up with them. In any case, the Chiefs are likely still going to be one of the favorites for the upcoming 2025 season, though Mahomes' relatively mediocre stats the past two seasons should raise some eyebrows.

Final Result: Lost Super Bowl (22-40) vs. Philadelphia Eagles.

6: 1986 Denver Broncos (3.2) (11-5) - When John Elway reached his first Super Bowl, he couldn't possibly have known that his conference was near the beginning of a 13-game losing streak in the Super Bowl. Nor could he have known that he would be the QB of the team who would one day break that streak. He was still quite young, and quite erratic in his throws, but he willed his team to wins. His supporting cast on offense was average at-best, with no player reaching 800 receiving yards or 800 rushing yards. The defense had two First-Team All Pros, Karl Mecklenburg and Rulon Jones, plus Pro-Bowler Dennis Smith, but the rest of the defense seemingly lagged behind, finishing 15th in scoring. To their credit, they had some blowout wins, and multiple wins vs. playoff teams, but they had a head-scratching loss to the 4-12 Chargers, then were blown out twice in the final 3 weeks by divisional opponents, preventing them from reaching the Number 1 seed. Still, they squeaked out the division by 1 game against the 2 teams which blew them out to end the season (Kansas City and Seattle).

The Broncos played the Divisional Round at home against the defending AFC Champion Patriots, despite the Patriots being statistically their better, due to a tiebreaker. Still, the Broncos managed a 5-point win, leading to an AFC Championship matchup in Cleveland. Late in the 4th quarter, the Browns scored a go-ahead TD, then the Broncos muffed the kickoff, forcing Elway to start "The Drive" on his own 2. Yet, despite a pretty poor performance up until that point, he led a gutsy 98-yard touchdown drive through some mud to tie the game with 37 seconds left, then the Broncos later won in OT on a field goal. This set up a matchup against the favored Giants in the Super Bowl, and for the first half, the Broncos traded blows, taking a 10-9 lead. However, 24 straight points in the 2nd half by New York buried Denver. Elway actually had a solid game against a dominant defense, but his own defense let him down. Despite the loss, the Broncos would remain competitive, making 2 more Super Bowls during the decade...and getting blown out by progressively more points than 1986 in each one.

Final Result: Lost Super Bowl (20-39) vs. New York Giants.

5: 2007 New York Giants (1.4) (10-6) - After 3 seasons of Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin with 0 playoff wins, the New York media was growing impatient. Calls for Coughlin's firing could be seen everywhere. Expectations were relatively subdued for this Giants team following a 2-7 overall finish (including playoffs) to 2006, as well as the retirement of excellent running back Tiki Barber. The team still had strong pieces on paper, including serviceable wide receivers Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer, Pro-Bowl Tight End Jeremy Shockey, Brandon Jacobs, who had been solid with limited rushes in 2006, Antonio Pierce at linebacker, Sam Madison and Corey Webster in the secondary, and the lethal pass rush duo of Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan. But against the eventual NFC 1 and 2-seeds respectively, the Giants gave up a combined 80 points, and started 0-2. They did rally off 6 straight wins against weak competition following this, resulting in the same 6-2 record they had started with the previous year. They then flip flopped games for the rest of the season, including an ugly loss to Minnesota in which Manning threw 4 INTs, but did enough to secure a Wild Card spot at 10-6. For the season, they had 3 blowouts, all versus bad teams, while they were blown out twice by a 12-4 team and an 8-8 team. Crucially, though, for Week 17, in a game they had little to play for, and the Patriots had everything to play for, the Giants only lost by 3. Perhaps this provided momentum entering the playoffs, in spite of the team being middle of the pack in both scoring offense and defense.

In the Wild Card round, the Giants dispatched of an overachieving Tampa Bay squad with ease, only allowing a garbage time TD to make the game look closer than it was. However, the Divisional Round in Dallas was a whole different beast, as the Giants had lost both games to them that season. Their defense had been particularly bad in those games, allowing a combined 76 points. But on that day, the Giants held the 2nd best scoring offense in the league to 17 points. An early 4th quarter Jacobs TD gave the Giants the lead, and the Cowboys failed to capitalize, ultimately ending the season on a 4th down INT. The Conference Championship took place in Green Bay, on a night in which the wind chill made the air feel under -20 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet, for the 2nd straight week, the Giants avenged a loss from earlier in the season, upsetting the Packers in OT. Notably, kicker Lawrence Tynes made a 47-yard field goal to win it, the longest at Lambeau in playoff history, despite missing 2 field goals earlier in the game. This happened after Webster intercepted Brett Favre's final pass a a Green Bay Packer.

Though the Giants had already pulled off two large upsets, it would be nothing compared to upsetting the Patriots, who finished the year with 6 more wins than them. No team prior to that point had ever defeated a team in the playoffs that had 6 more regular season wins than them. That's not even mentioning that the Patriots had not lost a single game all year. Despite some warning signs (mentioned in my post about the best teams of all-time by MoV), the Patriots were picked by almost all pundits, and when Burress predicted a 23-17 victory for the Giants, Tom Brady laughed at the idea of his team scoring only 17 points. Incredibly to all witnessing, though, the game started extremely slow. Only 10 points were scored in the first 3 quarters, as the Patriots D shut down the Giants offense, while the defensive line, fueled by Umenyiora, Strahan, and the emergence of Justin Tuck, harassed Brady all day. At last, early in the 4th, Manning hit David Tyree for a TD to take a 10-7 lead. But Brady marched back down the field, hitting Randy Moss for a go-ahead TD with under 3 minutes left. The perfect season seemed inevitable. But a long catch by Kevin Boss, who'd emerged after an injury to Shockey, gave the Giants hope. Yet on 3rd down, Manning seemingly took a sack. However, by tenacity, luck, and/or other factors, he shook out of it, then heaved up a prayer, which Tyree lept up and caught on his helmet. One of the most unbelievable plays in NFL history, and it likely swung the momentum back. Later, with under a minute left, Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs tripped, and Burress easily caught the game-winning TD, sealing the colossal upset. There was very little to indicate that the Giants could actually win the Super Bowl at any point during the regular season, beyond some flashes. To this day, it still somewhat baffles me, especially considering the Giants 0 playoff victories over the next 3 years. 0 playoff wins in 6 years sandwiching a Super Bowl victory is odd to say the least for any QB/Coach combination.

Final Result: Won Super Bowl (17-14) vs. New England Patriots

4: 2003 Carolina Panthers (1.3) (11-5) - The Panthers had made a 6-win leap from 2001 to 2002. The problem was that it was from 1-15 to 7-9. Feeling as though their ceiling was limited by old journeyman QB Rodney Peete, the Panthers signed Jake Delhomme, who'd previously washed out of the league. Comparing his 2003 regular season stats compared to Peete's 2002, it was only a marginal improvement (though he would show his worth in the playoffs). The bigger differences, in my opinion, were the emergence of Steve Smith as a true Number 1 option at wide receiver, and more importantly, the addition of Stephen Davis at running back, who ran for over 1400 yards. Their rushing yards total as a team lept from 25th in 2002 to 7th. Kris Jenkins and Mike Rucker were Pro-Bowlers on defense, while Julius Peppers, Dan Morgan, Mike Minter, and Ricky Manning were important contributors as well. Thanks to a jump from 30th to 15th in scoring offense, while remaining almost exactly the same on scoring defense, the Panthers finished atop an otherwise mediocre division. They played their games relatively close, only blowing out 1 team and getting blown out once.

In the Wild Card Round, the Panthers easily handled the Cowboys, setting up a Divisional Round in St. Louis against the remnants of the Greatest Show on Turf. Carolina took a 23-12 lead with under 9 minutes left, but blew it. And for the second time on this list, neither team could break the sudden death in overtime. Then, right at the start of Double OT, Steve Smith broke free on a medium-range pass and ran the rest of the way for the game-winner. For the Conference Championship, in Philadelphia, the Panthers were underdogs. But they dominated the Eagles in turnovers 4-0, notably due to Manning intercepting Donovan McNabb 3 times, and they secured a 14-3 win. The Super Bowl was a whole different beast, though, as Carolina's opponent was the 14-2 Patriots, sporting a dominant defense. And the game seemed to be heading toward an uneventful end, as the score was 14-10 to end the 3rd. Yet, the teams combined for 30 points in the final quarter, including the longest pass in Super Bowl history, an 85-yard bomb from Delhomme to Muhsin Muhammad. The teams continued trading blows, including a game-tying TD by Ricky Proehl for the Panthers with 1:08 left. However, an errant kick out-of-bounds by John Kasay set the Patriots up in prime field position, leading to the game-winning FG with a few seconds left. The Panthers would flip flop between mediocre and playoff contenders until Delhomme left, and the wheels fell off in 2010. I think this 2003 team overachieved a bit by figuring out the passing game in the Postseason. Notably, Delhomme had a 6 TD to 1 INT ratio in 4 postseason games, and Steve Smith averaged 101 yards per game during that span. The run game and defense were both always good-to-great, though the latter saved their worst game for last.

Final Result: Lost Super Bowl (29-32) vs. New England Patriots

3: 1979 Los Angeles Rams (0.9) (9-7) - This may seem odd, but statistically, the Rams had both a better record and better MoV in each of the previous 6 season prior to 1979, though none resulted in Super Bowl appearances. Despite his young age, Pat Haden had already declined as a QB. They had no obvious number 1 running back, and their WR's were nothing special. Their only notable defensive pieces at that point were Hall-of-Famer Jack Youngblood and Pro-Bowler Larry Brooks. A 5-6 start seemed to indicate their mediocrity, including blowout losses to two of the best teams in football (Dallas and San Diego). But an easier schedule down the stretch led to a 4-1 finish, and a division crown over the 8-8 Saints despite a Week 17 loss to New Orleans. During the season, Wendell Tyler emerged as the lead back with over 1100 yards, while Nolan Cromwell burst onto the scene with 5 INTs as a defensive back. Brooks continued his excellence, while veteran Fred Dryer returned to form with a 10-sack campaign. Jim Youngblood also became a Pro-Bowler on defense (somehow the Rams had 2 defensive players both named J. Youngblood). Jack Youngblood in particular, though, was dominant, posting a ludicrous 18-sack season. Somehow, he only finished tied for 4th in DPOY-voting. Perhaps most notably, though, was Haden's injury. He was replaced by Vince Ferragamo, who even by 1979 standards was pretty below average.

In the Divisional Round, the Rams faced the defending NFC Champion Cowboys in Dallas, again as underdogs. They actually took a 14-5 lead into halftime before the Cowboys stormed back with 2 TDs. But in the 4th, a long touchdown from Ferragamo to Billy Waddy secured the 21-19 upset. Following this was the Conference Championship against the equally underestimated Buccaneers in Tampa. There, the Rams offense was shut down, being held to only 9 points. But their defense's truth worth shone, as the Buccaneers were shut out entirely. Los Angeles held Tampa to under 125 total yards. And even in the Super Bowl, against the dynasty Steelers, the Rams hung in there, taking a 19-17 lead in the 3rd quarter. But from there was all Steelers, who scored the final 14 points to win their 4th Super Bowl in 6 years. The Rams would remain at around playoff level for most of the following decade, but with little success to show for it. Did this particular team overachieve in the playoffs? I would say yes, but they still belonged there. Their two playoff wins were quite close, and it could be argued that their playoff opponents either had their best days behind them, or were flukes themselves. But the team, before and after, was consistently making the playoffs. Granted, the QBs and coaches changed often, but still. This is arguably the most forgotten Super Bowl team, and I think they deserve a bit more recognition.

Final Result: Lost Super bowl (19-31) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

2: 2008 Arizona Cardinals (0.1) (9-7) - Finally, my team has made one of these lists! For those unaware, the Cardinals are arguably the worst NFL team historically. Pro Football Reference tracks their results back to 1920. In that time, the team has...12 playoff appearances. 12 in over 100 years. For Comparison, the Lions have 19 since 1930, the Jets have 14 since 1960, and the Browns have 30 since 1946. The Cardinals also have a longer championship drought then all of those teams (1947). Obviously that trio of teams has suffered more during this millennium, but I still wanted to frame things for the uninformed, because it's important to understand why this team was considered such an underdog beyond just its 9-7 regular season record. Coming off an 8-8 season from first-year head coach Ken Whisenhunt, the Cardinals were expected to return Matt Leinart to the starting QB position after he suffered a season-ending injury in 2007. However, Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, who'd played decently in his absence, secured the starting role in spite of his old age. While he was not quite in Greatest Show on Turf form, he still threw for over 4500 yards and 30 TDs, earning a Pro Bowl nod. Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, both in their primes, joined Steve Breaston as one of only five trios of wide receivers to each go over 1000 receiving yards in the same season. And they really needed those four, because production from the rest of the offense was miniscule, including the worst rushing attack in the league. Despite the imbalance, the Cardinals finished 3rd in scoring offense. They also had solid special teamers in J.J. Arrington for kicks, Breaston for punts, and Sean Morey as a Pro-Bowl gunner. However, their 28th ranked scoring defense weighed them down for much of the season, despite starring Pro-Bowler Adrian Wilson, the underrated Darnell Dockett and Karlos Dansby, and a rookie Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The team had its fair share of struggles. This included 3 times getting blown out on the road, albeit all were to teams that finished above .500. However, they benefitted greatly from a terrible division, and their 6-0 record against the Seahawks, 49ers, and Rams made all the difference in them winning it. Still, not winning a non-division game after Week 6 seemingly spelled doom on their playoff hopes.

In the Wild Card round, the Cardinals faced an upstart Falcons team led by a rookie Matt Ryan that was Top 11 in both scoring offense and defense. But Arizona came out swinging, as Fitzgerald caught a phenomenal TD in double coverage to start the scoring. Though they trailed at halftime, 16 unanswered points propelled the Cardinals to a narrow victory. However, the Divisional Round was perhaps the longest shot imaginable. Not only would the Cardinals be playing in the Eastern Time Zone, which they were 0-5 in that year, but they were also playing the Panthers, who'd defeated them earlier that year, and who'd gone 8-0 at home. But on that night, the Cardinals had perhaps their finest defensive showing of the season, shutting down the Panthers' elite rushing attack and forcing Jake Delhomme into 5 INTs (on his birthday, no less). The Panthers scored a quick TD in the 1st quarter, but this was followed by a 33-point unanswered avalanche by Arizona to kill Carolina. Due to the #1 seed Giants being upset, the Cardinals were granted a home NFC Championship game, their only home NFC Championship to date, against the Eagles, who'd blown them out earlier that year. Despite their 9-6-1 record, the Eagles were statistically elite, being 6th in offensive scoring and 4th in defense scoring. Yet again, though, the Cardinals inexplicably played up to competition, taking a 24-6 lead into halftime. The Eagles fought back, rallying off 19 straight points to take the lead. But Warner promptly stopped the bleeding, leading a game-winning TD drive to leave less than 3 minutes on the clock. From there, the Cardinals defense held, and the improbable had happened: The Arizona Cardinals made the Super Bowl.

In said game, Arizona's opponent was the Steelers, who were hot (8-1 record in final 9 games including postseason) and had the #1 scoring defense in the league. Despite being heavily outmatched on paper, the Cardinals traded blows, including entering the redzone with seconds remaining in the 1st half and having a chance to take a lead. However, DPOY James Harrison intercepted a pass, and in spite of his mediocre speed, ran the ball 100 yards back for a touchdown. The Steelers extended their lead to 20-7 in the 3rd quarter, and the magic had seemingly ran out. But with under 8 minutes left, Warner and Fitzgerald cut the lead to 20-14, then they earned a Safety on the next drive. And finally, Fitzgerald caught a short pass and ran it 64 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with under 3 minutes remaining. Was the impossible about to happen? Sadly (for me), no. Ben Roethlisberger diced up the Cardinals defense, which had returned to regular season form at the worst possible time, and threw in the back of the endzone to Santonio Holmes, who made one of the great catches in NFL history to give the Steelers the lead for good with under a minute left. Arizona would win the division again in 2009, and be statistically better, but failed to make the NFC Championship. Warner then retired, leading to a dark age of Cardinals football until Carson Palmer arrived. As much as it pains me to admit this, this team was a fluke. They were far from Super Bowl contenders in the Regular season. They got hot at the right time, and unlike the 1979 Rams, had no sustained success as a unit. But goddamn if I wasn't hyped as a kid watching them attempt to rewrite their pathetic history and actually win the big one.

Final Result: Lost Super Bowl (23-27) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

1: 2011 New York Giants (-0.4) (9-7) - You may have guessed before reading the list that 1 of those Eli Manning Super Bowl Teams would top this post. This iteration of New York was better offensively (9th), but worse defensively (25th) than their 2007 counterparts. In fact, this team has some eerie similarities to the previous entry on this list. Besides the poor defense, they were also dead last in rushing yards, also sported a Pro-Bowl QB who had an up-and-down career, had an elite receiver room (Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, and Mario Manningham), and finished 9-7, which won them their weak division. And while the defense was indeed weaker, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck were accompanied now by First Team All-Pro Jason Pierre-Paul to form a QB-hounding trio. The team started 6-2, just as they had in 2007, before 4 straight losses put their playoff hopes in jeopardy. But they rallied to win 3 of their final 4, including 2 crucial wins against 8-8 Dallas, to seal the division crown.

The Wild Card round saw the Giants face off against the Falcons, where they inexplicably shut out their elite offense, only giving up points on a safety. However, the real problem loomed seemingly in the Divisional Round, against the 15-1 Packers in Green Bay, led by MVP Aaron Rodgers. However, New York exploited their relatively weak defense for 37 points, including a 1st-half ending Hail Mary TD to Nicks, while their defensive renaissance continued, holding the #1 scoring offense in the NFL to 20 points. This set up an NFC Championship Game in San Francisco, and the pair of teams tussled in a somewhat low-scoring affair. Both offenses played spotless, albeit slow football. Still, 2 turnovers made the difference in the game. Both were fumbles by returner Kyle Williams of the 49ers, who respectively allowed the Giants to take the lead in the 4th quarter, then allowed them to kick the game-winning FG in OT. And like that, the Giants earned a second chance to take down the GOAT, Tom Brady, in the Super Bowl. While said game wasn't quite as slow initially as the previous one, the game was nonetheless not fast-paced. The Patriots took a 17-9 lead in the 3rd, whittled down to 17-15 in the 4th. Then, late in the 4th, like 2007, Manning completed a phenomenal throw to shift momentum, this time on the left sideline to Manningham, who also did a great job keeping in-bounds to secure the catch. The Giants killed the clock after this, ending in an Ahmad Bradshaw go-ahead TD with under a minute remaining. Brady couldn't capitalize on his final chance (again), and Manning and the Giants went to 2-0 against the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The team was statistically better the next year, but the same 9-7 record couldn't cut it, and they missed the playoffs. They then struggled greatly, going through multiple head coaches, before finally winning another playoff game in 2022. Now, the big question: was this team a fluke? To that I say, the Manning and Coughlin era in New York was one of the most bizarre in NFL History for any one QB/Coach combo. In those 2 Super Bowl Runs, they went 8-0. In every other season of Manning and Coughlin's tenure together, they went 0-3 in the playoffs. It wasn't just Manning who played better either in those runs (though 9 TDS to 1 INT in the 2011 postseason is noteworthy). The entire team stepped up, especially in 2011 (their defensive turnaround is notably baffling). Why they couldn't do it any other seasons besides those two...I don't know. If it was just 1 season, I'd say it was a fluke. If they at least had a couple other deep playoff runs, things would also make sense. But just 2...it's confusing. We may never truly know how it all happened, or even if there is any sort of logical explanation, but we can at least recognize that those Giants' teams were two underdogs who slayed the giants (or non-Giants, if you will) to win the Super Bowl.

Final Result: Won Super Bowl (21-17) vs. New England Patriots

Honorable Mentions (All lost Super Bowl)

1985 New England Patriots (4.5) (11-5) - This team is almost solely known for getting obliterated by the Bears in the Super Bowl 10-46. Perhaps a more interesting fact is that they finished 3rd in their division, yet beat both teams that finished ahead of them in the playoffs (Jets in Wild Card Round; Dolphins in AFC Championship). Even weirder due to the Patriots losing to both teams on the road near the end of the regular season. Though they weren't a bad team, them making the Super Bowl perhaps further indicates how weak the AFC was during this period. Or perhaps it just indicates how cursed Dan Marino's career was.

1987 (6.1) and 1989 (8.5) Denver Broncos - These were the aforementioned Elway-led Broncos teams who were blown out by even more than in 1986, which is odd considering that their MoV was also progressively higher in these 2 years vs. 1986. 1989 in particular is puzzling, as they had the #1 scoring defense in the regular season, then allowed the most points ever in one Super Bowl (55). Even if that 49ers team is one of the greatest of all time, allowing 55 with an otherwise elite defense is absurd.

1992 Buffalo Bills (6.1) (11-5) - Following the team with the worst loss in Super Bowl history is the one with the 2nd worst. While this team was a far cry from the dominant 1990 team, they were still expected to put up a fight as the more experienced group against the young Cowboys, especially after their 32-point comeback in the Wild Card round and subsequent blowouts in the Divisional Round and Conference Championship respectively. Instead, they allowed 52 points, which easily could've been 59 if not for Leon Lett showboating a touchdown away. Perhaps for the early 90's Bills, losing bred a defeatist mentality?

2000 New York Giants (5.1) (12-4) - By MoV, this was quite a weak period for the NFC. At 5.1, the Giants had the 2nd highest MoV in the NFC. Meanwhile, 3 AFC teams had one over 9.5. The Giants, like their Super Bowl opponent Ravens, had a mediocre offense and Top 5 defense. But as the final game showed, there's a world of difference between "Top 5" and "arguably the greatest of all time." The Ravens offense put up 20 points, while the Giants scored 0 offensive points. One of Trent Dilfer or Kerry Collins had to be crowned "Worst QB to win a Super Bowl", and though Dilfer played inefficiently, he kept things turnover-free for Baltimore. The Collins' led offense was outscored by the Ravens defense.