During the 2024 NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs were the last team to lose a game, which sounds like it should be a good thing, but for most of this century, being the final undefeated team has actually kind of been a curse.
Over the past 17 seasons, the final undefeated team has gone on to win the Super Bowl exactly ZERO times. It doesn’t seem possible, but that’s the case and this surprising streak started in 2007 with the undefeated New England Patriots. After going 16-0 in the regular season, the Patriots coasted to two AFC playoff wins before being stunned by the Giants 17-14 in Super Bowl LXII, a game where New England was favored by 12.5 points.
Since 2000, there has only been one team in the NFL that finished as the final undefeated team AND won the Super Bowl, and that came in 2006 when Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears 29-17 in Super Bowl XLVI. The Colts win came after they started the season 9-0, which made them the final unbeaten team in the NFL that year. Since then, the final unbeaten team hasn’t won a single Lombardi.
In the Chiefs’ case, they started the 2024 season at 9-0 before finally suffering their first loss of the season in a 30-21 setback against the Buffalo Bills.
The fact that the NFL’s final undefeated team has failed to win a Super Bowl for 17 straight seasons seems almost impossible — especially when you look at the teams on the list with the 2007 Patriots obviously being the most shocking — but that’s exactly what has happened.
The Chiefs are the ninth team since 2007 to make it the Super Bowl after being the final unbeaten team during the regular season. Of course, the other eight games haven’t gone so well with the final unbeaten team going 0-8 in the Super Bowl over the past 17 seasons.
Here’s a look at how the final unbeaten team has done since 2006
Team (Record before first loss, final record)
**2006 — Colts (9-0, 12-4): The Colts are the only team this century that finished as the NFL’s final unbeaten team AND won the Super Bowl, and the most improbable part about it is that they were able to pull it off after coming out of the wild-card round. Despite their 12-4 record, Indy only earned a three-seed for this game, which means they had to win four games to take home the Lombardi Trophy. The craziest game of the 2006 postseason definitely came in the AFC Championship, a game where the Colts beat the Patriots 38-34 after trailing 21-3.
DROUGHT STARTS
2007 — Patriots (16-0, 16-0): There’s only been one 16-0 regular season in NFL history, but that season didn’t end with a Super Bowl win for the Patriots, who got upset by the Giants 17-14.
2008 — Titans (10-0, 13-3): The Titans earned the AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2008, but they didn’t do much with it as they got bounced out of the playoffs in their first game after the Ravens pulled off a 13-10 upset. Fortunately for the Titans, they were able to return the favor in 2019 by knocking the top-seeded Ravens out of the postseason.
2009 — Colts (14-0, 14-2): For the third time in five years, Peyton Manning’s Colts were the NFL’s final unbeaten team, and unlike 2006, they were unable to win the Super Bowl. After starting 14-0, Indy ended up getting all the way to the big game, but they were no match for the Saints, who beat them 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV.
2010 — Steelers (3-0, 12-4), Bears (3-0, 11-5), Chiefs (3-0, 10-6): In a twist, all three of these teams made the playoffs in 2010, but then ended up getting eliminated in different rounds. The Chiefs got knocked out first in the wild-card round. That was followed two weeks later by the Bears, who lost to the Packers in the NFC title game. The Steelers were the last to go when they lost a wild 31-25 game to the Packers in Super Bowl XLV.
2011 — Packers (13-0, 15-1): After winning the Super Bowl in 2010, the 15-1 Packers were the heavy favorite to repeat as champions, but that didn’t happen as they were knocked out in the divisional round by the Giants in a game that wasn’t close (37-20). The loss meant that the Packers squandered one of their best teams in franchise history.
2012 — Falcons (8-0, 13-3): Matt Ryan finally picked up his first career playoff win in 2012, but he wasn’t able to get a second one as the Falcons ended up losing to the 49ers in the NFC title game. If the Falcons had never blown a 28-3 lead in Super Bowl LI, this is the game that would probably still haunt fans in Atlanta. The Falcons went up 17-0 on the 49ers before losing 28-24.
2013 — Chiefs (9-0, 11-5): In Andy Reid’s first season as Kansas City’s coach, the Chiefs absolutely choked down the stretch, going just 2-5 over their final seven games after starting 9-0. The bigger choke actually would come in the playoffs, where they would blow a 38-10 third-quarter lead in a 45-44 loss to the Colts.
2014 — Cardinals (3-0, 11-5), Bengals (3-0, 10-5-1), Eagles (3-0, 10-6): In one of the ugliest years possible, these three teams combined to win zero playoff games. For one, the Eagles didn’t even make the postseason despite their 10-6 record. As for the Cardinals and Bengals, they were both bounced in the wild-card round.
2015 — Panthers (14-0, 15-1): During the regular season, the Panthers became just the sixth team in NFL history to finish 15-1, but that wasn’t enough for a Super Bowl win. In Super Bowl 50, the Panthers got handily beaten 24-10 by the Broncos.
2016 — Vikings (5-0, 8-8): Vikings fans have dealt with a lot of disappointing seasons, and this one definitely qualifies. Minnesota didn’t even make the playoffs after starting the year 5-0.
2017 — Chiefs (5-0, 10-6): Once again, Andy Reid is on this list, and once again, his team didn’t win the Super Bowl. After starting 5-0, the Chiefs went just 5-6 down the stretch, and once again, they choked in the playoffs. In a wild-card game against the Titans, the Chiefs blew a 21-3 lead in a 22-21 loss.
2018 — Rams (8-0, 13-3): The Rams almost ended the drought last year when they made it all the way to the Super Bowl after finishing as the league’s final unbeaten team. However, the Rams ran into a brick wall known as the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII and would end up losing the game 13-3.
2019 — 49ers (8-0, 13-3), Patriots (8-0, 12-4): The 49ers made it all the way to the Super Bowl before being knocked off by the Chiefs. As for the Patriots, they lost in the wild-card round to the Titans in Tom Brady’s final game with the team.
2020 — Steelers (11-0, 12-4): The Steelers fell apart to close the season with four losses in their final five games and things didn’t get much better in the playoffs: They lost to the Browns in the wild-card round.
2021 — Cardinals (7-0, 11-6): After starting 7-0, the Cardinals totally collapsed over the second half of the season, going just 4-6 down the stretch. The Cardinals’ late-season failures continued into the playoffs with a wild-card loss to the Rams. Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury ended up getting fired one year later.
2022 — Eagles (8-0, 14-3): The Eagles came close to ending the streak, but they fell just short in a 38-35 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII in a game that wasn’t decided until Kansas City kicked a field goal with just eight seconds left.
2023 — 49ers (5-0, 12-5), Eagles (5-0, 11-6): The Eagles got to 10-1 on the season before losing six of their final seven games, including a wild-card loss to the Buccaneers. As for the 49ers, they came tantalizingly close to ending the drought: They were beating the Chiefs 19-16 with 10 seconds left in Super Bowl LVIII before Harrison Butker sent the game to overtime with a short field goal. In OT, the Chiefs ended up knocking off the 49ers, 25-22.
2024 — Chiefs (9-0, 15-2): There have been three teams over the past five years that could have ended this streak, but it didn’t happen because the Chiefs beat them in the Super Bowl (49ers lost twice and the Eagles once), so it would be almost fitting if Kansas City is the team that ends the streak. The Chiefs will have the chance to exactly that on Feb. 9 when they face the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.
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Author: John Breech
January 28, 2025 | 12:41 pm
