The last 10 years of Superbowl Losers

[hepcat]

2006: The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Superbowl 40.  They returned to the playoffs in 2006 with a 9-7 record, facing the Cowboys in the Wild Card round in a memorable game concluded by Tony Romo's infamous botched snap.  They lost to the Chicago Bears in the Divisional Round 27-24.

2007: The Chicago Bears lost to the Indianapolis Colts in Superbowl 41.  They did not return to the playoffs in 2007, finishing 7-9.

2008: The New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants in Superbowl 42 after a 16-0 season.  Tom Brady was injured Week 1 of the 2008 season, and the Patriots (somehow) missed the playoffs with an 11-5 record behind Matt Cassel at QB.

2009: The Arizona Cardinals lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Superbowl 43.  The Cardinals finished 10-6 in 2009 behind Kurt Warner in his final NFL season.  They won one of the most exciting and high scoring playoff games in NFL history in the Wild Card round against the Packers, to be defeated by the eventual Champion New Orleans Saints in the divisional round.

2010: The Indianapolis Colts lost to the New Orleans Saints in Superbowl 44.  They returned to the playoffs in 2010 with a 10-6 record, but lost in the Wild Card round to the New York Jets.

2011: The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Green Bay Packers in Superbowl 45.  They returned to the playoffs in 2011 finishing 12-4 as a Wild Card team, but lost to the The Golden Calf of Bristol led Broncos in what was one of the most surprising walk-off overtime finishes in playoff history.

2012: The New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants in Superbowl 46.  They returned to the playoffs in 2012 with a 12-4 record and made it to the AFC Championship game only to be defeated by the eventual champion Baltimore Ravens.

2013: The San Francisco 49ers lost to the Baltimore Ravens in Superbowl 47.  They returned to the playoffs in 2013 with a 12-4 record as a Wild Card team, only  to lose to the eventual champion Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game.

2014: The Denver Broncos were blown out by the Seattle Seahawks in Superbowl 48.  They returned to the playoffs in 2014 with a 12-4 record but were defeated by the Indianapolis Colts in the Divisional Round.

2015: The Seattle Seahawks lost to the New England Patriots in Superbowl 49.  They returned to the playoffs in 2015 with a 10-6 record as a Wild Card team, but were defeated by the Carolina Panthers in the Divisional Round.

SUPERBOWL LOSER STATS: 

• 9 of 10 had a winning record the following year
• 8 of 10 returned to the playoffs the following year.
• 2 of 10 made it to the championship round of the playoffs
• 0 of 10 made a return trip to the Superbowl

Overall if history is any indication, it looks like a strong possibility the Panthers will indeed return to the playoffs after losing the Superbowl. But history is not on our side in returning to the big game.  This is a small sample size, but no Superbowl loser has even made an appearance after losing the big game.  A Superbowl loser has not made an appearance in the Superbowl the following year since the 1994 Buffalo Bills, who lost 4 in a row.

[Kevin Greene]

Fug history.

[OneBadCat]

But none of those teams had Cam Newton and Luke Keuchly. That's a big difference when you have two all stars at QB and MLB(QB of defense) on both sides of the ball that can change the game and win.

[d-dave]

As fans, we want to believe, but the reality is that getting to the playoffs is really hard, much less winning.  We are very much spoiled  because we had one of the best teams in the NFL and we be the pants off about everyone.  

I hope we buck history, then dab on it, and this time next year, we're hoisting the Lombardi and dabbing somemore!

[imminent rogaine]

Cam doesn't care about history's expectations; he does it his way.

[Seltzer]

Good post OP.  History is definitely not on the side of the Superbowl Loser in terms of making it back to the big game.  I think every year the first objective for any team has to be win the division to guarantee you make the playoffs.  Anything can happen in the playoffs.

Right now, my mentality is to be 4 Time NFC South Champions.  I think going into the season thinking Super Bowl or Bust almost inevitably leads to Bust.

[manu4t]

Good post.  Now it is time to get to work on becoming the first team to win the SB after losing the year before.

[mr beauxjangles]

pimpin' ain't easy

[hepcat]

12 minutes ago, Seltzer said:

Good post OP.  History is definitely not on the side of the Superbowl Loser in terms of making it back to the big game.  I think every year the first objective for any team has to be win the division to guarantee you make the playoffs.  Anything can happen in the playoffs.

Right now, my mentality is to be 4 Time NFC South Champions.  I think going into the season thinking Super Bowl or Bust almost inevitably leads to Bust.

I should add, 5 of the 10 Superbowl losers won their division the following year.  And two of those were the Seahawks in 2006 (who were playing in what was then an embarassingly bad NFC West Division) and the New England Patriots, who win the AFC East every year.  

[KB_fan]

14 minutes ago, manu4t said:

Good post.  Now it is time to get to work on becoming the first team to win the SB after losing the year before.

We wouldn't be the first team to do it, just the first team in quite a long time.... since the perfect '72 dolphins.

 

Quote

In the Super Bowl era two teams have lost the Super Bowl, then won it the following season. The first was the Dallas Cowboys, who lost Super Bowl V to the Baltimore Colts, but came back in 1971 and defeated the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI. The Dolphins repeated the feat in 1972 when they rallied to go a perfect 17-0, capping the season with a win over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

- From an interesting article on the "Super Bowl Curse" at Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_curse

[Jase]

Isn't this a little bit of selection bias by only going back 10 years?

You don't have to go too far back to see the bills that kept getting back to the super bowl and losing.

[CosmoGirl]

1 minute ago, Jase said:

Isn't this a little bit of selection bias by only going back 10 years?

You don't have to go too far back to see the bills that kept getting back to the super bowl and losing.

But going back and losing. :(

[Davidson Deac II]

Even if you have a really good team, the odds of getting to, let alone winning the Superbowl in any one year are slim.  The objective is to be able to consistently be a threat (like New England).  Do that and eventually you will win 1 or 2 of them. 

[hepcat]

3 minutes ago, Jase said:

Isn't this a little bit of selection bias by only going back 10 years?

You don't have to go too far back to see the bills that kept getting back to the super bowl and losing.

I mentioned it in my original post lol.  Honestly the trend holds pretty firm througout NFL history.  A Superbowl run is physically and emotionally draining.  A team like the Seahawks that has been to the Superbowl two years in a row might be even more dangerous after getting an extra month off than they are accustomed to.