Well what a long, arduous two-year absence it was. By Boston standards that's like 50 years, but the nightmare is over: the Bruins are heading to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Amazingly, the black and gold were in danger of having the fifth-longest active drought in the NHL. Which speaks volumes as to just how easy it is to make the playoffs is in that league, and speaks even louder volumes how pathetic it was the Bruins couldn't squeak in, but I digress. The Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres, Arizona/Phoenix/Quebec City Coyotes and New Jersey Devils are the only teams with longer droughts than what the Bruins could have faced.
Quite a different world from May 2014, when the B's lost to the Montreal Canadiens in seven games despite having the President's trophy in tow.
Think about it: Donald Trump was over a year away from announcing his candidacy for president, the NFL was roughly eight months away from launching sting operation against the Patriots D'Qwell Jackson was eight months away from intercepting Tom Brady and launching DeflateGate, and San Diego, St. Louis and Oakland still had NFL teams. Oh yeah, I was still in college. Crazy how much has changed.
The 2007-14 Bruins were by no means a dynasty - you kinda sorta need to win more than one championship to be considered as such - but for a seven-year stretch, they were at the very least in the discussion year in, year out on a short list of championship contenders.
Call this a resurgence, call it a rebirth, call it what you will...but is this a new era, or merely the continuation of a stalled run? I'm by no means here to say the B's are going to win the Stanley Cup, but think of how much of a championship pedigree remains here from the 2011 team: Chara, Bergeron, Marchand, Krejci as key players, plus Adam McQuaid as well as Tuukka Rask, who was Timmy Thomas' backup back then.
If you're the Washington Capitals, the core of whom has never been beyond the second round with Alex Ovechkin...do you really want to see the Bruins, seemingly playing with house money, in round one?
Back in the spring of 2008, when the initial run of success began for the B's, they were the No. 8 seed in the east. Montreal won the first round series then, too, in seven games, but it just felt great to have playoff hockey back in Boston after wandering through the abyss for a few years.
In every subsequent playoff run, the Bruins were favorites at the very least in the first round, if not beyond.
Nearly 10 years later, a few of the same players remain, back in the underdog role. Unlike then, however, some of these guys know how to win. Or at the very least win a few playoff rounds.
No matter what happens, there's a bare minimum four nights of appointment viewing coming up. And playoff beards.
A sample playoff beard, circa 2011 through two rounds of play. Photo evidence of later rounds is unavailable.
You know how the San Francisco Giants had this even-year phenomenon when they'd win the World Series in even-numbered years (2010, 2012, 2014), but not even make the playoffs in the years between?
Reminds me an awful lot of myself and my powers and predicting the champions of March Madness. While no archives exist, since everything was done by actually printing out your bracket and filling it in in ink back then, I correctly predicted the champion in four consecutive odd-numbered years between 2005 and 2011.
The Raymond Felton Tar Heels of '05, the Joakim Noah/Al Horford/Corey Brewer Gators of '07, the Tyler Hansbrough Tar Heels of '09, and lastly, the Kemba Walker Huskies of '11.
What happened to my touch in 2013 and 2015? I couldn't tell you. Things even themselves out.
But I'm here to tell you I'm doing my best to recreate that odd-numbered mojo, and tell you that the University of Rhode Island Rams will be the last team cutting down the nets in Glendale, Ariz. on April 3. So crack open your skunked Gansett's from your moms basement, catch up on the Kardashian episodes with Lamar Odom, and get some takeout from IZone. The tournament runs through Kingston.
PS - UCLA is the pick
PPS - such a shame Providence blew a 17-point halftime lead last night. At least it wasn't 28-3
PPPS - URI will be playing on the second weekend. Creighton is a faux-Big East team and Oregon is possibly the most fraudulent sports program in the country.
Real quick thoughts while I sit at home watching the Patriots parade rather than attend it, as being 26 and attending championship parades defies logic more than Tom Brady's accolades as a 39-year-old quarterback....
...Claude had used up his nine lives and then some. I couldn't tell you just how many regular season losses were nearly the end of the line for Julien, but I can surely tell you just how close to the edge he's been living for awhile.
Remember when the Bruins blew a 3-0 lead to the Flyers in 2010? Julien didn't exactly have the resume of Joe Torre, an esteemed member of the blowing a 3-0 lead club, at the time.
Had the Bruins lost to Montreal in the first round the following season, that surely could've been curtains for Claude. The B's came back from a 2-0 series deficit and needed OT in Game 7 to survive and eventually win their only Stanley Cup of this generation.
Claude was safe after the B's lost to the Capitals in Game 7 in the spring of 2012, but had the Bruins not gone all Patriots in the fourth quarter vs. Atlanta vs. Toronto in Game 7 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, that could have been Claude's last stand.
The Bruins won the President's Trophy in 2014, awarded to the team with the best regular season record. Those Bruins would never be confused with the 16-0 Patriots or 73-9 Warriors falling short, but losing a Game 7 at home to Montreal in the conference semis was inexcusable nonetheless.
Then the B's missed the postseason entirely in 2015. And again in 2016. Despite playing win-and-in games in the finale of each regular season.
How many of those losses or near-losses could be pinned on Claude? It's hard to tangibly define. Tuukka Rask's tummy ache in the finale last season isn't Claude's fault, for example.
Claude is the winningest coach in Bruins history. He has more wins (419) behind the Bruins bench than Art Ross (387) -- the man for whom the NHL's Coach of the Year award is named.
I have almost zero issue with moving on from Claude and seeing if former P-Bruins boss Butch Cassidy can work some magic and see if a team that is teetering on the playoff line can catch lighting in the bottle and just make the freaking postseason.
But as I type this and the Patriots parade is underway, as I consider that another team in this town has run merciless smear campaigns against Terry Francona and Jon Lester, just to name a few, in the not too distant past, it's the Boston Bruins ownership group which continues to shatter the mold of tone-deaf incompetence around here.
Good luck Claude, thank you for 2011. For as much as we could harp on Claude's record in Game 7's (4-5, with all but one of those wins coming in 2011 -- not including the regular season finale losses), it's not his fault this roster is in shambles.
Perhaps Claude will turn up as the first coach of the new Quebec Nordiques after the Carolina Hurricanes are sold. Either that, or he could find work as my father's body double.
Don't get me wrong, these last two weeks beat the hell out of the two weeks prior to the Super Bowl in 2015.
Takes on air pressure and morality and things of that nature were so hot that Mark Brunell's tears could have melted the steel beams at University of Phoenix Stadium, where the Patriots ultimately beat the Seahawks in perhaps the greatest Super Bowl ever.
Had the Patriots lost that game, take a long look at everything that's transpired in the two year's following Malcolm Butler's interception and tell me you'd be able to put up with the continued DeflateGate/SpyGate talk, the Trump/Patriots talk, the "when will Brady and Belichick retire" talk.
The stakes for this game would be exponentially higher. The Patriots would be a loss away from a losing record in Super Bowls in the Brady-Belichick era, with four straight losses after winning the first three. They'd be the 2004 Yankees and 2010 Bruins wrapped up into one long, drawn out agonizing string of pain.
So we don't have to fret about any of that happening, which is nice. The Falcons really just inspire apathy though, since their two most famous players either A) were arrested the night before Super Bowl XXXIII for soliciting a prostitute hours after winning an award for being an outstanding citizen or B) killed dogs.
If you think the Patriots are due for a blowout win (or loss, for that matter) in a Super Bowl, you aren't wrong. Their six trips under Brady-Belichick have been decided by 3, 3, 3, 3, 4 and 4 points, respectively. Reminds me of the Fibonacci sequence from when I took math plus in sixth grade.
No matter how boring the game may or may not be, one thing we know for sure is that the halftime show will be a talking point.
My musical taste has been described as that of a 60-year-old hardware store owner so Lady Gaga isn't exactly in my wheelhouse, but there's no doubt she'll put on a performance for the ages. I'm anticipating all of our favorite jams from 2009 make the cut, such as "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" and maybe, just maybe, "Bad Romance..."
...does that at all feel like a Super Bowl halftime show set list? Of course not. If there's one thing Roger Goodell knows better than botching independent investigations and displacing fan bases nationwide, it's giving fans an odd hodgepodge of Super Bowl halftime performers.
This really isn't a knock on Gaga, who I know many people are goo goo for, but think back to some of the truly great Super Bowl halftime performances of the last 15 or so years. I'm not picking up what's being put down.
Using Super Bowl XXXVI as a cutoff point, here are the top five Super Bowl halftime shows of the modern era. But first, some notables that didn't quite make the cut:
Super Bowl XL (Steelers 21, Seahawks 10): The Rolling Stones
No one (under the age of 50) loves the Stones more than me, but in journalism school, one of the first things they taught us was to be objective and not to show any bias. And my friends, I cannot tell you with a straight face that this was a good halftime show. Not that "Satisfaction" and "Start Me Up" are bad songs, but that's the equivalent of going to a fourth grade recorder concert and hearing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Hot Cross Buns." A bland, vanilla, predictable set list which also included a new song at the time, "Rough Justice," which isn't even in my top 100 Stones tunes. I guess you can't always get what you want.
Super Bowl 50 (Broncos 24, Panthers 10): Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars
There were lip syncs at Hingham High put together better than this. Which is a shame, because Coldplay alone would've been great, and both Beyonce and Mars were bright spots at Super Bowls in the not too distant past. I guess in addition to slowly killing the game of football, Goodell wanted to put a stake through the heart of "Uptown Funk" once and for all as well
The Top 5
5. Super Bowl XLIII (Steelers 27, Cardinals 23): Bruce Springsteen
The Boss kept it simple, and I mean that in a good way. His energy level was right and he played a strong set list, not veering too far away from the norm. "Born to Run" and "Glory Days" were no-brainers, while "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" was a pleasant surprise at the beginning. Should he be penalized for playing then-recently released "Working On a Dream" instead of another tried and true jam like a "Dancing in the Dark" or "Thunder Road?" Perhaps. But compared with the Stones' selection of "Rough Justice" a few years before, it fit in just fine.
4. Super Bowl XLVII (Ravens 34, 49ers 31): Beyonce
The Destiny's Child reunion was fire flames. Everything was, really. Simply put, Bey worked it, girl.
3. Super Bowl XXXIX (Patriots 24, Eagles 21): Sir Paul McCartney
There were quite literally a million directions McCartney could've gone, given his Beatles and Wings catalogs, but I have no qualms with the path he chose. From the upbeat "Drive My Car" to Mark "Get Back" Loretta (or "Get Back" JoJo LaFell, if you prefer) he set the stage for an epic ending with his only truly great Wings jam in "Live and Let Die" (Maybe I'm Amazed is great too, although not necessarily a jam) before "Hey Jude" brought the place down in what was probably the greatest moment in the history of Jacksonville up to that point. Rodney Harrison's interception of Donovan McNabb surpassed it about an hour later, but it remains No. 2 in the illustrious lore of Jacksonville's past.
2. Super Bowl XLII (Giants 17, Patriots 14: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Throwing aside the result of the game, which is admittedly difficult to do, Tom Petty could not have manufactured a better set list if he tried. The ordering of the songs worked to perfection, leading off with "American Girl," followed by "I Won't Back Down" and "Free Fallin'" to ending with one of the all-time great closers, "Runnin' Down a Dream." If you think about it, the Giants wouldn't back down from the Patriots, who were in the midst of a free fall from running down their dream of 19-0. I hate myself.
1. Super Bowl XXXVI (Patriots 20, Rams 17): U2
If you don't get chills on chills on chills listening to "Where the Streets Have No Name" with a list of the 9/11 victims scrolling in the background, you're just a character on Lost: you've been dead this whole time.
Future Halftime Shows We Need to See
Foo Fighters
Would be a perfect blend between the old-time rock and rollers and the more contemporary household names. "Learn to Fly" would be required, with "The Pretender" to close it out.
Fleetwood Mac
There is no more criminally underappreciated singer from any era than Stevie Nicks.
Eminem
As long as he doesn't accidentally play "Stan," which I accidentally left on a CD for my high school graduation party, I think we're good here. "Lose Yourself" would be an all-time moment.
2016, man. What a year. First Tom Brady got suspended, then Pro Sports in Hingham closed, and now Claydro Buchholz is on his way to Philadelphia. Not much else happened, but those three events alone really tarnished an otherwise fine year.
Anyways with Buchholz, I'm sure gonna miss those Tuesday nights in July when the Red Sox are playing some anemic offense like the Athletics or Rays, I look away for a few minutes and the next thing you know, Buchholz is pulled after 2 2/3 and six earned runs on seven hits.
Fair or unfair, Buchholz was the de facto compensation the Red Sox received when Pedro Martinez signed with the Mets after the 2004 season. The Red Sox received a 'sandwich pick,' No. 42 overall from the Mets, and drafted the bullfrog out of a JuCo in Texas.
He was one of five Red Sox first round picks in '05, including Jacoby Ellsbury, Craig Hansen, Jed Lowrie and Michael Bowden.
Some people will remember the Clay Buchholz era for the no-hitter he threw in his second career start vs. the Orioles. Others will remember his very good 2010 season or his very good half-season in 2013. Some may even remember him as the 2015 Opening Day starter, just one year after Jon Lester held that role.
Me? I'll remember Buchholz as a god damned Twitter hero.
You know who would have been a prime candidate to pitch in a 4-run game in the 9th inning? Clay Buchholz.
But you wanna know something really crazy? I would have preferred the Red Sox dealt away Drew Pomeranz than Buchholz. At least with Claydro, you know what you're getting: you don't know what you're getting. With Pomeranz, you also know what you're getting: mediocrity and way too many curveballs and inevitable elbow reconstructive surgery. There's a reason he's on his fifth organization at age 28. Something tells me a Twitter search of "@jakelevin477 pomeranz" this time next year will yield a whole lotta negativity.
So thank you, Clay, for somehow surviving parts of 10 seasons in Boston. If Ortiz doesn't unretire, Dustin Pedroia is now the last member left of the 2007 World Series team. And with the recent defections of Koji and Taz, we're down to Pedey, Bogaerts, JBJ and Brock Holt as members of the 2013 team. Mind-bottling stuff.
Jan. 10, 2010. Ray Rice had an 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage at the Ravens beat the Patriots, 33-14.
That was the last time New England played on wild-card weekend.
By almost any metric, the 2009 Patriots were the worst team of the Belichick era. Sure, they missed the playoffs in 2002 and 2008, but 2009 represented rock bottom in a number of ways for New England.
Six seasons have elapsed since then, with a seventh nearing completion. All seven of these seasons will have ended with the Patriots securing a first-round bye.
Eight teams, or exactly one quarter of Roger Goodell's professional football league, also have not played on wild-card weekend since then: the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Oakland Raiders.
Of course, none of those teams have made the playoffs at all in these last seven seasons (Oakland clinched a berth today, and actually may well avoid playing on WC weekend again).
There's no shortage of ways to describe what the Brady/Belichick era has been like, but if that little tidbit on the merits of not playing the first weekend of January doesn't do it for you I don't know what will.
Wild-card weekend really just serves as a way for the rest of the NFL to showcase just how far 31 other franchises lag behind the Patriots.
Admittedly, I haven't been paying as close attention the NFL this season as I have in year's past. All those fancy talking points you heard about with ratings declining back in October, with theories such as Kaepernick's protests or the election leading the charge, do not apply here. Can't really explain it...I do love the idea of Roger Goodell's world crashing and burning, which is maybe subliminally why I haven't tuned in to many games not involving the Patriots.
But one thing I have noticed from (somewhat) afar is the plight of the Carolina Panthers, who actually improved to 5-8 today with a win over the San Diego Chargers. Carolina has the fourth-worst point differential in the NFC (minus-26), while Cam Newton is 27th in the NFL in passer rating (80.6), behind quarterbacking luminaries such as Sam Bradford, Cody Kessler, Trevor Siemien and yes, even Colin Kaepernick. His completion percentage (54.7) is 31st out of 32 qualified passers...ahead of only Kaepernick. He's behind Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brock Osweiler and Blake Bortles, for example.
What a mess. Is it my fault for wearing this outfit during Super Bowl 50?
Probably not. And I discovered this year's Panthers, even though they already have eight losses, are already assured of not being the worst Super Bowl runner-up by means of won-loss record the following year. That would be the 2003 Oakland Raiders, who finished 4-12 after being blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Prior to the salary cap era (1994-), I could find only two teams that lost the Super Bowl and didn't finish the following season with a winning record (the 1988 and 1990 Denver Broncos, which finished 8-8 and 5-11, respectively.
With the advent of the salary cap, and the difficulty of retaining that mojo year to year, unless you're the New England Patriots? It's been a tad more difficult to get back to the big game...or do anything noteworthy, for that matter.
Only twice in Super Bowl history has a franchise lost the game in one year and gone on to win the next. And it hasn't happened since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
I won't go back quite that far, but here's a look at how the teams of the salary cap era have done following a Super loss - not just the following season, but the long-range impact of the loss:
1994 Buffalo Bills (lost Super Bowl XXVIII vs. Cowboys, 30-13)
Record: 7-9, missed playoffs
Give the Bills all the credit in the world, as the 1993 version was the last team to return to the Super Bowl following a loss, just like the 1992 Bills before them, and the 1991 Bills before them. Those Buffalo teams lost four consecutive Super Bowls, which is almost as unfathomable as the fact the Bills haven't even been to the playoffs since 1999.
1995 San Diego Chargers (lost Super Bowl XXIX vs. 49ers, 49-26)
Record: 9-7; lost in AFC wild-card game vs. Colts, 35-20
Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the only time Rodney Harrison and Junior Seau had to rebound from a Super Bowl loss.
1996 Pittsburgh Steelers (lost Super Bowl XXX vs. Cowboys, 27-17)
Record: 10-6; lost in AFC divisional round vs. Patriots, 28-3
People forget that Drew Bledsoe torched the Steelers in the playoffs long before he relieved an injured Tom Brady in the 2001 AFCCG. That back shoulder toss to David Patten still gives me chills.
1997 New England Patriots (lost Super Bowl XXXI vs. Packers, 35-14)
Record: 10-6; lost in AFC divisional round vs. Steelers, 7-6
People also forget that Mike Vrabel sacked Drew Bledsoe in this playoff loss.
1998 Green Bay Packers (lost Super Bowl XXXII vs. Broncos, 31-24)
Record: 11-5; lost in NFC wild-card game vs. 49ers, 30-27
The legend of Terrell Owens was born when the Niners eliminated the Packers, who somehow never made it back to the Super Bowl with Brett Favre...and somehow still have been only once with Aaron Rodgers.
1999 Atlanta Falcons (lost Super Bowl XXXIII vs. Broncos, 34-19)
Record: 5-11; missed playoffs
Falcons safety Eugene Robinson was arrested for soliciting a prostitute the night before the game...just hours after accepting the Bart Starr Award as a player who "best exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community." Atlanta finished 4-12 the following season, securing a high enough pick to trade up to No. 1 overall for a certain quarterback who was later spent 23 months in prison for running an outfit called "Bad Newz Kennels." Had the Falcons stayed at No. 5, they could have drafted LaDanian Tomlinson, as the Chargers did, instead of Mike Vick.
2000 Tennessee Titans (lost Super Bowl XXXIV vs. Rams, 23-16)
Record: 13-3; lost in AFC divisional round vs. Ravens, 24-10
Believe it or not, Jeff Fisher's Titans made the playoffs five more times after coming up one yard short vs. the Greatest Show on Turf.
2001 New York Giants (lost Super Bowl XXXV vs. Ravens, 34-7)
Record: 7-9; missed playoffs
Color me shocked, a Giants team that was inconsistent from year to year.
2002 St. Louis Rams (lost Super Bowl XXXVI vs. Patriots, 20-17)
Record: 7-9; missed playoffs
Marc Bulger, a forgotten member of the "Brady 6," supplanted Kurt Warner as the starter midway through this season. Bulger led St. Louis to a 12-4 record in 2003...which is the last time the Rams franchise posted a winning record, and also about the last time anyone deemed it sensible Bulger was selected 31 picks prior to Brady, at No. 168 overall in 2000. One could argue Adam Vinatieri's right foot sent the Rams back to Los Angeles all these years later.
2003 Oakland Raiders (lost Super Bowl XXXVII vs. Buccaneers, 48-21)
Record: 4-12; missed playoffs
As stated earlier, this is, by means of record, the worst Super Bowl runner-up of all-time. It's a common misnomer that the Tuck Rule is what led to the Raiders' demise; they recovered quite nicely, for one year at least, before not posting a winning record again until this season and potentially moving to Las Vegas. The Tuck Rule was more of a delayed reaction, akin to memes kids make about the Molly hitting.
2004 Carolina Panthers (lost Super Bowl XXXVIII vs. Patriots, 32-29)
Record: 7-9; missed playoffs
Carolina didn't exactly fall off the face of the earth after the Patriots knocked them off in Houston - they went 53-43 prior to a 2-14 season in 2010, enabling them to draft Cam Newton - but it sure doesn't feel like these Panthers are trending in a similar manner to the Jake Delhomme teams of the mid-2000s.
2005 Philadelphia Eagles (lost Super Bowl XXXIX vs. Patriots, 24-21)
Record: 6-10; missed playoffs
The Terrell Owens driveway press conference was the immediate fallout. The faces have changed, but the dysfunction has remained more or less the same.
2006 Seattle Seahawks (lost Super Bowl XL vs. Steelers, 21-10
Record: 9-7; lost in NFC divisional round vs. Bears, 27-24
Did the Patriots steal a Super Bowl from the Seahawks with Malcolm Butler's pick? Perhaps, but if you really think about it, it was payback for Seattle stealing Super Bowl XLI from the Patriots. But wait, XLI was Colts-Bears, right? Well it should have been Patriots-Bears, but the Seahawks had to go out and trade for Deion Branch during his holdout, thus leaving Tom Brady with Reche Caldwell as his No. 1 receiver. Indeed, the ends justified the means on the goal line in Arizona eight years later.
2007 Chicago Bears (lost Super Bowl XLI vs. Colts, 29-17)
Record: 7-9; missed playoffs
If only Devin Hester had returned a few more kicks for touchdowns, "Trent Dilfer has more rings than Dan Marino" would have become "Rex Grossman has more rings than [generic QB X]."
2008 New England Patriots (lost Super Bowl XLII vs. Giants, 17-14)
Record: 11-5; missed playoffs
One quirk of the Patriots' dynasty is that it includes a season in which they were the best team ever to not win the Super Bowl (18-1), followed by a year in which they were the best team ever to not make the playoffs at 11-5. The Browns also had an 11-5 playoff-less season in the '80s, but they most certainly were not coming off the best regular season in NFL history, either.
2009 Arizona Cardinals (lost Super Bowl XLIII vs. Steelers, 27-23)
Record: 10-6; lost in NFC divisional playoffs vs. Saints, 45-14
'Member Kurt Warner? His second act as a Cardinal wasn't all that shabby, especially considering he was behind Matt Leinart on the depth chart at one point. Somewhat related: now that the Bruce Arians Cardinals appear to be a flop, I'm so ready for the return of "Larry Fitzgerald to New England" rumors. Those used to be as automatic as a first-round bye for the Pats.
2010 Indianapolis Colts (lost Super Bowl XLIV vs. Saints, 31-17)
Record: 10-6; lost in AFC wild-card game vs. Jets, 17-16
Peyton Manning's final season in Indy ended in the most fitting of ways: with a one-and-done vs. Mark Sanchez...who would also send Tom Brady to a one-and-done the following week. Of course, Peyton's teams went one-and-done NINE times. Brady, to date, just twice.
2011 Pittsburgh Steelers (lost Super Bowl XLV vs. Packers, 31-25)
Record: 12-4; lost in AFC wild-card game vs. Broncos, 29-23 (OT)
Long before Tim Tebow was batting .125 in the Arizona Fall League, he was winning playoff games vs. Ben Roethlisberger.
2012 New England Patriots (lost Super Bowl XLVI vs. Giants, 21-17)
Record: 12-4; lost in AFC Championship Game vs. Ravens, 28-13
Just another quirk of the ol' dynasty: the Patriots became the first team in the salary cap era to get as far as the conference championship game the season after losing a Super Bowl. During a season which Aaron Hernandez played after (allegedly) killing two people in Boston the summer before. That is going to be among the more fascinating chapters of Belichick's autobiography post-career, by the way.
2013 San Francisco 49ers (lost Super Bowl XLVII vs. Ravens, 34-31)
Record: 12-4; lost NFC Championship Game vs. Seahawks, 23-17
The 49ers sure feel like the next team to fall into an abyss a la the Raiders or Rams. It's hard to believe this team was in the NFCCG just three short years ago. Until you consider they forced out the best coach in football not named Bill Belichick.
2014 Denver Broncos (lost Super Bowl XLVIII vs. Seahawks, 43-8)
Record: 12-4; lost in AFC divisional round vs. Colts, 24-13
Give Peyton Manning credit because those coattails he rode rebounding from this loss and winning a Super Bowl the following year is just part of what makes him so great.
2015 Seattle Seahawks (lost Super Bowl XLIX vs. Patriots, 28-24)
Record: 10-6; lost in NFC divisional round vs. Cardinals, 31-24
The Seahawks, similar to some Patriots and Broncos teams on this list, have some staying power. The Malcolm Butler interception is the most improbable play in Super Bowl history made by a defensive player, and yet the team was still talented enough to return to the playoffs and win a game the season after. This time, sans Marshawn Lynch and now Earl Thomas, too, suddenly? We'll see.
The Panthers could run the table and get to .500, which would put them right in the middle of the pack in terms of Super Bowl losers of the salary cap era. But the headline for that team, no matter what, will be the regression of Cam Newton. And perhaps their season won't be the worst encore off a Super Bowl loss, but the franchise itself could morph into one of the most disappointing one-hit wonders of all-time. I know I've already used "people forget that" several times in this blog, but did you even somewhat remember the Panthers were 15-1 last season regular season? And that loss came in the season finale? What a strange team indeed.
