By Rick Morris
^ This Super
Bowl marks the first time that each team’s most recent appearance was a loss to
one of the two teams from the previous year (Denver lost to Seattle in Super
Bowl 48 and Carolina lost to New England in Super Bowl 38).
^ Likewise,
there has never been a Super Bowl with a team, Denver, who qualified for the
Super Bowl by beating the team, New England, who took out their opponent,
Carolina, in their most recent Super Bowl.
^ Denver has
tied New England and Pittsburgh with eight Super Bowl appearances out of the
AFC. Half of their appearances have now come
in California Super Bowls, with them being 1-2 in the Golden State
previously. No team has played four
Super Bowls in one state before; the closest teams to this mark are New
England, 2-1 in Super Bowls contested in Louisiana and Dallas, 0-3 in Super
Bowls contested in Florida.
^ The only
previous Super Bowl on February 7 featured Peyton Manning’s first Super Bowl
loss, 31-17 to New Orleans in Super Bowl 44 in 2010.
^ Denver’s
doing something for the 8th time and something they’ve done before,
returning to the Super Bowl after a year away.
Such teams are 3-4 and here’s the examples: Pittsburgh won 43, lost 45,
New England won 36 and 38, St. Louis won
34, lost 36, Dallas won 28 and 30, Denver lost 22 and 24, Minnesota lost 9 and
11 and Baltimore won 3 and 5. Even worse
for the Broncos, is that they and the Vikings are the only teams ever to make
it back two years later after a loss and both squads lost again.
^ Carolina has
become the 5th team this decade to reach the Super Bowl after more
than a decade away. Results for such
teams are mixed. Denver lost Super Bowl
48, Baltimore beat San Francisco in Super Bowl 47 in a battle of two such teams
and Green Bay beat Pittsburgh in Super Bowl 45, so the record is 2-2 in making
that big return count.
^ 12 different
teams have represented the NFC in Super Bowls held in the 21st
century and only Carolina, Seattle, the New York Giants and the formerly St.
Louis Rams have had repeat appearances.
Only seven have represented the AFC and out of those, only Oakland and
Tennessee have not had repeat appearances.
^ We all
remember that the NFC won 13 straight Super Bowls from the 1980s into the ‘90s
and then the AFC took nine of the next 12.
The latest streak is that that NFC has won four of the last six.
^ Call it the
curse of 15-1 or Better: the Panthers have become the 7th member of
this club and the last four have failed to win the Super Bowl. Of those teams, all but the 2007 Patriots
were 15-1 in the regular season. Super
Bowl winners included the 1984 49ers (who played in the only other Super Bowl
in the Bay Area) and the 1985 Bears. The
aforementioned Pats of course lost in the Super Bowl and the 1998 Vikings, the
2004 Steelers and 2011 Packers didn’t even make it there. The Pack came up the shortest of all of these
teams, falling in the divisional round.
^ Both #1 seeds
are in the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year, an occurrence which is
surprisingly rare. Out of the first 47
Super Bowls, it only happened nine times.
^ The last
Super Bowl to be played on the West Coast also featured an AFC West/NFC South
battle; it was Super Bowl 37, the Chucky Bowl in San Diego, where Tampa Bay
blew out Oakland, 48-21.
^ This Super Bowl
has not only a battle of former #1 overall picks (Manning in 1998, Newton in
2011), but a battle of the top two picks from Newton’s draft, as Von Miller
went #2.
^ With Manning
going up against Russell Wilson two years ago and Wilson against Tom Brady last
year, this Manning-Cam Newton clash marks the third consecutive one involving
New School and Old School QBs.
^ Denver and
Charlotte have no real sports history with each other in any sport.
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