In another edition of their amusing articles to kill time and inspire infuriating tavern arguments, ESPN's Page 2 has ranked the 80 teams that have played in the Super Bowl. Both winners and losers.
The 2005 Seahawks ranked 50th. They finished one spot ahead of one Super Bowl winner (the '70 Baltimore Colts), and one spot behind another (the '68 Jets of "I guarantee it" fame). Saith Page 2:
What does it say about Seattle that it became the only team to outgain and commit fewer turnovers than its Super Bowl opponent and still lose? It means the Seahawks either (A) got screwed, or (B) easily could be ranked ahead of the Steelers. Alas, we stick them here, because (A) they did lose just three games, including one in OT and the season finale in which Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselback [sic] sat the second half, but (B) benefited from a very easy schedule, and (C) featured the NFL MVP in Alexander, but (D) still managed to mess up the Super Bowl by dropping several passes and allowing two big plays to Pittsburgh.
Aforementioned '05 Steelers ranked 41st. And in their opinion, the best Super Bowl losing team of all time was the 1978 Cowboys, who finished 19th.
I'll leave the rest of the rankings for you to discover. I'll just say 49ers fans are going to have some satisified nostalgic sighs tonight, without having to gum up their keyboards.