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I've thought about this just for fun. You hear talk about comparisons between teams that have won the Super Bowl. How about the teams that came up short, in particular the past 20 completed seasons?
In a Super Bowl runner up tournament of the 12 best different teams from '86 to '05, here are the 6 AFC and 6 NFC teams I have chosen according to rank based on record, era, and margin of Super Bowl defeat: AFC-(1) '90 Bills, (2) '88 Bengals, (3) '95 Steelers, (4) '96 Patriots, (5) '02 Raiders, and (6) '99 Titans; NFC-(1) '01 Rams, (2) '98 Falcons, (3) '04 Eagles, (4) '97 Packers, (5) '05 Hawks, and (6) '03 Panthers. The '86 Broncos, '94 Chargers, and '00 Giants were not included 'cause I considered them relatively weak teams in relatively weak eras for their conferences.
Result: The '99 Titans upset at the '95 Steelers in the wild card round. The '04 Eagles upset at the '98 Falcons in OT in the divisional round where they go on to win at the '01 Rams in the NFC Championship 'cause in '01 itself, the Rams barely beat the Eagles. So, the '04 Eagles make it to the Loser Bowl to face the '90 Bills. '90 Bills 35, '04 Eagles 28. What do you think? I'll admit that the upset against the Falcons is controversial.
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