Teams that blew it (1 Viewer)

[Sam Quentin]

This thread is dedicated to great teams that could've would've should've made it to the big game and/or won it, but somehow mangaed to lose a game they should have won in the post-season. A chance for greatness dashed.

I'll start with the 1991 Oilers and the 1992 oilers and the 1993 Oilers

in 1991 they managed to blow a 4th qtr against Denver. The team had been really strong all year, and had nearly beaten the 'Skins at Washington (another game they managed to choke in). Instaed a substandard Bills team represents the AFC and gets pasted by the 'Skins

in 1992 they led buffalo 35-3 in the 2nd half -- the rest is history -- Once again a substandard Bills team represents the AFC.

in 1993 - the Buddy Ryan year - as a SB favorite - they manage to lose at home to the "Joe Montana" mystique.

a great era for the franchise, but nothing to show for it in SB appearances...

later editions could probably prominently feature Marty Shottenheimer led teams

feel free to add

 

[H.K.]

98 Vikings

15-1

Kicker only missed one FG all season....oops.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

2006 Chargers of course.

Good news though it looks like recent teams that have had horrible playoff disappointments - Steelers, Colts & Bears. seem to have gotten it done eventually

 

[massraider]

Those Oiler teams were the first that jumped to my mind.

Moon, Givens, Hill, Childress, Matthews, Munchak.....A ton of talented teams.

 

[wharf rat]

2006 Patriots.

They were leading 21-3 in the AFC Championship game before they choked.

 

[Ozymandias]

If memory serves: In the 1990 season NFC championship game the Niners are leading the Giants with less than 2 minutes left. Montana gets injured, Young comes in and throws a 14 yard pass for a first down. All the Niners have to do is run the ball three times, and the game will be over. Roger Craig fumbles the ball on first down, the Giants take over and work their way down for the winning field goal.

The Niners released Roger Craig after the season.

 

[Challenge Everything]

2003 Green Bay Packers and obviously the 1997 Packers.

The 2003 still hurts to this day because the team had all of the momentum and the best offense in the NFC with a decent defense. It still hurts.

 

[Titans2003]

The 2000 Titans losing in the first round to the stinking Ravens still bothers me. The 2003 team that lost at New England on the Vinatieri "ice ball" kick was another near miss. They made the playoffs four out of five years and couldn't finish the deal. At least they won a few playoff games, unlike the 90s Oiler run.

 

[jetpack]

Where to start with Cowher's Steelers in AFC Championship games..... So many choices.

 

[The_Man]

2000 Titans is a good answer -- one yard shot in 99, seemed like 2000 was their year. There is no question they would have torn up Oakland and the Giants. But those Ravens really had their number.

The Broncos team that choked to Jacksonville in the divisional round -- 96 I think -- is another huge example, except that they went on to win it the next two years, so I guess they don't apply.

Also, the Eagles of the early 90s. Had some amazing defenses -- some of the best in NFL history -- but always seemed to come up short while Washington, New York and Dallas all won multiple Super Bowls.

 

[Sam Quentin]

If memory serves: In the 1990 season NFC championship game the Niners are leading the Giants with less than 2 minutes left. Montana gets injured, Young comes in and throws a 14 yard pass for a first down. All the Niners have to do is run the ball three times, and the game will be over. Roger Craig fumbles the ball on first down, the Giants take over and work their way down for the winning field goal.The Niners released Roger Craig after the season.

That Niners team comes to mind for me tooThe Bills and Niners were the two best teams in FB that year, but the third best got the trophy IMHO.

 

[Sam Quentin]

2000 Titans is a good answer -- one yard shot in 99, seemed like 2000 was their year. There is no question they would have torn up Oakland and the Giants. But those Ravens really had their number.

They lost to team that completed 5 forward passes.They were really dominating the LOS in that one too. They had a great D that was would have been noted by history as a great one, but instead the Ravens stole that from them by winng that game - all IMHO.

 

[PMENFAN]

2006 Patriots.They were leading 21-3 in the AFC Championship game before they choked.

Yeah, because everybody has the FOURTH SEED in the conference as the favorite to win it. I'd add the 1996 Broncos here. Huge favorites, lost to J'ville in a huge upset.

 

[Lord of the Rings]

'85 Dolphins (12-4). Only team to beat the Chicago Bears in that Monday Night Thriller. Then they end up losing to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. New England hadn't won down in Miami in 18 years, but led by Tony Eason and Craig James, they upset the Dolphins (who had 6 turnovers), 31-14. Then the Pats got absolutely crushed by the Bears in the Super Bowl. I always wonder what the big game would have been like if it would have been a Dolphins-Bears rematch. Other than a few excursions against the Bills in the playoffs, Marino never sniffed the Super Bowl this close again.

 

[JaxBill]

What about the '99 Jags? 14-2. #6 in points scored. #1 in fewest points allowed. They blew out Marino in his last game ever, then lost to Jeff Fisher the next week at home.

They lost three games all year, all of them to the Titans.

After that AFC championship game, it took the franchise years to recover.

http://www.profootballreference.com/teams/jax1999.htm

 

[JaxBill]

2003 Green Bay Packers and obviously the 1997 Packers.The 2003 still hurts to this day because the team had all of the momentum and the best offense in the NFC with a decent defense. It still hurts.

You mean the 10-6 2003 Packers?

 

[Tough As Nails]

2003 Green Bay Packers and obviously the 1997 Packers.The 2003 still hurts to this day because the team had all of the momentum and the best offense in the NFC with a decent defense. It still hurts.

The day after that 2003 loss by the Packers is the closest I've ever been to actually being killed by a group of people. For like 8 weeks the talk was that the Packers were a 'team of destiny' and there were multiple newspaper/internet articles about them having 'an angel' looking over their shoulder because that was the year Favre's Dad died. Monday morning, after the Packers absolutely choked (coaches choked, then the defense choked, then Favre choked...can't believe they blew that game) I started talking about the game with some Packer fans. They were talking about why they lost...recounting the 800 simple things the Packers could have done to finish the game off. I chimed in with, "Wow. Sucks that Favre's Dad doesn't care anymore." Them, "What? What the hell are you talking about?" Me (chuckling), "Well, for 6 weeks he's been an angel helping them out and making them a team of destiny. All I've heard about is how he's been watching over them. Apparently he stopped caring." You would have thought I just kicked their kids in the face. It was freaking hysterical. The amount of venom coming from them was unreal. I'm laughing just thinking about it.

 

[diesel7982]

2000 Titans is a good answer -- one yard shot in 99, seemed like 2000 was their year. There is no question they would have torn up Oakland and the Giants. But those Ravens really had their number.

They lost to team that completed 5 forward passes.They were really dominating the LOS in that one too. They had a great D that was would have been noted by history as a great one, but instead the Ravens stole that from them by winng that game - all IMHO.

I still remember that game as the one where fat ******* intentionally injured McNair. Titans had that game otherwise.

 

[Tough As Nails]

2003 Green Bay Packers and obviously the 1997 Packers.The 2003 still hurts to this day because the team had all of the momentum and the best offense in the NFC with a decent defense. It still hurts.

You mean the 10-6 2003 Packers?

Ahman Green had like 2200 yards and 20 TDs that year. He was the Terrell Davis/John Elway combo with Brett Favre that makes winning a Super Bowl so easy. Uhhhh, I mean, ummmm, errr, I guess it takes more than just a Terrell Davis-like back to win the Super Bowl.

 

[wadegarrett]

1986 Browns

1987 Browns

1989 Browns

Three AFC Championship game losses in four years to the Broncos. Haven't sniffed the game since.

 

[The_Man]

2000 Titans is a good answer -- one yard shot in 99, seemed like 2000 was their year. There is no question they would have torn up Oakland and the Giants. But those Ravens really had their number.

They lost to team that completed 5 forward passes.They were really dominating the LOS in that one too. They had a great D that was would have been noted by history as a great one, but instead the Ravens stole that from them by winng that game - all IMHO.

I still remember that game as the one where fat ******* intentionally injured McNair. Titans had that game otherwise.

You're actually thinking of the AFC Championship game the next week when Siragusa belly-flopped on Gannon. This was the game where Al Del Greco missed a couple of FGs, then had one blocked and returned for a TD, which essentially won it. Ray Lewis delivered the KO when Eddie George batted a pass from McNair and Ray grabbed it and ran for a TD.

 

[Tough As Nails]

1995 Chiefs come to mind. They had the best record in the league and it seemed like they were going to steamroll people with the running game and explosive defense in the playoffs. They missed like 3 field goals and turned it over like 4 or 5 times in a 10-7 loss to the Colts. Ouch.

 

[Godsbrother]

Where to start with Cowher's Steelers in AFC Championship games..... So many choices.

The loss to the Chargers in 1994 was probably the worst.

 

[The_Man]

I'm starting to detect a pattern with the "near-miss" teams mentioned here -- seems like about half of them were coached by Marty.

 

[Tough As Nails]

98 Vikings15-1Kicker only missed one FG all season....oops.

Oh God. I almost forgot about that one. Perfect, perfect nomination. That team was incredible. Gary Anderson wouldn't even be mentioned if they would have done about a dozen different things toward the end of that game. They had a 20-7 lead at one point and were still ahead by 7 when Anderson missed. Atlanta drove down and scored with like 45 seconds left.

 

[PMENFAN]

What about the '99 Jags? 14-2. #6 in points scored. #1 in fewest points allowed. They blew out Marino in his last game ever, then lost to Jeff Fisher the next week at home.

They lost three games all year, all of them to the Titans.

After that AFC championship game, it took the franchise years to recover.

http://www.profootballreference.com/teams/jax1999.htm

Good one.

 

[Gamblor]

This thread is dedicated to great teams that could've would've should've made it to the big game and/or won it, but somehow mangaed to lose a game they should have won in the post-season.

2006 Patriots.

They were leading 21-3 in the AFC Championship game before they choked.

Yeah, because everybody has the FOURTH SEED in the conference as the favorite to win it.

The oringal post asks for teams that should've made it to the big game. Leading 21-3 in the semis qualifies as should've made it to the big game. Why the denial? The Pats choked.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

Where to start with Cowher's Steelers in AFC Championship games..... So many choices.

The loss to the Chargers in 1994 was probably the worst.

dont be so sore cause Cowher got out coached by Bobby Ross

 

[QUEZILLA]

2002 Raiders. I think that might have been the most "sexy" SB in a while, with the whole Gruden trade and all. The media had a field day, but unfortunately I was drunk for mot of the SB run, so I don't remember much.

 

[Kevin Ashcraft]

1995 Chiefs come to mind. They had the best record in the league and it seemed like they were going to steamroll people with the running game and explosive defense in the playoffs. They missed like 3 field goals and turned it over like 4 or 5 times in a 10-7 loss to the Colts. Ouch.

Lin Elliot.....the name gives me the willies....but it was not all on him, Steve Bono threw three INTSs, but when you lose 10-7 it is easy to blame the PK. That 1995 team was LOADED. 4 STUDS on defense, a two-headed RB attack and a game manager who had a great season.You could also say the 1997 Chiefs, 13-3 Homefield adv., and lose @ home to a divisional rival.and once again,. the 2003 Chiefs....the last team undefeated @ 9-0 and then they score 31 @ home and lose.Enough homer talk, some other notables.-1986 Nears getting beat @ home by Washington in the divisional round. Pretty much the same team from '85, and they came up short.-1994 Steelers - the way that team ran the ball and played defense, I never thought SD would go in to 3R and beat them.-1983 Dolphins - Marino's rookie season he actually had a good running game, and a stellar defense, but the defense let down @ home to a a lesser SEA team....SEA then goes on to get handled by the Raiders in the AFC Title game.

 

[pats3in4]

I think the 1986 Seahawks could have beaten the Giants in SB21 (they beat them earlier in the year). That was a weird team...looked awesome early on and in December, but absolutely horrible in the middle of the season. Finished 10-6. If they won one more game during that mid-season collapse, they probably would have steamrolled the AFC playoff teams. Best team I've ever seen that didn't make the playoffs.

 

[WhoDat]

2002 Raiders. I think that might have been the most "sexy" SB in a while, with the whole Gruden trade and all. The media had a field day, but unfortunately I was drunk for mot of the SB run, so I don't remember much.

The Raiders...I am not sure they blew all of these but check out the tally on losses in AFC Championship games and Superbowls. It was more of running into the Dolphins and, more specifically, the Steelers during the 70's versus flat out blowing games. AFC Championship Losses68-70; 73-75 and 77Superbowl Losses67, 2002Superbowl Wins76, 80, 83

 

[Despyzer]

1979 Chargers: 12-4, tied for the best record in the league

Faced a Houston Oilers team in the divisional round that was missing Ken Borroughs, Dan Pastorini, and Earl Campbell.

Fouts had a complete meltdown and threw 5 picks, 4 of them to some nobody schlub named Vernon Perry.

 

[Steelers4Life]

Where to start with Cowher's Steelers in AFC Championship games..... So many choices.

The loss to the Chargers in 1994 was probably the worst.

Agreed. That one was as painful a loss as I can remember. Ranks right there in terms of disappointment with Francisco freaking Cabrera knocking in Sid Bream... ugh.The Steelers should've beaten the Cowboys in the Super Bowl the following year, too. They got off to a terrible start, but Emmitt did next to nothing after the first half of the first quarter and if not for O'Donnell throwing the INTs, the Steelers would've had one for the thumb over a decade ago.The '97 team that lost to the Elway-led Broncos was just a case of there being too much of a difference between Elway and Kordell. The '01 loss to the Patriots was brutal in HOW they lost. Damn, why couldn't Miller have punted it to the sideline the second time like he was supposed to?The '04 team just ran out of gas. Ben was playing like a worn out rookie by the time the Pats came to town in January.

 

[nerangers]

Super Bowl XXXVI - Saint Louis Rams. The greatest show on turf were upset by the New England Patriots. No one thought it would happen, with the Rams going into the game as 14 point favorites. The game that started making Adam Vinitairi a household name!

 

[JohnnyU]

1995 Chiefs come to mind. They had the best record in the league and it seemed like they were going to steamroll people with the running game and explosive defense in the playoffs. They missed like 3 field goals and turned it over like 4 or 5 times in a 10-7 loss to the Colts. Ouch.

Score: Colts (9-7) 10, at Chiefs (13-3) 7Ouch! In one of the bigger upsets in playoffs history, in 11-degree weather (minus-9 wind chill) the Chiefs turned the ball over four times (Steve Bono threw three picks) and Lin Elliot missed field goals from 35, 39 and 42 (with 42 seconds remaining).

Panic Move: After Bono threw his third interception, Marty pulled Bono for the first time all season in the fourth quarter. Granted, it's Steve Bono, but he was a Pro Bowler that season.

Chiefs' Record at Home in 1995: 8-0.

 

[JohnnyU]

1977 - Raiders 37 Colts 31

It was the "Ghost to the Post" for Oakland, big plays for Baltimore. It was the third longest game at the time in NFL history. It was one of the great games in NFL history. In the end it was a missed quarterback Bert Jones pass in the first overtime for Baltimore and for Oakland it was tight end Dave Casper's third touchdown that sealed Baltimore's fate.

It was the third straight year the Baltimore Colts faced the defending Super Bowl Champions and it would be the last time the Colts would ever participate in a playoff game representing the City of Baltimore.

The first half was dominated by defenses and the score after two quarters gave little evidence to the scoring that would take place in the second half. Oakland opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 30-yard run by Davis.

In the second quarter, with the Baltimore offense stymied by Oakland's front line, the Raiders appeared to be driving for another score when Baltimore defensive back Bruce Laird picked off Oakland's quarterback Kenny Stabler on a pass out to the sideline and raced 61 yards for the tying touchdown. Later in the second quarter Colts kicker Linhart put Baltimore up 10-7 at halftime with a 36-yard field goal.

Oakland went back ahead on their first possession of the second half when Stabler threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dave Casper, his first of three touchdowns on the day.

On the ensuing kickoff, Baltimore's Marshall Johnson put the hometown faithful on their feet with an unexpected 87-yard return for a touchdown to put the Colts back in front 17-14.

Near the end of the third quarter Oakland's Ted Hendricks blocked a Baltimore punt that led to a second Stabler to Casper touchdown, this one for 10 yards, putting Oakland back in front 21-17 after three quarters.

Early in the fourth Baltimore drove down to Oakland's 1-yard line and had first and goal. They needed all four downs as on fourth down, Ron Lee barely broke the plane of the goal to put Baltimore back in front, 24-21.

Oakland struck back with a short run of their own when Pete Banaszak scored on a 1-yard run to put Oakland back in front 28-24.

With just over two minutes to go in the game, Ron Lee scored his second touchdown of the game to put Baltimore up 31-28 and Oakland having not only beat the defense, but now the clock.

On third and long in their own 44 and time running out, the Raiders called for play named, "Ghost to the Post". A play that Stabler throws a high arching pass down field towards the opponents right end zone, allowing the receiver Casper to run under it. As the ball was thrown, it appeared Stabler overthrew Casper. Casper looked back, saw the ball was long, put his head down, ran as hard as he could and in the last moment looked back up and made the catch at the Baltimore 14. (See image right.) With 29 seconds left, Errol Mann kicked the game-tying field, sending the game into overtime.

In the first overtime Bert Jones missed a wide open Raymond Chester that would have given them field goal position. It was Baltimore's best and only chance of winning the game in overtime.

Late in the first overtime and into the second overtime Oakland drove to Baltimore's 10-yard line and less than a minute into the sixth quarter, Stabler hit Casper for the winning touchdown.

Astonishingly, in all, ten of the eleven scores that day moved the team that scored into a tie or back into the lead.

This game marked the last greatest game for the Colts in Baltimore.

 

[titanT]

2000 Titans is a good answer -- one yard shot in 99, seemed like 2000 was their year. There is no question they would have torn up Oakland and the Giants. But those Ravens really had their number.

They lost to team that completed 5 forward passes.They were really dominating the LOS in that one too. They had a great D that was would have been noted by history as a great one, but instead the Ravens stole that from them by winng that game - all IMHO.

I still remember that game as the one where fat ******* intentionally injured McNair. Titans had that game otherwise.

You're actually thinking of the AFC Championship game the next week when Siragusa belly-flopped on Gannon. This was the game where Al Del Greco missed a couple of FGs, then had one blocked and returned for a TD, which essentially won it. Ray Lewis delivered the KO when Eddie George batted a pass from McNair and Ray grabbed it and ran for a TD.

That was after the lardass wiped out Mcnair first

 

[LHUCKS]

2006 Chargers...had a championship team and then let go of Brees.

 

[Christo]

2006 Chargers...had a championship team and then let go of Brees.

 

[Jous]

I'll throw in and agree with the Steelers fan who said the 1995 Steelers. They had the Cowboys beat even though they were heavily outmanned thanks to fantastic coaching and very physical play... and then O'Donnell literally threw it all away.

I'm not all that upset about the 1994 AFCCG loss though because I'm pretty sure that the 94 49'ers would've destroyed us.

 

[shredhead]

1986 Browns1987 Browns1989 BrownsThree AFC Championship game losses in four years to the Broncos. Haven't sniffed the game since.

Yay! Go Broncos!!!

You could also say the 1997 Chiefs, 13-3 Homefield adv., and lose @ home to a divisional rival.

Yay! Go Broncos!!!

I'm starting to detect a pattern with the "near-miss" teams mentioned here -- seems like about half of them were coached by Marty.

Whatever on God's green earth gave you that idea??

 

[shredhead]

The '97 team that lost to the Elway-led Broncos was just a case of there being too much of a difference between Elway and Kordell. Shanahan and Cowher.

Fixed!! If Cowher would have continued to run the Bus down the Broncos throats in the second half like he did in the first half then Kordell wouldn't have had the chance to choke and my beloved Broncos would have never won 2 Superbowls in a row. Thanks Bill!

 

[Steelers4Life]

The '97 team that lost to the Elway-led Broncos was just a case of there being too much of a difference between Elway and Kordell. Shanahan and Cowher.

Fixed!! If Cowher would have continued to run the Bus down the Broncos throats in the second half like he did in the first half then Kordell wouldn't have had the chance to choke and my beloved Broncos would have never won 2 Superbowls in a row. Thanks Bill!

Couldn't disagree more. It was Kordell's mistakes that let the Broncos take the lead into halftime, and he wasn't a QB who could lead them back. Cowher ran Bettis that day because that's what the Steelers did... they were an 11-5 team because Bettis was a 1600 yard rusher that year and Kordell was a novelty act, but even that year, he threw for only 3020 yards and had a TD:INT ratio of 21:17. It was his rushing stats that made him what he was, and that obviously didn't last.I firmly believe that if Cowher had a QB like Roethlisberger earlier in his career, he would have won at least 1 more Super Bowl. That's what was most frustrating to me about all the AFC Championship losses.

We saw a Cowher/Shanahan matchup again last year, but that time it was the exact opposite... Cowher's QB played fantastic and led the Steelers to victory in Denver while Shanahan's QB make mistakes.

 

[Steeler]

I was looking at superbowl.com and was able to piece this information together from their "history" page. I don't know what it means, but I thought it was interesting.

The Steelers have won 5 superbowls.

The Steelers have lost to the eventual SB champ 7 times.

The Steelers have lost to the SB runner-up 5 times.

 

[redman]

1983 Redskins.

14-2 record, 541 points scored on offense (an record not broken until the '98 Vikings and the '99 Rams), an eye-popping +42 turnover ratio. Riggins scored 24 TD's, another record not broken until over a decade later. Theismann had his best year by far:

+----------------------+----+-------------------------------+-------------+| Name | G | CMP ATT PCT YARD Y/A TD IN | RSH YARD TD |+----------------------+----+-------------------------------+-------------+| Joe Theismann | 16 | 276 459 60.1 3714 8.1 29 11 | 37 234 1 |+----------------------+----+-------------------------------+-------------+Their two losses were each one-point losses. They destroyed Dickerson's Rams 51-7 in the divisional playoff. They beat Montana's 49'ers 24-21 in the conference championship game.

Then they stumble (almost literally) into the Super Bowl matchup against a good Raiders team that they'd beat in week 5, 37-35, feeling all full of themselves, and a number of linemen and Riggins proceed to go out the night before the Super Bowl and close the bars in Tampa down.

They lost 38-9 in a game that wasn't even that close, with Theismann famously throwing a pick-six on a screen pass right before halftime, and Marcus Allen breaking Riggins' one-year old Super Bowl rushing record.

Had they won that game, that 1983 Redskins team would have gone down on the short list of all time great teams. By losing they're merely an interesting footnote and aren't much talked about.

 

[Chase Stuart]

1998 Jets. 25 minutes away from winning the Super Bowl.

 

[majstro]

The 1987 49ers finished the regular season 13-2 and had the number one offense based on yards and points and their defense was number one in yards and three in points. The Minnesota Vikings finished the regular season 8-7. The Vikings beat the Saints in the Wild Card Game while the 49ers were on a bye. The next week, the Vikings beat San Fran 36-24 behind the golden arm of WADE WILSON. Keep in mind that the 49ers won the next two Super Bowls wrapping up a three year record of 43-11. This team could have easily been the first to win three in a row.

Thank you Wikipedia:

Aided by wide receiver Anthony Carter's 10 receptions for an NFL playoff record 227 receiving yards, the Vikings upset the top seeded 49ers, who had earned the league's best record during the regular season at 13-2. After the teams traded field goals in the first quarter, quarterback Wade Wilson completed a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Carl Hilton. Minnesota then jumped to a 20-3 lead before halftime with Chuck Nelson's 23-yard field goal and defensive back Reggie Rutland's 45-yard interception return for a touchdown. In the third period, San Francisco defensive back Jeff Fuller returned an interception 48 yard for a touchdown, but it was countered with Wilson's 5-yard touchdown pass to Hassan Jones. 49ers backup quarterback Steve Young, who replaced starter Joe Montana midway through the game, scored a rushing touchdown and threw another. But it was not enough as Nelson made 3 more field goals in the second half to put the game out of reach.

 

[Sweetness_34]

The 1986, 87, 88 Bears.....3 playoff loses at home....Redskins twice, Niners once. With that D, they should have been in at least one more SB, and if they had gotten there, they would have won it with the way the NFL was at that time.

 

[PMENFAN]

The '97 team that lost to the Elway-led Broncos was just a case of there being too much of a difference between Elway and Kordell. Shanahan and Cowher.

Fixed!! If Cowher would have continued to run the Bus down the Broncos throats in the second half like he did in the first half then Kordell wouldn't have had the chance to choke and my beloved Broncos would have never won 2 Superbowls in a row. Thanks Bill!

Couldn't disagree more. It was Kordell's mistakes that let the Broncos take the lead into halftime, and he wasn't a QB who could lead them back. Cowher ran Bettis that day because that's what the Steelers did... they were an 11-5 team because Bettis was a 1600 yard rusher that year and Kordell was a novelty act, but even that year, he threw for only 3020 yards and had a TD:INT ratio of 21:17. It was his rushing stats that made him what he was, and that obviously didn't last.I firmly believe that if Cowher had a QB like Roethlisberger earlier in his career, he would have won at least 1 more Super Bowl. That's what was most frustrating to me about all the AFC Championship losses.

We saw a Cowher/Shanahan matchup again last year, but that time it was the exact opposite... Cowher's QB played fantastic and led the Steelers to victory in Denver while Shanahan's QB make mistakes.

That's the way I remember it too. They're both two great coaches, but Cowher continually had more success, not the ultimate success of Shanny (but he never had Elway), with diverse personnel over his career. Until I see Shanahan Start getting to as many AFCC games as Cowher did, even with the rings, I have to give the coaching ability edge to Cowher. It's slight. Offensive Game planning, it's shanny hands down. All other aspects, game management, motivation, defense, it's Cowher. The long term success curve is to much in his favor to indicate otherwise. All time greatest? Neither fits in the discussion, IMHO. Top 10-15 all time greatest? Probably both in the same range. Both great, just Cowher has a slight edge.