In the aftermath of Championship Sunday in the NFL last week, the focus, from a historical perspective has been how the Green Bay Packers gut-wrenching loss in Seattle ranks in heartbreak lore. But let’s not allow the Indianapolis Colts to feel neglected. After being trashed 45-7 in New England, it’s time to look at the other end of the spectrum—what are the worst blowouts in NFL conference championship game history
Earlier this week, I touched on where the Green Bay Packers devastating loss to the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday would rank among the annals of heartbreak in NFL conference championship game history. I put a couple other candidates out there, but wanted to give this subject more exhaustive treatment. What follows is a list of the nine most devastating losses in conference championship game history.
The 1993 Pittsburgh Steelers were Bill Cowher’s second team, and while they weren’t quite as good as the 1992 edition that got the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs before losing, the ’93 Steelers were still a playoff team and nearly sprung a big upset when they got there.
The Chuck Noll era in the Steel City came to an end with the 1991 Pittsburgh Steelers. The legendary head coach who had led the franchise to four Super Bowl wins in a six-year span during the 1970s stepped down after this season was over. It wasn’t a fitting conclusion to a great career—after consecutive winning seasons in 1989 and 1990, the 1991 Pittsburgh Steelers were never in serious playoff contention and finished 7-9.
…compared to teams like their division rival Minnesota, the Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs, the Packers have had a charmed life. It’s hard to be in the playoffs every year and not drop at least a couple tough ones, but only one other game in Green Bay Packers history even comes close and it’s remembered by a simple down and distance…
The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots aren’t bucking the odds when they take the field as hosts for the NFL’s conference championship games on Sunday–each are favored by a touchdown-plus. But the Seahawks and Patriots are bucking at least a little bit of history–both are #1 seeds, and the record of the chalk holding in each conference is lot less reliable than you might think.
The tension was high between the Washington Redskins quarterback and his head coach. It was said that the quarterback’s outside business interests were a sore subject with the coach, along with the fact that the coach needed a different type of quarterback to run his system. Washington Redskins history has seen this movie before—and both RG3 and Jay Gruden could take a cue from how Joe Gibbs and Joe Theisman handled a similar dynamic in 1981.
The tension was high between the Washington Redskins quarterback and his head coach. It was said that the quarterback’s outside business interests were a sore subject with the coach, along with the fact that the coach needed a different type of quarterback to run his system. Washington Redskins history has seen this movie before—and both RG3 and Jay Gruden could take a cue from how Joe Gibbs and Joe Theisman handled a similar dynamic in 1981.
The 1990 Pittsburgh Steelers were coming off a season where they caught everyone by surprise and made a run to the playoffs with a young team and then won a game when they got there. In ’90, they matched the previous year’s 9-7 record, but the tiebreakers fell against them and they missed the postseason after a hard-to-swallow loss in the season finale.
Chuck Noll, the legendary coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers who had won four Super Bowls, was at a rut late in his career. The Steelers had missed the playoffs four consecutive years, and it didn’t look like that was about the change. But a group of young players came together for the veteran coach and the 1989 Pittsburgh Steelers fought their way into the postseason and played well when they got there.
The success came quickly for the Denver Broncos after they drafted John Elway in the spring of 1983. With Elway playing part-time as a rookie, the Broncos made the playoffs. With Elway as starter, they won the AFC West in 1984. They reached the Super Bowl in 1986 and 1987. After a brief step back to .500 in 1988, the 1989 Denver Broncos quickly returned to form—they went to the Super Bowl for the third time in four years, even if the Lombardi Trophy itself managed to elude them.
There haven’t been too many high points in the history of the Cincinnati Bengals—in fact, there’s never been the ultimate high point of winning the Super Bowl. But the late 1980s were pretty good and saw some postseason victories. The 1988 Cincinnati Bengals produced the league MVP, reached the Super Bowl and came oh-so-close to winning it.