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Not All Super Bowls are Created Equal *Spoilers* [subtle Raiders references everywhere]

THE WORST SUPER BOWL TEAMS OF ALL TIME


Not every team that hoists the Lombardi trophy is the best team in the league. They are not always the smartest team either. To quote the late, great Bum Phillips, "The harder we played, the behinder we got".

#5 -The 1968 New York "football" Jets- In order to upset NFL purists who begin the Super Bowl era after the 1970 merger and to delight the conspiracy theorists, this countdown starts with Joe Namath's '68 Jets squad. This Super Bowl is remembered for Joe's infamous guarantee of winning the big game against heavily favored Baltimore Colts. Which goes to show you how useful experts were, even back then. This game was also dubbed (by me) as "the battle the hairstyle". Namath's long flowing locks went head to head (no pun intended) with "a hair cut you could set your watch to" worn by Johnny (football) Unitas. The Jets prevailed and Bubba Smith among others claimed the game was fixed in order to legitimize the AFL to perpetuate the eventual merger of the leagues. It's easy to buy into this theory or dismiss it just the same but the more interesting story is Jet's owner Sonny Werblin. A book, written by Bernie Parish, titled "They Call it a Game" claims Werblin and Namath (by association) had connections with a crime syndicate that was in cahoots with NFL. Or maybe this was the beginning of that old "any given Sunday" cliché.

#4-The 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers- If an NFL team can't beat the best, they must learn how to cheat the best. The 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers gave the world the "immaculate reception". For the sake of argument let's blame that one on the (non replacement) refs. In 1978 the Steelers were involved in "Shouldergate", an incident involving illegal practice procedures implemented by Chuck Knoll. During the 1976 AFC Championship game, the Steelers were accused of purposefully icing the field in order to combat their opponents signature style of defense. When this was brought to the attention of commissioner, Pete Rozelle, he simply denied any wrongdoing. This should come as no surprise because it was Al Davis who blew the whistle. The Steelers beat the Cowboys in a Super Bowl game which included WWE style body slams and the invention of "the terrible towel", a gimmicky distraction equivalent to a parent yelling at the umpire during a T-Ball game.

#3-1982 Washington Redskins- *This entry could be classified as default*Between 1983 and 1986, three of the four Super Bowl winners lost only 1 game in the regular season. The first of the group was the 1982 Washington Redskins. Unlike the other championship teams of the mid 1980's, Washington's season ended after only 9 games. This is tantamount to having Wild Card Weekend after the trade deadline. Since 1967 there have been 17 teams that started the season at 8-0 or better and of those teams only 7 of them won the Super Bowl.(There were 6 teams that started 7-0 with 1 SB win among them) Since John Clayton was not available, I couldn't get the statistics on the on Super Bowl winners that began 8-1. It's hard to say what would have happened if there was a full season played in 1982. The Fun Bunch did return to the big game the following year unfortunately it was on "Black Sunday".

#2-2011 New York Giants- Since the playoffs expanded in 1980, the New York Giants are one of six wild card teams to win a Super Bowl. The Giants are also only one of three teams with 10 regular season wins or less to be crowned NFL champions. They are also the only team to make Tom Brady cry on Super Bowl Sundy twice. On December 24th 2011 the Giants had lost 5 of there last 6 games and were heading into New York to play the Jets. Eli Manning had his back against the wall and Bart Scott probably couldn't wait. The Giants won that game and eventually the playoff spot. New York was the first team to win every post season game despite having a negative point differential.

#1-2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Jon Gruden's inaugural season coaching the Tony Dungy Buccaneers was a success. They finished the season at 11-5 and blew past every team they faced in the playoffs. The circumstances of the win will forever be shrouded in controversy equal to '68 New York Jets Super Bowl win. Since Barret Robbins went on a drug fueled bender in Tijuana and Raiders coach Bill Callahan changed his game plan 48 hours before the Super Bowl, it is hard to say what could have happened on that day. All we know for sure is two Hall of Fame receivers called it a sabotage and Brad Johnson admitted deflation of the footballs were involved during the inflation of the final score.