No Fight Left: All 12 Times A Super Bowl Losing Team Finished With A Losing Record The Next Season

The Philadelphia Eagles are the current reigning Super Bowl champions after Jalen Hurts and the Birds beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX. Philly is doing just fine this season with an 8-4 record through 12 games and leading their division.

The Kansas City Chiefs? Not so much. KC is 6-6 through 12 games and currently sitting in third place in their division with just a 34% chance of making the playoffs.

All 12 Times A Super Bowl Losing Team Missed The Playoffs The Following Season

Kansas City’s woes got us curious about how teams that lost the Super Bowl did the following season. What we learned is there have been 12 times in NFL history a team lost the Super Bowl and went on to have a losing record the following season.

The first instance occurred in 1989. That timing is somewhat interesting as the teams that lost the 1987 and 1988 Super Bowls finished with .500 records the following season, the first instances of that happening in NFL history, and then 1989 became the first time a team that played in the previous season’s Super Bowl finished with a losing record. Now let’s take a look!

1989: Denver Broncos Lose Super Bowl XXIV

The Denver Broncos lost Super Bowl XXIV to the San Francisco 49ers 55-10. Denver was 11-5 that season but got crushed by the Niners on Super Bowl Sunday.

The following season, the Broncos would finish just 5-11 and miss the playoffs. In doing so they became the first NFL team in history to play in a Super Bowl and finish below .500 the following season.

1993: Buffalo Bills Lose Super Bowl XXVII

Super Bowl XXVII was a rematch between the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills. And for the second straight season the Buffalo Bills got spanked by Dallas in the Big Game.

Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys won 52-17 following a lackluster Halftime Show from The Judds, Travis Tritt, Clint Black, and Tanya Tucker. Then the Bills crumbled. They would finish 7-9 the following season and miss the playoffs. It wouldn’t take long for Buffalo to get it back together though as they’d go 10-6 the following season after that.

1998: Atlanta Falcons Lose Super Bowl XXXIII

Super Bowl XXXIII was the first-ever Super Bowl appearance for the Atlanta Falcons. They got taken down by the Denver Broncos 34-19 in Miami and lost their resolve afterward.

In the following season, Atlanta would win just five games and got 5-11, miss the playoffs, and finish 3rd in their division. They would then have two more losing seasons in a row after that one before getting back to their winning ways.

2000: New York Giants Lose Super Bowl XXXV

The Baltimore Ravens became the third-ever Wild Card team to win the Super Bowl when they took down the G-Men in Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Florida. The Giants lost 34-7, tied for the 7th largest Super Bowl loss in NFL history.

Following the loss the Giants would go 7-9 in 2001 and miss the playoffs. They’d be back in the playoffs two seasons later only to follow it up with a 4-12 season. It was a weird time for the Giants. This also started a run of five seasons in a row here a team lost the Super Bowl and had a losing record the following season.

2001: St. Louis Rams Lose Super Bowl XXXVI

The St. Louis Rams came into Super Bowl XXXVI as heavy favorites over the New England Patriots. The Pats had a rookie QB and nobody thought they could pull it off. But that rookie quarterback’s name, of course, was Tom Brady and this win kicked off decades of dynasty.

Following the Super Bowl XXXVI loss to the Pats, St. Louis went 7-9 the following season and missed the NFL Playoffs.

2002: Oakland Raiders Lose Super Bowl XXXVII

Super Bowl XXXVII featured a matchup between the NFL’s #1 ranked offense and the #1 ranked defense. There was so much hype leading up to this game surrounding that story line and it was ultimately the defense that prevailed.

The Raiders lost to Tampa Bay, who won the franchise’s first Super Bowl, 48-21. Following the loss, Oakland would manage to win just 4 games the following season.

2003: Carolina Panthers Lose Super Bowl XXXVIII

It did not take Tom Brady and the Patriots a long time to make it back to the Super Bowl after their 2001 win over the Rams. In Super Bowl XXXVIII, Brady and the Pats took down the Carolina Panthers. This marked the second time in two season a team from the NFC South represented the NFC in the Super Bowl.

It was a close one, but New England won 32-29 and the Panthers would then go 7-9 the following season and miss the Playoffs.

2004: Philadelphia Eagles Lose Super Bowl XXXIX

We are beginning to sense a trend here: team loses to the Patriots in the Super Bowl, has their collective soul crushed, regresses the following season. At Super Bowl XXXIX, the Philadelphia Eagles lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 24-21 and the following season they went just 6-10 and missed the Playoffs.

2006: Chicago Bears Lose Super Bowl XLI

Hey, look at this, a Super Bowl without Tom Brady and the Patriots! In Super Bowl XLI, the Chicago Bears (13-3) lost to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 29-17. The next season they’d go 7-9 and miss the Playoffs.

2015: Carolina Panthers Lose Super Bowl 50

The Carolina Panthers are back on the list. This time around they lost to the Denver Broncos, 24-10, in Super Bowl 50.

Cam Newton was named MVP that season and this game proved to be the last of Peyton Manning’s career, going out on top. While the Panthers would then go 6-10 the following season.

2019: San Francisco 49ers Lose Super Bowl LIV

Another team that went 6-10 after losing in the Super Bowl was the San Francisco 49ers who got beaten 31-20 by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2019 Super Bowl. This was the first Super Bowl MVP award for Patrick Mahomes.

2023: San Francisco 49ers Lose Super Bowl LVIII

Last but not least we have the San Francisco 49ers again! They just *barely* lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, 25-22, but the loss set them back and the 49ers went 6-11 the following season.

2023 San Francisco 49ers: Lost Super Bowl LVIII, finished 6-11 (missed playoffs) in following season.