Ranking the worst teams to ever reach the Super Bowl

Some teams know before a season starts they are destined for glory. Others are simply along for the ride, and after a little bit of luck, and getting hot at the right time, find themselves in the Super Bowl. That is an achievement in and of itself, but sometimes, these teams get exposed when they reach the biggest game in sports.

The 2008 Arizona Cardinals needed a lot of luck to even make the playoffs in 2008, winning the abject NFC West with a 9-7 record. The rest of the division went 13-35, gifting Arizona six easy wins and a path to the playoffs. Despite a mostly mediocre regular season, the Cardinals turned it on in the playoffs and were inches from beating the Steelers in the Super Bowl.

Drew Bledsoe and the Patriots were a good-but-not-great team in 1996, finishing with an 11-5 record. Were it not for the Jaguars upsetting Denver in the divisional round, the Pats would have travelled to Mile High Stadium for the AFC Championship and probably lost. Instead, they made the Super Bowl and were comfortably beaten 35-21 by the Green Bay Packers.

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The Panthers were at their best during the early 2000s, with Jake Delhomme at the forefront. Delhomme led the Panthers to an 11-5 finish, but, as Athlon Sports points out, seven of those 11 wins came by three points or fewer. The Panthers upset the Eagles in Philadelphia in the NFC Championship, and played the Patriots close in the Super Bowl, but their regular season performances were nothing special.

The Giants’ offense struggled throughout 2000, so it was no surprise to see the Baltimore Ravens defense dominate in the Super Bowl. The Giants’, defense, on the other hand, was among the best in the league, so to see them concede 34 points in the Super Bowl was a shock and showed the difference in quality between the two teams.

The 1994 San Diego Chargers made the Super Bowl in their own unique way, coming back from huge deficits in both the divisional and championship rounds. Their opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, were a buzz saw at the time and had already beaten San Diego 38-15 in week 15 of the regular season, so it was no surprise to see a similar scoreline, 49-26, in the Super Bowl.

The Broncos reached the Super Bowl after a close win over New England and John Elway executing ‘The Drive’ to beat the Browns late in the AFC Championship. When they reached the Super Bowl, their opponents, the New York Giants featuring Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor, completely blew them out, winning 39-20. Athlon Sports suggests it wasn’t even as close as that!

A tough couple of years for the Mile High City as their Broncos once against reached the Super Bowl only to be blown out yet again. The Broncos led 10-0 after the first quarter before Washington responded with five touchdowns in the second, per Pro Football Reference. It was a procession from there on out, with Washington adding another score in the fourth quarter.

The 1992 Bills were a good team, so having them this high feels a little tough. They did, however, lose 52-17 to the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl. Per Statmuse, the Bills’ nine turnovers is a Super Bowl record, gifting the Cowboys five fumbles and both Frank Reich and Jim Kelly throwing two picks. This is arguably the most one-side Super Bowl ever.

Per Athlon Sports, the 1979 Rams only beat two teams with a winning record in the regular season and yet were able to make it to the Super Bowl. They seemed to improve as the playoffs went on, beating the Cowboys with a late TD in the divisional round before shutting out Tampa Bay in the NFC Championship. The Super Bowl was close-ish, but no one thought they had a chance.

It’s difficult when you come up against what is considered by many to be the greatest team in NFL history, but you would still hope to gain more than 123 total yards. The Pats had relied on their defense all season long, but it capitulated at the wrong moment, conceding 46 points to the Bears in what was a record defeat at the time.

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