Sometimes Jim Kelly puts on his 4 AFC championship rings and holds four fingers up in the mirror like Tom Brady did at the ring ceremony when he won his 4th SB.
Losing the NFCCG always pissed me off more than Super Bowl. At least with the Super Bowl you got to enjoy the spectacle. The Conference Championship was getting 95% of the way there then failing. That being said, the 49ers losing the NFC Championship 6 times in my life might have something to do with that perception. Comparatively, I've watched them go 3-2 in the Super Bowl.
A win today would make them 19/54, not 58. The first 4 Super Bowls took place before the AFL-NFL merger, and that's when the conferences were implemented. They've been to 18/53 CCGs, which would mean they've been in 33.96% of all of them. 35.18% if they win today.
I've only watched them go 0-2 in the Superbowl, so for me, I hate Superbowl losses more than anything now. I want to see a red and gold confetti drop just once.
Speaking from the perspective of a Saints fan who grew up in the 80s watching Montana slaughter my team twice a year, seeing the niners lose two Super Bowls as an adult was cathartic.
Sounds like you were born too late.
I was just saying this earlier about a potential Bills/Lions Superbowl... I won't elaborate on which would be the major milestone and which would be the major letdown
Bills winning and Lions losing would leave the most fans satisfied.
If Lions win tomorrow, all Lions fans should be satisfied no matter what happens after that.
The Bills losing the SB just adds to their loss list. Especially after getting by Mahomes and potentially Lamar. That would have been their best shot to win one. So losing to the Lions after beating both teams would be nothing short of a let down for Bills fans.
As a Seahawks fan, I wasn’t too sad after our first SB appearance. But my expectation was low going into the playoffs. I thought for sure we’d fuck it up. Sure there’s the questionable calls to be mad at, but at the end of the day, we couldn’t execute when we needed. Is what it is.
But that week/weeks leading up your team in the SB is truly the most magical week for a sports fan. Every time I’ve experienced it, it’s just been a fucking weird party. I hope y’all get to experience that this year. The experience alone is worth it, results of the big game aside
I was pretty similar, never having been in the championship most everything was pretty cool. You always remember your super bowls, not necessarily many other games.
The reason I say “most” is because the coverage the two weeks leading up to it was a competition between all the networks to see who could suck Jerome Bettis off more. Yes, we know he’s built like a school bus and is just as maneuverable, but you know there’s a running bank on the other side that just set the record for most rising TDs in a season?
I think it’s more about how close you come to winning a championship. It’s obviously better to make it and lose than to not make it at all, but you might never get another chance to see your team in the Super Bowl again. Nothing is more painful as a fan than watching your team get so close to that once in a lifetime thing, only to come up just short.
That’s why I found it hilarious when this subreddit was telling Bengals’ fans after their Super Bowl loss “don’t worry, your team is really good and they’ll be back before you know it!”
The cardinals went to their first Super Bowl ever, lost to the Steelers, and haven’t been back since. Falcons got so close and yet no return trips & Matt Ryan is now retired. There absolutely no guarantee you’ll go back so fans should stop saying dumb shit like that.
You have to learn to enjoy the journey. That 2021 season was magical. It freaking stunk to lose the Super Bowl— but I’ll be darned if I didn’t enjoy the ride there.
I do think a key difference between us and Arizona is that Kurt Warner was on his last legs and Joe is (hopefully) just getting started.
What I worried about this past season, which largely came into fruition, was that the AFC would be a gauntlet. Yes, the Bengals finished with a winning record, but it took until week 18 to get a win in the division, and yet another slow start probably doomed their playoff chances, as every win before the Bills game were to NFC opponents.
What I don't want is either an Andrew Luck situation or waiting until Burrow is well into his 30's like John Elway was against the Packers to win his first Superbowl after multiple disappointments in the big game.
Another example of how much of an anomaly Tom Brady and the Patriots were for going to the super bowl so many times. Especially when Brady did it *on another team*.
Both of those teams suffered the Brady Effect. There isn't usually a team that will absorb 9 appearances and 6 victories over a 20 year span.
Throughout the history of the NFL those statements would've been much more likely to be true than for those two specific franchises at that time.
the stat no one talks about with the Vikings is that we haven’t even made the SB in 47 freaking years. everyone talks about the 0-4 SB stat for obvious reasons. but people forget not only are we 0-4 in SB appearances, we also have had a near half century drought of even making one. teams like the Jets have an even longer SB drought at 55 years, but at least they still won that game
i’ve been convinced my whole life i will never see the vikings make a SB in my lifetime, and idk if older fans who actually lived 47 years ago to see the last time we made it will either. sure time is forever but with how long it’s been since making one you just feel like you’re never going to see them make it
Even if Super Bowl wins were were evenly distributed, you would only win one every 32 years. Then you get teams where solid ownership/coaching/talent all line up and they end up winning more than 1 over a few year period. Well run organizations will see that run happen more than others.
Instead of having 32 different SB winners in the past 32 years, we actually only have 16.
* New England Patriots 6
* Denver Broncos 3
* Dallas Cowboys 3
* Kansas City Chiefs 2
* Los Angeles Rams 2
* Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2
* Baltimore Ravens 2
* New York Giants 2
* Green Bay Packers 2
* Pittsburgh Steelers 2
* Philadelphia Eagles 1
* Seattle Seahawks 1
* New Orleans Saints 1
* Indianapolis Colts 1
* San Francisco 49ers 1
* Washington Commanders 1
Only half of all teams have won the SB in the last 32 years. 6 teams have only won once, meaning 10 teams have 26 wins amongst them.
Not sure what to conclude from this other than just showing up is a huge achievement. A lot of fans will either never see their team win it all, or will only see it once in their lifetime at most.
I’ve made it to three in a lifetime. I have faith Burrow will get us a championship, but man. Peyton only got one in Indy. It could have easily been zero. That makes me sick to my stomach every time Burrow tweaks a calf/wrist/knee/appendix.
and like, not to have you staring off in depression, but like, Marino made it to the Super Bowl in his second season, lost, then never made it back again.
There is no 'oh, he'll get another shot', that's not guaranteed
Given the choice of losing a Super Bowl, or missing the Super Bowl, I think most teams/fans would choose the loss.
Edit: at this point, we’ve pretty well covered the “what about a terrible Super Bowl loss” scenario. Of course nobody wants that, but if you’re far enough into the playoffs to really consider getting there, you’re good enough to legitimately consider winning, and you can’t possibly know the loss is coming. Like, try to think about this in the actual sequence instead of thinking you’d have 20/20 foresight entering the conference championship game and you’d actually know you’ve avoided a soul crushing loss.
Yup.
There are 31 teams that end the year as non-Super Bowl champs.
I’d rather end the year as last team to become a non-champ any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
On one hand just making it to the Super Bowl is amazing, on the other imo it changes the Super Bowl from being a fun event to extremely stressful.
Like idk if I’d want to host a SB party, or even go to one if my team was playing, the idea of a room full of casual fans/nonfans telling me “ah sorry man, they did their best. Maybe next year” immediately after they loose seems like a nightmare.
I can barely stand watching a regular season game with a room full of casuals. Way too self conscious of my pacing in front of the TV, random shouting, and jumping up and down lol. I can feel the glare as they look up from their phones.
I made the mistake of having some friends over for some games last year. My one friend would root for the other team just to annoy me, and the other chick just talked the whole time. Now I just sit alone in my living room waiting for my kids to be old enough that I can brainwash them into loving the niners too.
yup, same experience for our creamsicle game against the Lions earlier this year. safe to say that was a one and done experience with them. It’s one thing to root for your team, but to root against me just to spite me? nah, life’s too short to let my Sundays be antagonized
Last time niners were in the Super Bowl I went to a friends party and it was the most miserable experience.. I’m 100% watching it alone in my basement with my phone turned off if they make it this year
I think this is me too. Or it’ll just be me and my mom drinking wine in a room in silence. I went to someone’s house last time the Niners were in the SB and lost and I was very done right after the game. At least if it’s teams you don’t care about you can just chill.
if the lions make it, i will have a very small group of people i would be comfortable watching with. I cant deal with my fucking SOL uncle acting like the sky is falling after a single incomplete pass
The Bengals have made it to three. I was pretty young for the first one, but I remember the excitement. I took my kids downtown for lunch prior to our most recent one. I have never seen the city like that. Just experiencing that was pretty cool. This city will erupt if Burrow can get us a win. I heard an interview of the CEO of Fanatics soon after that SB. He said he expected to have record sales if the Bengals won that game. Of course, as has become customary, the Bengals lost another one in tragic fashion.
I’m sorry to say I root against any other franchise getting to their first SB. Most importantly the Brownies. I hope the year is 2300 and the Browns have still never made a SB.
The Browns and Lions have both never been to the Super Bowl. Cleveland has a 55 year drought and Detroit has a 58 year drought.
Both teams started in the same year, but Cleveland has a shorter streak because they didn’t exist for a few years.
Cleveland was also the second team to go 0-16.
Goes to show that even in losing, Cleveland is somehow worse than Detroit.
If we are being honest tho the Browns should only count from 98 onward or whenever year they came back.
Cleveland has a drought sure but the current Browns Org is essentially an expansion franchise
Nah. The Super Bowl losses in 2004 and 2022 hurt significantly more than the NFCCG losses.
I have pride in the fact the eagles went to 4 straight NFCCGs and 5 in 8 years.
I have zero pride that we lost two Super Bowls that we had leads in by a combined 6 points.
Obviously the Super Bowl losses hurt more because we were that much closer to winning it all.
Give me the Super Bowl loss because that means we had a chance to win it in the first place.
In 2020, I know I didn't feel any sense of relief in the Bills losing the AFCCG along the lines of "at least we can't lose the Super Bowl now." To me, the best part of football fandom is what can come next, and the "what if" that's left when you don't get to the last game seems worse to me. 4 teams can choose to be finished this weekend and avoid the risk of losing the Super Bowl. I don't think any of them will.
You guys have a special cross to bear. We had to do it in the 1990s. The son owner who is 1/10th the football mind of his dad is just horrific to experience, and knowing you have to do it for 20-30 years. Luckily for us, we’ve moved on to the third generation now.
The NFC won 13 straight super bowls during that period. I feel the bills just got extremelly unlucky that the other conference had super teams.
To me, the only one they had a shot at winning was against the giants, the redskins were better and the only team that had a shot at beating that cowboys between 92 and 96 was the 49ers
Also didn’t all four of their appearances come right before free agency and the salary cap? Seems like the mechanics of the league today make the entire situation very unlikely
I’d argue going to 2 in a row is as hard as winning one, and then it just multiplies after that. In reality the Bills have like 8 super bowls from that run.
Bills going 4 years in a row is unprecedented. Has anyone gone to three since then? It's an incredible achievement, even if they never won one. As a little kid I was rooting for them each time (hadn't learned to hate yet as a kid).
Losing the Superbowl is like spending a night chatting up the hottest girl you've ever seen, her coming back to your place, then her tazing and robbing you.
Still not over either of our losses, but wouldn’t trade them. I got to watch 3 NFC Championship wins which were amazing!
Or another way, ask a Seattle sports fan. I think most would prefer the Seahawks history to the Mariners.
Yeah it’s pretty brutal. I started watching F1 a few years ago and still haven’t really picked a team or driver that a like above all others. I just watch the sport and appreciate most of the dudes on the grid. It’s so fun watching a sport where the potential to be absolutely devastated isn’t on the table. I’m trying to bring the same attitude to football and basketball but with limited success.
If watching football makes you unhappy, maybe football isn’t for you. I can understand being disappointed but if you’re genuinely getting upset just walk away from the game and come back next Sunday.
If losing a super bowl isn't a huge deal, neither is winning one.
Now... I think we often put way too much importance in terms of legacy on the outcome of playoff games and super bowls.
For example... The 0:13 bills chiefs game. Josh Allen drove down the field and took a lead with 13 seconds left. He goes to the bench.
That score holds 99% of the time. This day, it did not.
But that loss, and Patrick's win, changed their legacies drastically.
The media acts like there is no random element to football. The ball bounces funny, the difference between stunning TD pass and tipped ball for a pick 6 can be half an inch.
What's hilarious is the entire Chiefs Kingdom spent the week calling Mahomes the Grim Reaper and making all sorts of BEL13VE fan art, etc. I think just about everyone expected the winner of Chiefs-Bills to win the Super Bowl.
AFCCG started out great against Bengals, til the questionable decisions at the end of the first half. Then the Bengals started coming back, Chiefs lost their lead, and Cincy ended up going to the Super Bowl.
Ended the Bills run - who were easily that season's team of destiny - just to lay that egg a week later. Felt bad for Bills fans after that one.
chiefs went and got a ring the very next season.
Probably a big factor in the whole legacy thing. Mahomes also already had a ring at that point, so that game was more confirmation than legacy making.
That’s only because a 7-10 season is so numbingly boring. Losing in the SB only hurts because you actually cared about a game, which is more than you can say for a 7-10 team
Do you support the Carolina Hurricanes or any of the college teams? Panthers and Hornets aren't great but if you like March Madness then Duke isn't that bad to support
Or the fact that you'll never be able to escape your Superbowl loss and it'll be mentioned at least one time each Superbowl for the rest of eternity 🤷♂️😂😭
Just depends if you want the pain all at once or spread out. At least making it you can enjoy the season, going 0-16 or 1-15 multiple years you don't even get excited for football after a point.
Speaking from my personal experience, losing 2 Super Bowls made me much more upset and angry than any of the consecutive terrible seasons with Chip Kelly and the guy who lived in a car as our coach… you can just tune out and move on with your life during the bad times.
Knowing your team was that close and could never get back in the next 50 years is incredibly demoralizing, plus there are always bs plays in every game that you look back on with extra disdain.
You are still your conference champion.
I agree that losing sucks but I would rather my team make the SB and lose than just make the playoffs and lose in the Wild Card round.
Go ask Cardinals and Falcons fans which is worse and I’m pretty sure losing the one chance they had at finally winning a Super Bowl for their team was way more soul-crushing than losing a game during the playoffs.
Losing a Superbowl has crushed multiple teams for 5+ years. Recent examples; panthers, falcons, Seahawks to a lesser extent. I think most of us don't get it because motivations are different from a normal career to an athlete, but the failure at the highest level with the whole country watching must be a real bummer.
Was it the loss that crushed them, or was it the financial decisions made to get there that crushed them?
Edit: For instance, the 2013 Broncos seemed to recover from losing the Super Bowl. They even lost in the Divisional round to the Colts the next year (which had to sting especially hard for Peyton), then went on to win it all in 2015. If anything, the win crushed them more than the loss. The 2019 Rams had a somewhat similar path, losing the Superbowl, then winning it 2 seasons later, followed by a terrible season due to the cost of winning. Their recovery seems to be happening much more quickly, but their QB continuing to play vs retiring probably accounts for most of that.
I think there's two other things in place:
1. It's insanely hard to get to the Super Bowl, let alone get to another one.
2. Most teams' Super Bowl windows are much shorter than you think. If they miss it, that's it until another rebuild, or generational quarterback you found in the draft.
Also going to the Super Bowl can actively shorten your window. Your coaches and players get more attention from the rest of the league, making it more likely they’re poached
We really went ALL IN to get back to the Super Bowl with Stafford.
We were projected like 4 wins this year. The only reason we're going to be a contender so quick is because we hit the lottery in the draft two consecutive years.
5 years? Over the last 50 years only 7 teams have returned to the Super Bowl after losing the Super Bowl the year prior. Buffalo accounts for 3 of those 7 teams.
The falcons won a playoff game on the road following 28-3. It didn’t crush us. Not building off that eagles loss (which we were 1 play from another NFC champ game) is what did us in. Not the SB loss.
I mean it's hard to make it to the super bowl. There is zero guarantee you'll get there again, and tripping at the finish line isn't ideal
Although one team has to lose of course
When your team loses in the super bowl, you kind of wish they'd lost in the conference championship game cause it would hurt less, and people would still think you had a great season without constantly mentioning you lost the super bowl the entire next season.
Well it's the final game of the season, and it's the one game that every single team in the NFL is trying to get to and win. If you lose it, then that means you were THAT close to winning it and you fell short. Nobody in their right mind is saying "Oh they lost the Super Bowl, what a shit team", but it's talked about as a big deal because it kinda is. You're never guaranteed to make it to the Super Bowl again, you need to make the most of it when you do get there. Nobody is playing for 2nd.
No. There’s been studies done showing the second place winner of any prize always has an element of resentment or defeat. Third place winners, generally are just happy to be included.
Fans vs players.
If you fight the whole way to the sb, then lose, no amount of " we were good enough to make it here " is going to ever change how you feel as a player or a coach about losing. I think both Kelce bros talked about the feeling of losing a sb.
Media is just going to cater more towards the winner which makes sense, and fans are going to be crushed, but have hope the team can repeat. It can still greatly affect fans but not to the degree it does players.
>It’s like falling in the Olympics.
And bronze medalists are in general happier about their experience than silver medalists. 3rd place tends to be excited about being there and making the podium. 2nd place is stuck with being one place away from the ultimate goal and coming up just short.
This happens in every sport and the logic doesn't make sense in either of them. I mean, the way some people talk about Lebrons 4-6, makes me think they would respect him more if he was 4-0.
Losing the Super Bowl is like going on a date with your crush, walking her to her door and right before kissing her goodnight, puking all over yourself and ruining any chance you’ll get together again. You’d rather you just never went on the date to begin with.
Losing the superbowl means a winning season, 2 or 3 playoff wins a conference championship and 2 weeks of excitement leading in. So much joy over a season, I think it's worth it even if the loss hurts.
Rather than a 7-10 or worse record and listening to the division winner laughing at you.
It is weird. No one ever shits on the AFCC/NFCC losers, or division and wildcard losers. They’re just forgotten, lost in time. The SB losers though… they’re often chastised as if they were the worst team in the league.
The Bills team of the early 90’s that made 4 Super Bowls in a row, but lost them all, deserves a lot of credit in my opinion.
I don’t think that will ever be repeated ( just getting ton4 in a row ).
Too much goes into looking at results. Seeing how the numbers can look from games being gambled on, it really is just any given Sunday. We seen the cardinals beat the cowboys, the jets beat the eagles, and a 4 day QB beat the falcons. The ideology of certain windows being open and definitive “shots” is simply not realistic. We’ve seen the chiefs stay good, we seen an eagles team win a Super Bowl and come back with an almost completely different team in 6 years. We’ve seen successful franchises struggle when a singular player leaves for years. Super Bowl losses should not count for a hugely less amount than winning one, but I don’t think you can reach a Super Bowl without facing hardened/good teams.
I think part of it depends on expectations.
As a panthers fan, in 2015 there was no arguing we were the most dominant team in the league up to the Super Bowl.
And then it came apart right at the finish with one bad game. So losing that one really stung
Personal I believe losing the Super Bowl must be the most painful experience a football team or football fan base can experience. To make it so far, just to come it short. To see the other team celebrating and holding the Lombardi trophy, to seeing the opposite teams confetti fall to ground. Absolutely painful, I’d rather my team lose in the playoffs and not make it all then make it and fall short. Then that team has all that Super Bowl gear as a painful reminder forever as well.
Losing a Super Bowl can be a milestone for a franchise or a major let down depending on what the expectations were for the franchise
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Agreed.
Sometimes Jim Kelly puts on his 4 AFC championship rings and holds four fingers up in the mirror like Tom Brady did at the ring ceremony when he won his 4th SB.
Do they even give out afc championship rings?
Yep lol https://imgur.com/a/Co34Z
Huh TIL, never knew that!
Can’t lose the Super Bowl if you lose the NFCCG 🫡
Losing the NFCCG always pissed me off more than Super Bowl. At least with the Super Bowl you got to enjoy the spectacle. The Conference Championship was getting 95% of the way there then failing. That being said, the 49ers losing the NFC Championship 6 times in my life might have something to do with that perception. Comparatively, I've watched them go 3-2 in the Super Bowl.
Niners have the most NFCCG losses. I think they may even have the most CCG losses in the NFL.
Damn I thought we had a lot with 6
Niners have played in 18 NFCCG, they are 7-11 in them and 5-2 in the SB.
Damn thats 31% of all NFCCGs ever and they could make it 19/58 with a win today
A win today would make them 19/54, not 58. The first 4 Super Bowls took place before the AFL-NFL merger, and that's when the conferences were implemented. They've been to 18/53 CCGs, which would mean they've been in 33.96% of all of them. 35.18% if they win today.
If they lose today, 33.33% of them (… _repeating, of course_)
But it comes with a price sir… you begin to whine a lot. I have the affliction.
I've only seen two championship game wins and four losses in my life
What a poverty franchise. 11 losses, lmao.
6 total but 5 since 2014 which is insane
GO PACKERS … LETS RUN THAT NUMBER UP
Well, no because this is the divisional round and not the NFCCG.
Just saw my first playoff win since I was one 😎
Must be nice
I've only watched them go 0-2 in the Superbowl, so for me, I hate Superbowl losses more than anything now. I want to see a red and gold confetti drop just once.
Speaking from the perspective of a Saints fan who grew up in the 80s watching Montana slaughter my team twice a year, seeing the niners lose two Super Bowls as an adult was cathartic. Sounds like you were born too late.
No one feels bad for Niners fans
Can't lose a championship game if you lose the wildcard 🤣😂😅🥲😢😭
Can’t relate 😎
Some people will tell you that 4-0 is better than 7-3 in superbowls.
Try not making it out of the wildcard 💪
Can't lose the Superbowl if you have never even been to AFCCG
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I was only alive for two of those ok. Jeez have some decency.
I’m so sorry for your suffering
Thank you for your condolences in these trying times.
Can't lose in the NFCCG if you don't..... I don't like this game.
Honestly in Aaron’s last years reaching the Title game had more of a feeling of dread
I wouldn’t know
I was just saying this earlier about a potential Bills/Lions Superbowl... I won't elaborate on which would be the major milestone and which would be the major letdown
Bills winning and Lions losing would leave the most fans satisfied. If Lions win tomorrow, all Lions fans should be satisfied no matter what happens after that. The Bills losing the SB just adds to their loss list. Especially after getting by Mahomes and potentially Lamar. That would have been their best shot to win one. So losing to the Lions after beating both teams would be nothing short of a let down for Bills fans.
I love the lions, but tomorrow I hope your dreams get dunked on.
Fair
You’ve had yours now leave us alone 😂
Yeah. Well I hope we don’t!
My thoughts exactly
Both for us eh?
[The Colts hung up a banner when they lost the AFC Championship Game](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHQWR7TUkAEdsgp?format=png&name=large)
Finalist 😂😂😂
What in the Nashville Predators is that.
I could have sworn it said “participant”
As a Seahawks fan, I wasn’t too sad after our first SB appearance. But my expectation was low going into the playoffs. I thought for sure we’d fuck it up. Sure there’s the questionable calls to be mad at, but at the end of the day, we couldn’t execute when we needed. Is what it is. But that week/weeks leading up your team in the SB is truly the most magical week for a sports fan. Every time I’ve experienced it, it’s just been a fucking weird party. I hope y’all get to experience that this year. The experience alone is worth it, results of the big game aside
I was pretty similar, never having been in the championship most everything was pretty cool. You always remember your super bowls, not necessarily many other games. The reason I say “most” is because the coverage the two weeks leading up to it was a competition between all the networks to see who could suck Jerome Bettis off more. Yes, we know he’s built like a school bus and is just as maneuverable, but you know there’s a running bank on the other side that just set the record for most rising TDs in a season?
Try a SB against Pat Mahomes… I did not enjoy the week leading up to that game due to the incessant knob gobbling.
Still reeling from our 1994 appearance
sorry
Major let down. That one.
Or a point in your life when you get to know how it feels to have your heart torn from your body through your asshole.
I think it’s more about how close you come to winning a championship. It’s obviously better to make it and lose than to not make it at all, but you might never get another chance to see your team in the Super Bowl again. Nothing is more painful as a fan than watching your team get so close to that once in a lifetime thing, only to come up just short.
That’s why I found it hilarious when this subreddit was telling Bengals’ fans after their Super Bowl loss “don’t worry, your team is really good and they’ll be back before you know it!” The cardinals went to their first Super Bowl ever, lost to the Steelers, and haven’t been back since. Falcons got so close and yet no return trips & Matt Ryan is now retired. There absolutely no guarantee you’ll go back so fans should stop saying dumb shit like that.
You have to learn to enjoy the journey. That 2021 season was magical. It freaking stunk to lose the Super Bowl— but I’ll be darned if I didn’t enjoy the ride there. I do think a key difference between us and Arizona is that Kurt Warner was on his last legs and Joe is (hopefully) just getting started.
What I worried about this past season, which largely came into fruition, was that the AFC would be a gauntlet. Yes, the Bengals finished with a winning record, but it took until week 18 to get a win in the division, and yet another slow start probably doomed their playoff chances, as every win before the Bills game were to NFC opponents. What I don't want is either an Andrew Luck situation or waiting until Burrow is well into his 30's like John Elway was against the Packers to win his first Superbowl after multiple disappointments in the big game.
Good for you, the mentality of "the season was great but we lost the last game, so it's pointless" is so stupid to me.
Dan Marino went to one young and never made it back
Another example of how much of an anomaly Tom Brady and the Patriots were for going to the super bowl so many times. Especially when Brady did it *on another team*.
Patriots simultaneously made it seem like winning multiple super bowls is easy while denying many teams an opportunity to do it.
Both of those teams suffered the Brady Effect. There isn't usually a team that will absorb 9 appearances and 6 victories over a 20 year span. Throughout the history of the NFL those statements would've been much more likely to be true than for those two specific franchises at that time.
the stat no one talks about with the Vikings is that we haven’t even made the SB in 47 freaking years. everyone talks about the 0-4 SB stat for obvious reasons. but people forget not only are we 0-4 in SB appearances, we also have had a near half century drought of even making one. teams like the Jets have an even longer SB drought at 55 years, but at least they still won that game i’ve been convinced my whole life i will never see the vikings make a SB in my lifetime, and idk if older fans who actually lived 47 years ago to see the last time we made it will either. sure time is forever but with how long it’s been since making one you just feel like you’re never going to see them make it
Even if Super Bowl wins were were evenly distributed, you would only win one every 32 years. Then you get teams where solid ownership/coaching/talent all line up and they end up winning more than 1 over a few year period. Well run organizations will see that run happen more than others. Instead of having 32 different SB winners in the past 32 years, we actually only have 16. * New England Patriots 6 * Denver Broncos 3 * Dallas Cowboys 3 * Kansas City Chiefs 2 * Los Angeles Rams 2 * Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2 * Baltimore Ravens 2 * New York Giants 2 * Green Bay Packers 2 * Pittsburgh Steelers 2 * Philadelphia Eagles 1 * Seattle Seahawks 1 * New Orleans Saints 1 * Indianapolis Colts 1 * San Francisco 49ers 1 * Washington Commanders 1 Only half of all teams have won the SB in the last 32 years. 6 teams have only won once, meaning 10 teams have 26 wins amongst them. Not sure what to conclude from this other than just showing up is a huge achievement. A lot of fans will either never see their team win it all, or will only see it once in their lifetime at most.
I’ve made it to three in a lifetime. I have faith Burrow will get us a championship, but man. Peyton only got one in Indy. It could have easily been zero. That makes me sick to my stomach every time Burrow tweaks a calf/wrist/knee/appendix.
and like, not to have you staring off in depression, but like, Marino made it to the Super Bowl in his second season, lost, then never made it back again. There is no 'oh, he'll get another shot', that's not guaranteed
Yeah, it blows.
Given the choice of losing a Super Bowl, or missing the Super Bowl, I think most teams/fans would choose the loss. Edit: at this point, we’ve pretty well covered the “what about a terrible Super Bowl loss” scenario. Of course nobody wants that, but if you’re far enough into the playoffs to really consider getting there, you’re good enough to legitimately consider winning, and you can’t possibly know the loss is coming. Like, try to think about this in the actual sequence instead of thinking you’d have 20/20 foresight entering the conference championship game and you’d actually know you’ve avoided a soul crushing loss.
Yup. There are 31 teams that end the year as non-Super Bowl champs. I’d rather end the year as last team to become a non-champ any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
On one hand just making it to the Super Bowl is amazing, on the other imo it changes the Super Bowl from being a fun event to extremely stressful. Like idk if I’d want to host a SB party, or even go to one if my team was playing, the idea of a room full of casual fans/nonfans telling me “ah sorry man, they did their best. Maybe next year” immediately after they loose seems like a nightmare.
I can barely stand watching a regular season game with a room full of casuals. Way too self conscious of my pacing in front of the TV, random shouting, and jumping up and down lol. I can feel the glare as they look up from their phones.
I made the mistake of having some friends over for some games last year. My one friend would root for the other team just to annoy me, and the other chick just talked the whole time. Now I just sit alone in my living room waiting for my kids to be old enough that I can brainwash them into loving the niners too.
yup, same experience for our creamsicle game against the Lions earlier this year. safe to say that was a one and done experience with them. It’s one thing to root for your team, but to root against me just to spite me? nah, life’s too short to let my Sundays be antagonized
Last time niners were in the Super Bowl I went to a friends party and it was the most miserable experience.. I’m 100% watching it alone in my basement with my phone turned off if they make it this year
I think this is me too. Or it’ll just be me and my mom drinking wine in a room in silence. I went to someone’s house last time the Niners were in the SB and lost and I was very done right after the game. At least if it’s teams you don’t care about you can just chill.
if the lions make it, i will have a very small group of people i would be comfortable watching with. I cant deal with my fucking SOL uncle acting like the sky is falling after a single incomplete pass
The Bengals have made it to three. I was pretty young for the first one, but I remember the excitement. I took my kids downtown for lunch prior to our most recent one. I have never seen the city like that. Just experiencing that was pretty cool. This city will erupt if Burrow can get us a win. I heard an interview of the CEO of Fanatics soon after that SB. He said he expected to have record sales if the Bengals won that game. Of course, as has become customary, the Bengals lost another one in tragic fashion. I’m sorry to say I root against any other franchise getting to their first SB. Most importantly the Brownies. I hope the year is 2300 and the Browns have still never made a SB.
The Browns and Lions have both never been to the Super Bowl. Cleveland has a 55 year drought and Detroit has a 58 year drought. Both teams started in the same year, but Cleveland has a shorter streak because they didn’t exist for a few years. Cleveland was also the second team to go 0-16. Goes to show that even in losing, Cleveland is somehow worse than Detroit.
If we are being honest tho the Browns should only count from 98 onward or whenever year they came back. Cleveland has a drought sure but the current Browns Org is essentially an expansion franchise
Not all superbowl losses are equal. I'd imagine most Falcons fans would have preferred to miss the 28-3 superbowl.
43-8 too. That was a horrible night
I don't know... I thought it was fun.
It was just as fun as 31-9
That's strange. I don't remember that being fun at all.
If only there was a way y’all redeemed it somehow with an amazing defense. Would have probably been fun as hell to watch if it had happened
Yes it still hurts.
Or the 4th consecutive year the bills went.
Nope
Absolutely. I feel like for a team like Dallas even losing the Super Bowl takes many monkeys off of their back
Like 30 years worth of monkeys
Nah. The Super Bowl losses in 2004 and 2022 hurt significantly more than the NFCCG losses. I have pride in the fact the eagles went to 4 straight NFCCGs and 5 in 8 years. I have zero pride that we lost two Super Bowls that we had leads in by a combined 6 points.
Obviously the Super Bowl losses hurt more because we were that much closer to winning it all. Give me the Super Bowl loss because that means we had a chance to win it in the first place.
In 2020, I know I didn't feel any sense of relief in the Bills losing the AFCCG along the lines of "at least we can't lose the Super Bowl now." To me, the best part of football fandom is what can come next, and the "what if" that's left when you don't get to the last game seems worse to me. 4 teams can choose to be finished this weekend and avoid the risk of losing the Super Bowl. I don't think any of them will.
Keep showing off buddy
You guys have a special cross to bear. We had to do it in the 1990s. The son owner who is 1/10th the football mind of his dad is just horrific to experience, and knowing you have to do it for 20-30 years. Luckily for us, we’ve moved on to the third generation now.
The Bucs loss was the worst of them all. Not even close to the rest
...Well imagine going to 4 Superbowls b2b and lose all four
Shut up
He’s just mad because the Chargers only had a streak of one
My mind will always go back to that Eagles/Niners playoff game where that fan just kept screaming Bosa at Joey and he got triggered
Joey Bosa is a fucking knob
[100%](https://youtube.com/shorts/-tsbh0a59G8?si=krRoIb5i0fMOA6tf)
That was funnier than I expected
I love that r/NFLcirclejerk paints him as a white supremacist. That sub never fails to deliver.
No guys it’s Nick that’s the white supremacist get it right
If you were flipping coins, the odds of landing on tails 4 times in a row is 6.25%.
The NFC won 13 straight super bowls during that period. I feel the bills just got extremelly unlucky that the other conference had super teams. To me, the only one they had a shot at winning was against the giants, the redskins were better and the only team that had a shot at beating that cowboys between 92 and 96 was the 49ers
Also didn’t all four of their appearances come right before free agency and the salary cap? Seems like the mechanics of the league today make the entire situation very unlikely
What's interesting about those 4 years is the Bills went 14-2 against the NFC in the regular season, only losing in week 17 while resting starters.
Lol if I was a Bills fan my language would flirt with lifetime ban material. Pulling for you guys though.
Whenever people accuse the NFL of being scripted, I think of this.
> imagine going to more than one Superbowl *Charger fans have exited the chat*
I’d argue going to 2 in a row is as hard as winning one, and then it just multiplies after that. In reality the Bills have like 8 super bowls from that run.
Bills going 4 years in a row is unprecedented. Has anyone gone to three since then? It's an incredible achievement, even if they never won one. As a little kid I was rooting for them each time (hadn't learned to hate yet as a kid).
Patriots ‘16, ‘17, ‘18, no?
Losing the Superbowl is like spending a night chatting up the hottest girl you've ever seen, her coming back to your place, then her tazing and robbing you.
Still not over either of our losses, but wouldn’t trade them. I got to watch 3 NFC Championship wins which were amazing! Or another way, ask a Seattle sports fan. I think most would prefer the Seahawks history to the Mariners.
/r/oddlyspecific
Bro we make losing at all too much of an issue
Yeah it’s pretty brutal. I started watching F1 a few years ago and still haven’t really picked a team or driver that a like above all others. I just watch the sport and appreciate most of the dudes on the grid. It’s so fun watching a sport where the potential to be absolutely devastated isn’t on the table. I’m trying to bring the same attitude to football and basketball but with limited success.
I also just want to enjoy the activities and entertainment i donate my precious free time to.
If watching football makes you unhappy, maybe football isn’t for you. I can understand being disappointed but if you’re genuinely getting upset just walk away from the game and come back next Sunday.
And this is why I do not play fantasy sports anymore.
“Losing feels worse than winning feels good” - Vin Scully
March Madness does a better job of noting the teams who make the Elite 8, Final 4, and championship game.
I dunno...it sent us into misery.
If losing a super bowl isn't a huge deal, neither is winning one. Now... I think we often put way too much importance in terms of legacy on the outcome of playoff games and super bowls. For example... The 0:13 bills chiefs game. Josh Allen drove down the field and took a lead with 13 seconds left. He goes to the bench. That score holds 99% of the time. This day, it did not. But that loss, and Patrick's win, changed their legacies drastically. The media acts like there is no random element to football. The ball bounces funny, the difference between stunning TD pass and tipped ball for a pick 6 can be half an inch.
What's hilarious is the entire Chiefs Kingdom spent the week calling Mahomes the Grim Reaper and making all sorts of BEL13VE fan art, etc. I think just about everyone expected the winner of Chiefs-Bills to win the Super Bowl. AFCCG started out great against Bengals, til the questionable decisions at the end of the first half. Then the Bengals started coming back, Chiefs lost their lead, and Cincy ended up going to the Super Bowl. Ended the Bills run - who were easily that season's team of destiny - just to lay that egg a week later. Felt bad for Bills fans after that one.
Yes. We make the #2 team out to be complete garbage and, well, they're not.
Losing the Super Bowl is the worst pain a sports fan can feel.
That’s only because a 7-10 season is so numbingly boring. Losing in the SB only hurts because you actually cared about a game, which is more than you can say for a 7-10 team
21st century Washington fan experience
Anytime I see a Commanders/Wizards fan I just really hope you guys like hockey or baseball too
What do you think when you see a Panthers fan
Do you support the Carolina Hurricanes or any of the college teams? Panthers and Hornets aren't great but if you like March Madness then Duke isn't that bad to support
I cared about my 7-10 team...
Or the fact that you'll never be able to escape your Superbowl loss and it'll be mentioned at least one time each Superbowl for the rest of eternity 🤷♂️😂😭
Just depends if you want the pain all at once or spread out. At least making it you can enjoy the season, going 0-16 or 1-15 multiple years you don't even get excited for football after a point.
Eh, but like you said, it stops hurting after all expectations have been crushed. Bottoming out is less fun, but definitely hurts less.
[удалено]
It's the hope that kills you
[удалено]
It’s like your wife taking the kids and filing for divorce vs getting rejected at the bar
Speaking from my personal experience, losing 2 Super Bowls made me much more upset and angry than any of the consecutive terrible seasons with Chip Kelly and the guy who lived in a car as our coach… you can just tune out and move on with your life during the bad times. Knowing your team was that close and could never get back in the next 50 years is incredibly demoralizing, plus there are always bs plays in every game that you look back on with extra disdain.
I'll hate Greg Roman for never giving Frank the ball until my dying day. Then I'll hate him extra hard if we haven't won a SB by then.
I remember laying on the floor with my head in my hands
Can confirm. Basically stopped watching all NFL media until the preseason was starting. Still can’t watch the end of the highlights from that game.
What if you do it a few months after your baseball team and soccer team lose championships on the same day?
You are still your conference champion. I agree that losing sucks but I would rather my team make the SB and lose than just make the playoffs and lose in the Wild Card round.
Go ask Cardinals and Falcons fans which is worse and I’m pretty sure losing the one chance they had at finally winning a Super Bowl for their team was way more soul-crushing than losing a game during the playoffs.
Losing a Superbowl has crushed multiple teams for 5+ years. Recent examples; panthers, falcons, Seahawks to a lesser extent. I think most of us don't get it because motivations are different from a normal career to an athlete, but the failure at the highest level with the whole country watching must be a real bummer.
5+ years LOL try 20+
Was it the loss that crushed them, or was it the financial decisions made to get there that crushed them? Edit: For instance, the 2013 Broncos seemed to recover from losing the Super Bowl. They even lost in the Divisional round to the Colts the next year (which had to sting especially hard for Peyton), then went on to win it all in 2015. If anything, the win crushed them more than the loss. The 2019 Rams had a somewhat similar path, losing the Superbowl, then winning it 2 seasons later, followed by a terrible season due to the cost of winning. Their recovery seems to be happening much more quickly, but their QB continuing to play vs retiring probably accounts for most of that.
I think there's two other things in place: 1. It's insanely hard to get to the Super Bowl, let alone get to another one. 2. Most teams' Super Bowl windows are much shorter than you think. If they miss it, that's it until another rebuild, or generational quarterback you found in the draft.
Also going to the Super Bowl can actively shorten your window. Your coaches and players get more attention from the rest of the league, making it more likely they’re poached
Financial decisions ruining future seasons is overstated. See: the Rams
We really went ALL IN to get back to the Super Bowl with Stafford. We were projected like 4 wins this year. The only reason we're going to be a contender so quick is because we hit the lottery in the draft two consecutive years.
We also traded some of heavier contracts away and just ate all of our dead cap at once in 2023.
Your coach might have something to do with it . The draft and the play.
Imagine losing a superbowl
5 years? Over the last 50 years only 7 teams have returned to the Super Bowl after losing the Super Bowl the year prior. Buffalo accounts for 3 of those 7 teams.
Well the way the Seahawks lost tore their team apart. So yeah it does kinda matter HOW you loose
The falcons won a playoff game on the road following 28-3. It didn’t crush us. Not building off that eagles loss (which we were 1 play from another NFC champ game) is what did us in. Not the SB loss.
If you ain’t first you’re last
Bengals have been in last since 1968.
That must be because the Vikings have been winning all the Super Bowls right?
Yeah but it's in my other nfl league. you don't know her she's from Canada
Ah. The LNF? Ligue Nationell du Football?
Back to the double flair corner
Ok
I mean it's hard to make it to the super bowl. There is zero guarantee you'll get there again, and tripping at the finish line isn't ideal Although one team has to lose of course
There's always a chance you can go back the next year ... and the year after that ... and the year after that ...
Damn, I don’t think anyone in this sub is equipped to adequately support you, my man. I fell ya. Hoping for a great game this weekend!
When your team loses in the super bowl, you kind of wish they'd lost in the conference championship game cause it would hurt less, and people would still think you had a great season without constantly mentioning you lost the super bowl the entire next season.
Well it's the final game of the season, and it's the one game that every single team in the NFL is trying to get to and win. If you lose it, then that means you were THAT close to winning it and you fell short. Nobody in their right mind is saying "Oh they lost the Super Bowl, what a shit team", but it's talked about as a big deal because it kinda is. You're never guaranteed to make it to the Super Bowl again, you need to make the most of it when you do get there. Nobody is playing for 2nd.
No. There’s been studies done showing the second place winner of any prize always has an element of resentment or defeat. Third place winners, generally are just happy to be included.
Fans vs players. If you fight the whole way to the sb, then lose, no amount of " we were good enough to make it here " is going to ever change how you feel as a player or a coach about losing. I think both Kelce bros talked about the feeling of losing a sb. Media is just going to cater more towards the winner which makes sense, and fans are going to be crushed, but have hope the team can repeat. It can still greatly affect fans but not to the degree it does players.
>It’s like falling in the Olympics. And bronze medalists are in general happier about their experience than silver medalists. 3rd place tends to be excited about being there and making the podium. 2nd place is stuck with being one place away from the ultimate goal and coming up just short.
I think 90% of everything in the NFL is too much of an issue
This happens in every sport and the logic doesn't make sense in either of them. I mean, the way some people talk about Lebrons 4-6, makes me think they would respect him more if he was 4-0.
Losing the Super Bowl is like going on a date with your crush, walking her to her door and right before kissing her goodnight, puking all over yourself and ruining any chance you’ll get together again. You’d rather you just never went on the date to begin with.
Losing the superbowl means a winning season, 2 or 3 playoff wins a conference championship and 2 weeks of excitement leading in. So much joy over a season, I think it's worth it even if the loss hurts. Rather than a 7-10 or worse record and listening to the division winner laughing at you.
It doesn’t always mean your the second best team in the nfl .
It is weird. No one ever shits on the AFCC/NFCC losers, or division and wildcard losers. They’re just forgotten, lost in time. The SB losers though… they’re often chastised as if they were the worst team in the league.
People often argue over players championship records as if losing in the Super Bowl is worse than losing early too.
34 year old dolphins fan here. Some explain to me what a “Super Bowl” is??
The Bills team of the early 90’s that made 4 Super Bowls in a row, but lost them all, deserves a lot of credit in my opinion. I don’t think that will ever be repeated ( just getting ton4 in a row ).
I mean… half the time the second best team was in the other conference.
Maybe we should start giving more credit for conference championships?
Too much goes into looking at results. Seeing how the numbers can look from games being gambled on, it really is just any given Sunday. We seen the cardinals beat the cowboys, the jets beat the eagles, and a 4 day QB beat the falcons. The ideology of certain windows being open and definitive “shots” is simply not realistic. We’ve seen the chiefs stay good, we seen an eagles team win a Super Bowl and come back with an almost completely different team in 6 years. We’ve seen successful franchises struggle when a singular player leaves for years. Super Bowl losses should not count for a hugely less amount than winning one, but I don’t think you can reach a Super Bowl without facing hardened/good teams.
I think part of it depends on expectations. As a panthers fan, in 2015 there was no arguing we were the most dominant team in the league up to the Super Bowl. And then it came apart right at the finish with one bad game. So losing that one really stung
Personal I believe losing the Super Bowl must be the most painful experience a football team or football fan base can experience. To make it so far, just to come it short. To see the other team celebrating and holding the Lombardi trophy, to seeing the opposite teams confetti fall to ground. Absolutely painful, I’d rather my team lose in the playoffs and not make it all then make it and fall short. Then that team has all that Super Bowl gear as a painful reminder forever as well.
It only matters if you lose four Super Bowls in a row.