The Dynasty That Never Was

The Super Bowl is this weekend and that has made me think about a team that became known for being so close, yet so far away. This team achieved something that has never happened in the NFL and rarely happened in any of the major sports. This team went to four straight Super Bowls. This team lost all of them. This team is the Buffalo Bills.

I've done some researching and the Bills are in a small group of teams across all the major sports. First of all, they are the only NFL team to go to four straight Super Bowls. And to put that in perspective, only one other team has gone to three straight. That was the Miami Dolphins from 1972-74. In the NBA only the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have appeared in 4 straight Finals. The Celtics did it from 1984-87 and also from 1959-66. The Lakers went from 1982-85. In the NHL only two franchises have been able to accomplish this feat as well. The New York Islanders reached the Stanley Cup Finals from 1980-83 and the Montreal Canadians did it twice, from 1976-79 and 1951-60. In baseball only the Yankees have been to four consecutive World Series'. They have accomplished the feat five times. Those times being: 1998-2001, 1960-64, 1955-58, 1949-53, 1936-39.

The difference between those great squads and the Bills is that all the other teams that appeared in four consecutive championships has success. Not only did they win, they won multiple times. In every other instance the team won at least twice and only the 1960-64 Yankees had a losing record, winning two and losing three (but at least they won back-to-back in '61 & '62). If you add up the records of all the other teams who accomplished this feat, they went 42-14 in terms of winning championships. That means 74 percent of the time they brought home the hardware. Poor Buffalo went 0 for 4. And outside of the 20-19 loss in Super Bowl XXV, the Bills weren't even close to winning the big game. They lost the next three by a combined score of 119-54. In Super Bowl XXVII against the Dallas Cowboys the Bills committed nine turnovers. NINE! It could have been more, they fumbled eight times but lost only five.

How they lost all those Super Bowls, I will never know. You would figure that getting there that many times consecutively would allow them one win. Just one. They could have had it in Super Bowl XXV had they not missed a last second field goal. But it's just unfortunate for the city. Buffalo doesn't have much to look forward to except getting hammered with 27 inches of snowfall every winter. The only other sports team they have is the Buffalo Sabres, and they have not fared well, losing in the two Stanley Cup they went to (1999 and 1975). So as a city, Buffalo is 0-6 in championships. Well, the Sabres are pretty good this year, perhaps they can make it 1-6, or perhaps the city will still be waiting for a championship.