Super Bowl Loser Curse Is Real

With the Dallas Cowboys set to play a struggling and injury-laden Indianapolis Colts team this weekend, I was curious about the myth of a Super Bowl Hangover, also called a curse, for the losing team of the previous NFL season’s Championship Game. It is a no-brainer that the Colts have problems and are looking for any way possible to get back in the playoffs this year while currently having the same record as the 6-5 Jacksonville Jaguars. Yet, is there really a curse to blame for this. History seems to back that theory up.
As of the end of the 2009 season with 43 Super Bowl losers declared, there have been 14 teams to lose the Big Game and not make the playoffs the next year. However, of the 14 losing teams, nine of those have come in the past 16 years since the salary cap was introduced in 1994. Those teams include 1994 Buffalo Bills (who were coming off their fourth Super Bowl loss in a row), 1999 Atlanta Falcons, 2001 New York Jets, 2002 St. Louis Rams, 2003 Oakland Raiders, 2004 Carolina Panthers, 2005 Philadelphia Eagles, 2007 Chicago Bears, and 2008 New England Patriots. Only the 2008 Patriots team was able to post a winning record the next season at 11-5, and that was even after quarterback Tom Brady suffered a season-ending injury in the first quarter of the first game.
Among the seven teams to lose the Super Bowl one year and manage to make the playoffs the next, none of those teams made it past the divisional round of the post-season.
It seems that should you want to make a bet on whether the loser of the Super Bowl makes an appearance in the playoffs the following year you have a little better than 50-50 on that happening. Find a sucker to take the bet and give yourself some odds. It wouldn’t be hard to do. Say something like, “Come on! This team made the Super Bowl. As long as they bring back the core group then it should be easy for them to make the playoffs.” Take some odds and count the money as it rolls in at the end of the regular season when that team fails to clinch a spot in the tournament.