Over two weeks, we’re conducting a super study to assess Super Bowl teams. With this painstakingly-detailed look at playoff team precedence, a few key outliers can illustrate which future playoff teams are likely to win the Super Bowl and which future playoff teams are likely to come up short. This study includes 13 statistical factors that impact a playoff team’s championship viability.
Today, the study focuses on how Super Bowl teams fare against fellow playoff teams during the regular season. The chart below examines the regular season record against playoff teams for every Super Bowl combatant. Note that the Super Bowl I teams are italics because the 1966 NFL and AFL seasons included only the league championship games in the playoffs before the super match-up. The odds were simply too low to play the championship opponent in the regular season, so those results are not reliable.
Table 8: Record Against Playoff Teams
| SB | Winner | W-L | SB | Loser | W-L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 66 Packers | 0-0 | I | 66 Chiefs | 1-1 | |
| II | 67 Packers | 1-1 | II | 67 Raiders | 1-0 | |
| III | 68 Jets | 1-1 | III | 68 Colts | 1-1 | |
| IV | 69 Chiefs | 2-2 | IV | 69 Vikings | 2-0 | |
| V | 70 Colts | 1-1 | V | 70 Cowboys | 0-1 | |
| VI | 71 Cowboys | 1-1 | VI | 71 Dolphins | 1-1 | |
| VII | 72 Dolphins | 0-0 | VII | 72 Redskins | 2-1 | |
| VIII | 73 Dolphins | 2-1 | VIII | 73 Vikings | 2-1 | |
| IX | 74 Steelers | 0-1 | IX | 74 Vikings | 1-1 | |
| X | 75 Steelers | 2-1 | X | 75 Cowboys | 2-1 | |
| XI | 76 Raiders | 1-1 | XI | 76 Vikings | 1-0-1 | |
| XII | 77 Cowboys | 2-1 | XII | 77 Broncos | 3-2 | |
| XIII | 78 Steelers | 3-2 | XIII | 78 Cowboys | 3-3 | |
| XIV | 79 Steelers | 3-3 | XIV | 79 Rams | 1-4 | |
| XV | 80 Raiders | 1-3 | XV | 80 Eagles | 3-3 | |
| XVI | 81 49ers | 3-0 | XVI | 81 Bengals | 2-2 | |
| XVII | 82 Redskins | 2-1 | XVII | 82 Dolphins | 2-1 | |
| XVIII | 83 Raiders | 4-3 | XVIII | 83 Redskins | 5-1 | |
| XIX | 84 49ers | 4-1 | XIX | 84 Dolphins | 2-1 | |
| XX | 85 Bears | 4-1 | XX | 85 Patriots | 2-5 | |
| XXI | 86 Giants | 4-0 | XXI | 86 Broncos | 3-3 | |
| XXII | 87 Redskins | 1-0 | XXII | 87 Broncos | 2-3 | |
| XXIII | 88 49ers | 3-2 | XXIII | 88 Bengals | 4-2 | |
| XXIV | 89 49ers | 3-1 | XXIV | 89 Broncos | 2-3 | |
| XXV | 90 Giants | 4-3 | XXV | 90 Bills | 4-3 | |
| XXVI | 91 Redskins | 5-1 | XXVI | 91 Bills | 3-2 | |
| XXVII | 92 Cowboys | 3-2 | XXVII | 92 Bills | 4-2 | |
| XXVIII | 93 Cowboys | 5-1 | XXVIII | 93 Bills | 3-3 | |
| XXIX | 94 49ers | 3-2 | XXIX | 94 Chargers | 3-2 | |
| XXX | 95 Cowboys | 5-2 | XXX | 95 Steelers | 2-2 | |
| XXXI | 96 Packers | 4-2 | XXXI | 96 Patriots | 4-3 | |
| XXXII | 97 Broncos | 2-3 | XXXII | 97 Packers | 7-1 | |
| XXXIII | 98 Broncos | 3-1 | XXXIII | 98 Falcons | 3-2 | |
| XXXIV | 99 Rams | 0-2 | XXXIV | 99 Titans | 3-1 | |
| XXXV | 00 Ravens | 1-2 | XXXV | 00 Giants | 2-1 | |
| XXXVI | 01 Patriots | 2-2 | XXXVI | 01 Rams | 6-1 | |
| XXXVII | 02 Buccaneers | 4-2 | XXXVII | 02 Raiders | 3-1 | |
| XXXVIII | 03 Patriots | 5-0 | XXXVIII | 03 Panthers | 1-3 | |
| XXXIX | 04 Patriots | 5-1 | XXXIX | 04 Eagles | 2-2 | |
| XL | 05 Steelers | 2-4 | XL | 05 Seahawks | 2-2 | |
| XLI | 06 Colts | 4-1 | XLI | 06 Bears | 3-1 | |
| XLII | 07 Giants | 1-5 | XLII | 07 Patriots | 6-0 | |
| XLIII | 08 Steelers | 3-4 | XLIII | 08 Cardinals | 1-4 | |
| XLIV | 09 Saints | 3-1 | XLIV | 09 Colts | 3-1 | |
| XLV | 10 Packers | 3-3 | XLV | 10 Steelers | 2-4 | |
| XLVI | 11 Giants | 1-3 | XLVI | 11 Patriots | 1-2 | |
| XLVII | 12 Ravens | 2-4 | XLVII | 12 49ers | 3-2 | |
| XLVIII | 13 Seahawks | 3-2 | XLVIII | 13 Broncos | 4-3 | |
| XLIX | 14 Patriots | 4-1 | XLIX | 14 Seahawks | 5-1 |
Red flag: No games v. playoff teams (before 1978) OR .200 win percentage or worse v. playoff teams (since 1978)
Amber flag: No wins v. playoff teams (before 1978) OR one win v. playoff teams (since 1978)
Once again, we don’t see a specific trend for this factor. Perhaps there was a hypothesis that the 2002 realignment affected how many playoff teams a Super Bowl would play, but there doesn’t seem to be any affect.
Now let’s compile a list of Super Bowl teams that earned red or amber flags in the 13 factors for playoff team precedence. This will allows us to see how many Super Bowl teams compiled flags and determine how many flags a normal Super Bowl team should own. We’ll then determine the most unlikely Super Bowl combatants. First, here’s the overall Super Bowl champions flag count:
- Five red flags, one amber flag: 2011 Giants
- Five red flags: 2007 Giants
- Two red flags: 1988 49ers, 1999 Rams, 2010 Packers
- One red flag, two amber flags: 2012 Ravens
- One red flag, one amber flag: 1981 49ers, 2001 Patriots, 2006 Colts
- One red flag: 1970 Colts, 1972 Dolphins, 1993 Cowboys
- Two amber flags: 1987 Redskins, 2000 Ravens, 2009 Saints
- One amber flag: 1967 Packers, 1969 Chiefs, 1974 Steelers, 1979 Steelers, 1980 Raiders, 1995 Cowboys, 1997 Broncos, 2005 Steelers
Next, here’s the overall Super Bowl losers flag count:
- Three red flags: 2008 Cardinals
- Two red flags, two amber flags: 1979 Rams
- Two red flags, one amber flag: 1981 Bengals
- Two red flags: 1998 Falcons
- One red flag, two amber flags: 2003 Panthers
- One red flag, one amber flag: 1988 Bengals, 1996 Patriots, 2000 Giants
- One red flag: 1980 Eagles, 2002 Raiders, 2005 Seahawks
- Three amber flags: 1970 Cowboys
- Two amber flags: 1985 Patriots, 1986 Broncos
- One amber flag: 1969 Vikings, 1971 Dolphins, 1972 Redskins, 1982 Dolphins, 1984 Dolphins, 1987 Broncos, 1989 Broncos, 1992 Bills, 2004 Eagles, 2006 Bears, 2009 Colts, 2010 Steelers, 2011 Patriots, 2012 49ers
Now with eight factors complete, there are 47 Super Bowl combatants (47.96 percent) who still yet to be flagged. However, with more than half of the Super Bowl combatants receiving at least one flag, it’s becoming more apparent that one or two flags will be quite normal for a Super Bowl combatant. We’ll see if that trend continues.
Up next: Blowout Losses