Mark Celibate
01-18-2021, 06:37 PM
Similar idea to the "Best teams to never win a Super Bowl" list, but that's already been discussed inside and out. What are some of the most talented teams on paper that y'all have seen that just didn't pan out that year for whatever reason? Not talking about teams like the 06 Chargers or 11 Packers who were great but choked in the playoffs. I'm talking about teams that looked like they were Super Bowl contenders during the preseason, but underachieved during the actual season.
A few off the top of my head:
2011 Eagles - Probably the most obvious one. Everyone by now knows about the "dream team" who added a bunch of high-profile free agents to the explosive 2010 team. Not really sure why exactly this one fell apart, I just remember them promoting the Offensive Line coach to Defensive Coordinator for w/e reason. That, and presumably a lot of the big name FAs didn't really fit the scheme. They did get somewhat hot toward the end of the year but barely missed the playoffs
2008 Cowboys - Coming off a 13-3 season and actually improved significantly on paper. Had a very good draft where pretty much all of their picks went on to be productive members of the team. On top of that, they signed Pacman Jones, Zach Thomas, Tank Johnson, and traded picks for Roy Williams during the middle of the season. Extremely talented team on paper. They probably get into the playoffs if not for Romo missing three games and beating the 2-14 Rams but still...this season was pretty much all on The Bot. Failure to get Roy Williams involved in the offense and the inability to adjust after the league figured out his offense by bracketing Terrell Owens. This was also the season that TO would eventually cause the usual locker room problems toward the end. They had a tough schedule and the Giants/Eagles were both really good, but zero excuse for this team to not atleast get a Wild Card spot.
2005 Chargers - I honestly think this may have been the best team I've ever seen to not actually make the playoffs. This 9-7 season was sandwiched between a 12-4 and 14-2 season. Prime LT/Brees/Gates, Merriman wins DPOY. They had a 28-point win at Foxborough, shredded the Giants who won the NFCE that season, and beat the 13-0 Colts at Indy. Main problem was that they had a horrific schedule (I think second toughest in the league). Also, Gates was suspended in a close season-opening loss against Dallas that probably would have gone the other way if he had played.
2019 Cowboys - Obviously, I'm a bit biased with these Dallas picks. Very similar to 2008, however one main difference was that the 2008 NFCE was very tough whereas last season's division was straight garbage. The Redskins and Giants were fighting for the #1 pick, and the Eagles were decimated with injuries. Still, a healthy and talented (on paper) Dallas team struggled to beat quality teams then sh!t the bed @ Philadelphia in Week 16 in a game that was basically for the division. The Bot was rightfully canned afterwards. Completely inexcusable to not win the division
A few off the top of my head:
2011 Eagles - Probably the most obvious one. Everyone by now knows about the "dream team" who added a bunch of high-profile free agents to the explosive 2010 team. Not really sure why exactly this one fell apart, I just remember them promoting the Offensive Line coach to Defensive Coordinator for w/e reason. That, and presumably a lot of the big name FAs didn't really fit the scheme. They did get somewhat hot toward the end of the year but barely missed the playoffs
2008 Cowboys - Coming off a 13-3 season and actually improved significantly on paper. Had a very good draft where pretty much all of their picks went on to be productive members of the team. On top of that, they signed Pacman Jones, Zach Thomas, Tank Johnson, and traded picks for Roy Williams during the middle of the season. Extremely talented team on paper. They probably get into the playoffs if not for Romo missing three games and beating the 2-14 Rams but still...this season was pretty much all on The Bot. Failure to get Roy Williams involved in the offense and the inability to adjust after the league figured out his offense by bracketing Terrell Owens. This was also the season that TO would eventually cause the usual locker room problems toward the end. They had a tough schedule and the Giants/Eagles were both really good, but zero excuse for this team to not atleast get a Wild Card spot.
2005 Chargers - I honestly think this may have been the best team I've ever seen to not actually make the playoffs. This 9-7 season was sandwiched between a 12-4 and 14-2 season. Prime LT/Brees/Gates, Merriman wins DPOY. They had a 28-point win at Foxborough, shredded the Giants who won the NFCE that season, and beat the 13-0 Colts at Indy. Main problem was that they had a horrific schedule (I think second toughest in the league). Also, Gates was suspended in a close season-opening loss against Dallas that probably would have gone the other way if he had played.
2019 Cowboys - Obviously, I'm a bit biased with these Dallas picks. Very similar to 2008, however one main difference was that the 2008 NFCE was very tough whereas last season's division was straight garbage. The Redskins and Giants were fighting for the #1 pick, and the Eagles were decimated with injuries. Still, a healthy and talented (on paper) Dallas team struggled to beat quality teams then sh!t the bed @ Philadelphia in Week 16 in a game that was basically for the division. The Bot was rightfully canned afterwards. Completely inexcusable to not win the division