Most of the time, Super Bowl teams really earn their trip to the big dance. Every team needs some bounces here and there, but at the end of the day, the best team usually wins. Plain and simple.
However, some not-so-great teams managed to reach the Super Bowl, all thanks to pure luck, lucky bounces, and several other factors.
T we present 10 Super Bowl teams that didn’t deserve to be there.
10. 2011 New York Giants
It doesn’t feel right putting a Super Bowl-winning team on this list. But the 2011 New York Giants needed a WHOLE LOT to go their way in order to claim the Lombardi Trophy.
Go back to Week 14, where the Giants were about to have their playoff hopes come to an end. Tony Romo and Miles Austin BARELY failed to connect on this play that would have ended the game, and likely seal the NFC East division title for the Cowboys.
Of course, the Giants would go on to win that game after that, keeping their hopes at the division crown intact. They defeated Dallas in Week 17 to clinch the NFC East, despite finishing with a mere 9 and 7 record.
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New York easily took care of business against the Atlanta Falcons in the Wild Card Round. They shocked the 15-and-1 defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round. And believe it or not, the Giants needed a lucky bounce to get past the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game…
That mistake by Kyle Williams helped the Giants boot the game-winning field goal. A series of bounces led them into the big game. And the Giants upset the New England Patriots to win another Super Bowl, 21 to 17.
It just took a few bounces for them to make it work.
9. 2008 Arizona Cardinals
Sure, the Cardinals had two all-time greats in quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. But Arizona was lucky to be in a pathetic NFC West division. They went 9-and-7 to take the crown, finishing two games ahead of the second-place San Francisco 49ers. What an easy path to the playoffs!
The Cardinals had a high-powered offense, but they ranked 28th in scoring defense, allowing 26.6 points per game. Their run game was largely ineffective, averaging just 73.6 yards on the ground per game. Not good.
Luckily for Arizona, winning the division meant hosting the Atlanta Falcons in the Wild card Round, even though Matt Ryan and co. finished with a superior record of 11-and-5. The Cardinals won that game, 30 to 24.
The Cardinals upset the Carolina Panthers in the Divisional Round…and with that 9-and-7 record, they got to host the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, even though Philly had a better record at 9-6-and-1.
Arizona made the most of their home-field advantage, winning 32-25 to reach the Super Bowl. The ultimate Cinderella story ended, however, when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated them 27-23.
8. 2011 New England Patriots
Now, the 2011 Patriots were really one of the more dominant regular seasons teams under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. They had the top record in the AFC at 13-and-3. BUT the Patriots didn’t beat a single team with a winning record in the regular season. Quite an easy schedule, we must say.
Oh, and the Patriots had the second-worst defense in the NFL that year, allowing over 400 yards of offense per game. But they managed to earn the top seed in the AFC. To make things all the more sweeter, they drew the 8-and-8 Tim Tebow-led Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round.
T’was an easy matchup for the Pats, who cruised by the mediocre Broncos.
But when it came to the AFC Championship Game, the Patriots met a formidable opponent: Ray Lewis’ Baltimore Ravens.
Joe Flacco actually out-played Tom Brady in this game. The Pats turned it over three times. Brady had two picks and he didn’t have a single passing touchdown. That put Baltimore in prime position to win the game.
But of course, Lee Evans dropped a game-winning touchdown in the waning seconds. And the ultra-reliable Billy Cundiff missed a gimme 32-yard field goal that would have forced overtime.
An easy regular season schedule…one easy playoff opponent…and two big-time Baltimore mistakes all added up to a Patriots Super Bowl 46 appearance. The run ended when Eli Manning and the G-Men , who came in at number 10 on this list, defeated the Pats in the big game for the second time.
So, yeah, an undeserving Giants team outlasted an undeserving Patriots team.
7. 2014 Seattle Seahawks
WHAT?! HOW?! Defending Super Bowl champions? Top seed in the NFC? Best scoring defense in the NFL? Russell Wilson? Marshawn Lynch?! A travesty! How dare you put them on this list!
Alrighty……hold the phone folks. We’re not trying to discredit everything Seattle did in its quest for a Super Bowl championship. But come on, you all know there was a lot of luck involved for them to reach Super Bowl 49.
For example, the Arizona Cardinals were leading the division for much of the season, but quarterback Carson Palmer tore his ACL in the midst of an excellent campaign. That helped Seattle cruise to another division title.
Secondly, Seattle’s 12-and-4 record equaled those of the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. Luckily, Seattle got the tiebreaker and got home field advantage…instead of potentially having to play on wild card weekend.
And thirdly? The Seahawks got to play a seven-win Carolina Panthers team in the Divisional Round. Easy win.
Now, as for the NFC Championship Game against the Packers goes? Green Bay handed this one to them, plain and simple. For example, Morgan Burnett went down after an apparent game-sealing interception, even though he had plenty of room to take it all the way down into Seattle territory.
And Brandon Bostick botched an easy onside kick recovery, which Seattle obviously took advantage of. The Seahawks took the lead, and they wound up winning in overtime on a Jermaine Kearse touchdown.
Of course, Seattle lost Super Bowl 49 to the Patriots when Russell Wilson threw an interception at the goal line to Malcolm Butler. We feel like Seahawk fans would have rather just lost to Green Bay so that they could have avoided that devastating Super Bowl loss, amiright?
This 2014 Seattle team was great, but they sure needed a TON of bounces to get there.
6. 1996 New England Patriots
The ‘96 Pats were guided by head coach Bill Parcells and quarterback Drew Bledsoe. They had a solid 11-and-5 regular season record. Their offense was nearly unstoppable, ranking second in the NFL with 26.1 points per game.
But the Patriots were an average team on defense, ranking 14th in points allowed per contest. They drew a favorable matchup against an eh-okay Pittsburgh Steelers team in the Divisional Round. The Pats beat them soundly, 28 to 3.
The Patriots got a HUGE break when the young Jacksonville Jaguars franchise upset John Elway’s Denver Broncos in the other AFC Divisional Game. That gave New England a piece-of-cake home victory in the Conference Championship, as they rolled over the Jags by a score of 20 to 6.
But the unlikely run ended in Super Bowl 31, when Brett Favre’s Green Bay Packers hammered the Pats by a final score of 35 to 21. It was exciting enough for the Patriots to reach the big game, but ultimately, the powerhouse Packers showed them what a REAL Super Bowl team looks like.
5. 1998 Atlanta Falcons
It doesn’t feel right putting the ‘98 Falcons on this list for multiple reasons. They went 14-and-2 in the regular season, having been carried by five Pro Bowlers throughout the season. Quarterback Chris Chandler had a career season, while running back Jamal Anderson powered the rushing game.
And hey, the Falcons wound up defeating Steve Young and the powerhouse San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round, so that counts for something.
But the Falcons did overachieve a bit in the regular season. According to Pro Football Reference’s calculations, their expected wins-losses was actually 11.7 and 4.3. So they should have been an 11 or 12 win team, instead of a 14-win team.
But that’s for another day. The main reason we have Atlanta on this list is obvious. They visited the 15-and-1, record-breaking Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship game. Kicker Gary Anderson hadn’t missed a field goal or extra point all season long.
Now, he was brought on to seal the game with just over 2 minutes left, needing a 39-yarder to ice it. And of course, he missed it.
You know the rest. The Falcons drive down the field to force overtime. They go on to win, and the 15-and-1 Vikings see their season come to a heartbreaking end.
But the Falcons’ lucky run didn’t last much longer. John Elway and the Denver Broncos crushed Atlanta by a final score of 34 to 19 in the Super Bowl, giving Vikings fans something to feel better about…we think?
4. 2003 Carolina Panthers
One of the greatest ALMOST Cinderella moments in sports.
The Carolina Panthers needed a lot to go right to reach Super Bowl 38, hence the “Cinderella Story” and all.
This team ranked a mere 15th in the league on offense, and 10th on defense. Pro Football Reference’s Expected Wins-Losses formula suggests they actually should have been closer to an 8 or 9 win team.
Quarterback Jake Delhomme only had 19 touchdowns and 16 picks in the regular season. So yeah, this team didn’t look anything like a Super Bowl contender come playoff time.
But they got rolling with a wild card round victory over the Dallas Cowboys, followed by an overtime win at St. Louis in the Divisional Round. The Panthers took advantage of an awful day from Donovan McNabb in the NFC Championship game, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 14 to 3.
Delhomme and company went toe-to-toe with the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but ultimately, Tom Brady and Adam Vinatieri were too much. The Pats won a doozy, 32 to 29. And Carolina’s shocking yet somewhat undeserving run to the Super Bowl came to an end.
3. 1994 San Diego Chargers
The ‘94 Chargers had top-10 units on both offense and defense, but this group sure needed every bounce to reach the big game. Quarterback Stan Humphries was mediocre at best in the regular season, with 17 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. This team started out 6 and oh, only to split their final 10 games. Still good enough to go 11-and-5, though.
The Chargers ONLY got past Dan Marino’s Miami Dolphins in the Divisional Round because kicker Pete Stoyanovich missed a game-winning 48-yard field goal as time expired.
In the AFC Championship Game, the Chargers’ defense made an excellent goal line stand against the Steelers to secure an unlikely trip to the Super Bowl.
Reality hit the Chargers in Super Bowl 29, though. They were no match for Steve Young and the San Francisco 49ers, who cruised to a 49-26 victory.
2. 1979 Los Angeles Rams
This Rams team finished a mere 9-and-7 on the season, and there wasn’t a whole lot to like about this group. They finished 15th and 11th in scoring offense and defense, respectively. The Rams used four different quarterbacks throughout the season, combining for 19 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. Yikes.
The Rams barely pulled away with a close 21-19 win over the Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional Round. They won a sloppy, mistake-filled 9-nothing game over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Conference Championship.
Los Angeles met the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 14, but the Cinderella run wasn’t meant to be. The Steelers soundly defeated the Rams, 31 to 19, and their undeserving trip to the Super Bowl ended on a sad note.
1. 1999 Tennessee Titans
Sure, the ‘99 Titans won 13 games. Sure, they were led by future MVP Steve McNair and running back Eddie George. But oh, it just takes that ONE CONTROVERSIAL CALL for a Super Bowl entry to not be, well, deserving.
In the AFC Wild Card Round, the Titans trailed the Buffalo Bills 16 to 15. Tennessee realistically had one chance to get around midfield, then attempt a Hail Mary…
Then the Music City Miracle happened…
But if you look a little bit closer, you’ll see the Titans *probably* got away with committing a forward pass…
Well, justice was served when the St. Louis Rams defeated the Titans in Super Bowl 34. Yes, Tennessee had a great team, but a true deserving AFC Champion doesn’t rely on a controversial call from the refs to get there!
Which other Super Bowl teams didn’t deserve to reach the big game?
