Let’s get one thing out of the way: The headline of this story might suggest that bad NFL teams have played in the Super Bowl, but that’s not the case.
An NFL team can’t be considered “bad” if it advanced to the Super Bowl because it was in position to play for a championship, unlike 30 other NFL teams that fell short.
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At the same time, not all Super Bowl teams are created equally. If we were to rank the 114 teams who advanced to the previous 57 Super Bowls, unfortunately, some teams would need to be bottom-dwellers. That’s just the nature of the exercise.
Below are the bottom five teams in Super Bowl history. One condition of making the list is that the team can’t be a Super Bowl winner. The bottom five needs to be comprised of teams that lost.
In addition, the ranking doesn’t account for how they performed in the Super Bowl. In fact, a few teams below nearly won the Super Bowl.
To rank the bottom five teams, however, the following was taken into consideration:
- Regular-season record
- Point differential
- Offensive and defensive rankings
- Their pre-Super Bowl playoff performances (to a degree)
So, here are the bottom five – or so-called “worst teams” in Super Bowl history:
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5. 1986 Denver Broncos (13-6)
The 1989 Broncos, which had the same record, came close to making this list, but the ’86 team qualified instead. With John Elway at quarterback, the Broncos only had a point differential of +51 — one of the worst among Super Bowl teams — because their defense ranked 15th overall. They also won their two pre-Super Bowl playoff games by a total of eight points. They went on to get smoked in the Super Bowl against the New York Giants, 39-20. By the way, the Broncos’ offensive coordinator was Mike Shanahan, the father of San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
4. 2003 Carolina Panthers (14-6)
The Panthers, who had an expected win/loss record of 9-7, lost five of eight games at one stretch and finished with a point differential of only +21. Yet despite having a middle-of-the-road offense behind quarterback Jake Delhomme, the Panthers cruised through the playoffs and came within a field goal of upsetting Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, losing 32-29.
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3. 2021 Cincinnati Bengals (13-8)
NFL coaching great Bill Parcells always said, “You are what your record says you are.” And the Bengals make this list by virtue of their record. They are the first of three 8-loss teams on this list. With Joe Burrow at quarterback, the Bengals were seventh in the NFL in scoring offense, but 17th in scoring defense. At one point their record was 7-6, yet they rallied to win three of their final four games to make the playoffs. The Bengals won their three pre-Super Bowl playoff games by a combined 13 points, and then lost by three to the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl.
2. 1979 Los Angeles Rams (11-8)
It was close between the final two teams on this list. The Rams won the NFC West division, which was really bad that season, despite having a +14 point differential and an expected win/loss record of 8-8 for the regular season. Their defense, led by Hall of Fame defensive end Jack Youngblood, carried them through the NFC playoffs. The Bucs beat the Dallas Cowboys by two points and shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC title game before becoming the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fourth victim in the Super Bowl, losing 31-19.
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1. 2008 Arizona Cardinals (10-8)
The Cardinals inexplicably made the playoffs as the NFC West champion. A week after losing to the New England Patriots by 40 points, with their record falling to 8-7, the Cardinals defeated Seattle for the division crown.
Their offense wasn’t an issue; with two Hall of Fame talents — Kurt Warner at quarterback and Larry Fitzgerald at receiver — the Cardinals had the NFL’s third-best offense. But their defense was porous; in three of their losses, they gave up 56, 48 and 47 points, ranking 28th overall and leading to the worst point differential among all-time Super Bowl teams at +1.
As seven-point underdogs in the Super Bowl, the Cardinals nearly pulled off the upset, but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers on one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history. While they came close to shocking the NFL world with a Super Bowl win, the Cardinals instead rank as the worst of the Super Bowl teams.
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