10 NFL Teams That Overcame A Rough Start To The Season To Win The Super Bowl

Many NFL fans find it hard to resist the urge to press the panic button after their team gets off to a slow start. It’s hard to be too optimistic if the squad you root for has a losing record (or is even sitting at .500) by the time the first month of play wraps up, but there are plenty of teams that have managed to rally on their way to winning a Super Bowl.

These NFL teams rebounded from a rocky start to the season en route to winning the Super Bowl

As you’d probably expect, most of the NFL teams that have ended up winning the Super Bowl got off to a pretty hot start and never looked back. However, there are more than a few that struggled to get things clicking before they were able to turn things around in a big way.

The 2024 Philadelphia Eagles

Nick Sirianni led the Eagles to the playoffs during his first three seasons in Philadelphia, which included a loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. However, that run was sandwiched between two one-and-done showings in the wild card round, and there were plenty of people who asserted he headed into 2024 on the hot seat due to the second-half collapse that preceded the end of their season.

The Birds got off on the right foot with a win over the Packers in Brazil, but they ended up at 2-2 by the time the end of September rolled around. They rallied after a bye week with a ten-game winning streak while getting victories in 12 of the last 13 games of the regular season, and Sirianni ensured his job was very safe when they got revenge on the Chiefs by embarrassing Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX.

The 2018 New England Patriots

I would like to warn you in advance that the Patriots account for nearly half of the entries on this list, as Tom Brady and Bill Belichick seemingly thrived on luring the rest of the NFL into a false sense of security before adding a ring to their collection.

Every single NFL fan was waiting for Brady to finally start showing his age when the Patriots kicked off the 2018 season around a month after his 41st birthday. New England opened things up with a win over the Texans, but the haters got a glimmer of hope after they fell to 1-2 with losses to the Jaguars and Lions.

Unfortunately, reports of their demise were greatly exaggerated, as the Patriots rattled off six straight wins before finishing at the top of the AFC East for the tenth year in a row with an 11-5 record. They eventually met the Rams in the snoozefest that was Super Bowl LIII and earned the win that essentially marked the end of the dynasty.

The 2014 New England Patriots

The Patriots were still one of the best teams in the NFL heading into the season in 2014, but it was becoming increasingly hard to ignore the fact that they hadn’t won the Super Bowl in close to a decade and were coming off two losses in the AFC Championship Game.

It seemed like there was a chance the tides had finally turned, and anyone who bought into that theory had some more evidence that suggested that was indeed the case after New England started the season at 2-2 with a loss to the Dolphins in their season opener and a 41-14 thrashing at the hands of the Chiefs in Week 4.

However, they responded with a seven-game winning streak, made the playoffs with a 12-4 record, and won Super Bowl XLIX after Malcolm Butler stunned the Seahawks (and every single person watching the game) with one of the biggest interceptions in NFL history.

The 2010 Green Bay Packers

2010 marked Aaron Rodgers’ third season as the starting quarterback for the Packers, and it was fair to view him as a fairly significant downgrade when you consider the franchise had spent more than 15 years reaping the benefits of having Brett Favre under center.

Rodgers had led Green Bay to the playoffs the previous season, but they were far from being the favorite to win Super Bowl XLV when things got underway. That was still the case midway through October, as the Packers had started at 3-1 but then fell to 3-3 with losses to Washington and Miami.

They went 7-3 from there, which was enough to earn a ticket to the playoffs as the sixth seed in the NFC. History was not on their side, as there had only been one other team in that position that had made it to the Super Bowl. The Steelers had also won it when they checked that box five years prior, and Green Bay joined the club at their expense with a win over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV.

The 2007 New York Giants

The next three entries on this list involve the Patriots in some capacity, although they’re only tangentially involved with this one.

Eli Manning was firmly living in the shadow of his brother heading into 2007, although he’d only had a few seasons to prove his worth at that point. He had led the Giants to back-to-back playoff appearances, but both of them ended with losses in the first round.

Things got off to a very inauspicious start, as New York opened the year with a loss to the Cowboys and fell to 0-2 with another to the Packers. However, that preceded a run of six consecutive wins heading into their bye week.

The Giants lost some momentum in the wake of that break, as they finished the season at 10-6 (second behind Dallas in the NFC East) after going 4-4 in the second half. However, they took full advantage of their wild card berth and prevented the Patriots from capping off their perfect season in Super Bowl XLII with a little help from David Tyree’s helmet catch.

The 2003 New England Patriots

The Patriots Dynasty was not even close to earning that label heading into 2003, and the team was still looking to prove another win we’ll discuss in a moment wasn’t a fluke after missing the playoffs the year after they secured it.

It looked like New England was going to have a tough time beating the fraud allegations when they got trampled by the Bills in a 31-0 shutout to open the season. They did respond with wins over the Eagles and the Jets, but they dropped to 2-2 with a loss to Washington.

What happened from that point? Well, the Patriots won the last 12 games of the regular season and then got the three wins they needed to beat the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII. They also won their next six contests the following year, and that 21-game run marks the longest winning streak in NFL history that takes both the regular season and the playoffs into consideration.

The 2001 New England Patriots

I promise this is the last time we’ll be talking about the Patriots, and we’re capping off their run here with the season where they faced the most adversity before earning the right to raise the Lombardi Trophy.

The Patriots were still in search of the first Super Bowl in franchise history heading into the season in 2001, and it didn’t look like they were going to get over the hump after opening up the year at 1-3; they started at 0-2, and two of those three losses were to fellow AFC East teams in the form of the Jets and Dolphins.

They also seemingly suffered a big loss while falling to New York, as Drew Bledsoe was sidelined with an injury that led to a largely unheralded sixth-round pick named Tom Brady stepping up to fill the void. He turned out to be a pretty solid replacement, as New England turned the corner by finishing the regular season at 10-2 and winning the division before going on to beat the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

The 1993 Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys headed into the 1993 season looking to repeat as Super Bowl champions, although they got off to an uninspiring start by losing to Washington before dropping another game to Buffalo in a rematch of the most recent installment of The Big Game.

However, they rattled off a six-game winning streak and bounced back from another hiccup that saw them lose two in a row with five consecutive victories to close out the regular season. Dallas beat the Bills in the Super Bowl for the second year in a row, and they successfully defended their crown while handing Buffalo its fourth loss in a row in that particular contest.

The 1981 San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers were down bad when the season got underway in 1981. San Francisco had posted a losing record in seven of the last eight seasons (including back-to-back 2-14 campaigns starting in 1978) and had not made the playoffs during that span.

However, 1981 also marked the first season Joe Montana was tapped to become the team’s full-time starting quarterback, and that change ended up working out pretty well. The 49ers did start at 1-2, but they won 12 of their last 13 games en route to beating the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI after being propelled there by “The Catch” that transpired at the end of the NFC Championship Game against the Cowboys.

The 1980 Oakland Raiders

The 49ers won the Super Bowl a year after another team that ended up raising the Lombardi Trophy rallied from a slow start.

The Raiders had to deal with a major distraction heading into the 1980 season after Al Davis announced he was planning to move the team to Los Angeles (a promise he made good on two years later), and Oakland was sitting at 2-3 five games into the season.

However, they turned the corner after Jim Plunkett replaced an injured Dan Pastorini, and the team rallied to win six straight games after the new QB took over. They finished the regular season at 11-5 and went on to defeat the Eagles in Super Bowl XV.