Best Team to Not Win the Title: NFL

[Big Sexy]

This is a thread series that I have starting where I am going to every major sport and asking "what is the best team to not win the title." I had a best player to never win a title series a while back and this will be along those same lines. Just to be clear this is not talking about the history of a franchise, this is a team in a particular year. For example, in the NFL you wouldn't be confined to just choosing teams like the Lions and Browns who have never won a Super Bowl, you would go to a specific year and say "2007 Patriots" or whatever your answer is. Be sure to give reasons for your answer.

Next up is the NFL and even though it is a very obvious choice I'm going with the 2007 New England Patriots.

The Patriots became just the second team to ever finish the regular season undefeated and the first to finish 16-0. Going into the Super Bowl the Pats were 18-0 and facing the underdog Giants. The G Men ended up winning one of the best SB's ever, 17-14. The Patriots had fallen just short of perfection finishing 18-1.

This Patriots are obviously going to be the popular choice so I'm going to give some background on my honorable mentions for this thread and hopefully someone tries to make a case for one of them.

Honorable Mentions:

1998 Minnesota Vikings- This Vikings team went 15-1 led by the second highest scoring offense in NFL history (behind only the 2007 Pats). They had Randall Cunningham at qb, Robert Smith at rb, and a great trio of receivers with HOFer Chris Carter, future HOFer Randy Moss, and Jake Reed. They lost their one regular season game by just 3 points and had the NFC title game all but won in the 4th quarter. They were leading ATL 27-20 with 2 minutes left in the 4th and Gary Anderson who had gone 35-35 in the regular season missed what would have almost surely been a game clinching 38 yard field goal. Atlanta ended up taking the ball and tying the game up before winning in OT 30-27. The Vikings would have been favored to beat the Broncos in the SB had Gary Anderson not missed the chip shot. This team is the one I believe to be closest to the 2007 Pats.

1968 Baltimore Colts- This Earl Morrall led team went 13-1 losing their only regular season game to the Cleveland Browns, a team that they would go on to crush 34-0 in the conference championship game. They were heavy favorites going into the Super Bowl but the Jets led by Joe Namath pulled out what was until 2007 the biggest upset in SB history, beating the Colts 16-7.

2001 St Louis Rams- The Rams had won the SB two years earlier and were near the peak of their greatest show on turf years. They finished the regular season 14-2 losing those 2 games by a combined 10 points. They lost a very close SB to the Patriots, 20-17.

 

[Theo Mays]

The 07 Pats are the easy choice, but the 98 Vikings definitely are close behind them. While they weren't undefeated they were 15-1 and had an offense that probably could have hung around with that of the Patriots. The defense was pretty good and our kicker was perfect until the playoff game against the Falcons. I would even go onto say that if the Vikes would have defeated the Falcons they would have beaten the Broncos. I know that is ballsy, but I think that if the Atlanta game went the same way, just with us coming out on top it would have been a learning experience that we wouldn't allow happen again.

 

[ThePeoplesChampion]

Easy here the 2007 Patriots they beat everyone they played that year (remember they did beat the Giants in the Regular Season). I will also agree with the many other ones mentioned but will throw out a new one...2009 Colts...they went 13-0 and probably would of gone 16-0 had they not rested there starters.

 

[Nate DaMac]

Easy here the 2007 Patriots they beat everyone they played that year (remember they did beat the Giants in the Regular Season). I will also agree with the many other ones mentioned but will throw out a new one...2009 Colts...they went 13-0 and probably would of gone 16-0 had they not rested there starters.

Well their opponents in the Super Bowl also rested their starters toward the end of the year so I don't really use that excuse. They just got outplayed.

How about the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles? When they signed Terrell Owens it brought a much needed receiver to Philly and McNabb had one of his best statistical years leading them to the Super Bowl. If not for 3 really bad picks thrown by McNabb in the big game, McNabb may still be an Eagle.

 

[ScruffDog]

Besides the 2007 Pats, I have to pick the Bills from 1990 to 1993. They made the Super Bowl all four years and Lost every time. They were picked to go to the Super Bowl every year in the early 90's, and were always a favored to win it all, but never did.

 

[Megatron]

To be a little bit different, I'm going to go with the 2001-02 St. Louis Rams. They went 14-2 in the regular season, scored 500+ points, had the NFL MVP with Kurt Warner, along with weapons abounding on offense, including Marshall Faulk, Issac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az Hair Hakim, and others. Plus, their defense wasn't as bad as the year before, allowing only 4 teams to score more 24 or more points on them. The only reason why they lost to the Patriots is because they had 3 costly turnovers and Tom Brady had an amazing game winning drive. The Rams outgained the Pats badly but shot themselves in the foot. With that loss, it wasn't only a beginning of one dynasty, but the start of an end to another. These guys could matchup very well with both the 07 Patriots and 98 Vikings. Their offense was dynamic and defense was above average. They should deserve some recognition in this thread.