Cardsfaninlouky
ASFN Lifer
NFL 2019: This one preseason stat might have just eliminated 13 teams from winning the Super Bowl
Since 2008, no Super Bowl champion has finished the preseason with a losing record.
Here's a look at the preseason record for each of the past 11 Super Bowl champions
2008: Steelers (3-1)
2009: Saints (3-1)
2010: Packers (2-2)
2011: Giants (2-2)
2012: Ravens (2-2)
2013: Seahawks (4-0)
2014: Patriots (2-2)
2015: Broncos (3-1)
2016: Patriots (3-1)
2017: Eagles (2-2)
2018: Patriots (3-1)
Basically, this means that you should go check the preseason standings now and then immediately give up on the 2019 season if your favorite team had a losing record.
On Friday's episode of the Pick Six Podcast (listen to the full episode below, and be sure to subscribe for your daily dose of NFL goodness), I joined host Will Brinson and Sean Wagner-McGough to talk all things preseason, including whether or not we should buy into this stat. We also talked about the one team that impressed us the most during the preseason (Spoiler alert: Sean likes the Giants) and the one team that saw their stock drop the most (Spoiler alert: Every team in the AFC South).
As for this stat, it could be a total coincidence or it could be an actual trend that's slowly developing. The reason it could be a trend is because Super Bowl winning teams are usually better at everything. They have better coaches, they have better talent and they have a better front office.
If you're looking for a reason why Super Bowl winners have been doing so well during the preseason, all three of those things likely play a big part. If you have a front office that's good at finding talent, then the bottom of your 90-man roster is going to be better than the bottom of your opponents' roster, which is a big deal, because the players on the bottom of the roster are usually the ones playing in the second half of a preseason game.
If you have a better coaching staff, that's also a big deal. When you have 90 players on your roster, the coaching staff has to put the players in a position to succeed. Bill Belichick is a master of this, which is probably one reason why the Patriots almost always have winning record during the preseason.
If this pattern holds up, that means we can go ahead and write off a total of 13 teams to win the Super Bowl this year and that's because they all finished the preseason with a losing record.
Here's a list of every team that finished the preseason under .500 this year: Bengals, Colts, Texans, Jaguars, Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, Redskins, Eagles, Bears, Lions, Falcons and Cardinals.
That list includes five playoff teams from last year.
Of course, this stat could just be a total coincidence and none of these teams actually have anything to worry about.
Finally, we'll end here with a preseason stat that was dug up by one of the stat heads over at Reddit: If a team plays four or more preseason games and scores fewer than 43 total points over those games, history says they're going to have zero postseason success. Since 1983, 31 teams have fit that bill and none of those 31 teams went on to win a playoff game. This is bad news for the Jaguars, who just happened to be the only team not to crack the 43-point mark during the 2019 preseason. They also finished the preseason with a losing record, so we can probably go ahead and write them off as a Super Bowl contender.
Of course, it's completely possible the preseason means nothing at all and that the Jaguars will end up in the Super Bowl. We'll have to check back in February to find out.
- By John Breech
- Aug 30, 2019 at 8:30 am ET • 3 min read
Since 2008, no Super Bowl champion has finished the preseason with a losing record.
Here's a look at the preseason record for each of the past 11 Super Bowl champions
2008: Steelers (3-1)
2009: Saints (3-1)
2010: Packers (2-2)
2011: Giants (2-2)
2012: Ravens (2-2)
2013: Seahawks (4-0)
2014: Patriots (2-2)
2015: Broncos (3-1)
2016: Patriots (3-1)
2017: Eagles (2-2)
2018: Patriots (3-1)
Basically, this means that you should go check the preseason standings now and then immediately give up on the 2019 season if your favorite team had a losing record.
On Friday's episode of the Pick Six Podcast (listen to the full episode below, and be sure to subscribe for your daily dose of NFL goodness), I joined host Will Brinson and Sean Wagner-McGough to talk all things preseason, including whether or not we should buy into this stat. We also talked about the one team that impressed us the most during the preseason (Spoiler alert: Sean likes the Giants) and the one team that saw their stock drop the most (Spoiler alert: Every team in the AFC South).
As for this stat, it could be a total coincidence or it could be an actual trend that's slowly developing. The reason it could be a trend is because Super Bowl winning teams are usually better at everything. They have better coaches, they have better talent and they have a better front office.
If you're looking for a reason why Super Bowl winners have been doing so well during the preseason, all three of those things likely play a big part. If you have a front office that's good at finding talent, then the bottom of your 90-man roster is going to be better than the bottom of your opponents' roster, which is a big deal, because the players on the bottom of the roster are usually the ones playing in the second half of a preseason game.
If you have a better coaching staff, that's also a big deal. When you have 90 players on your roster, the coaching staff has to put the players in a position to succeed. Bill Belichick is a master of this, which is probably one reason why the Patriots almost always have winning record during the preseason.
If this pattern holds up, that means we can go ahead and write off a total of 13 teams to win the Super Bowl this year and that's because they all finished the preseason with a losing record.
Here's a list of every team that finished the preseason under .500 this year: Bengals, Colts, Texans, Jaguars, Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, Redskins, Eagles, Bears, Lions, Falcons and Cardinals.
That list includes five playoff teams from last year.
Of course, this stat could just be a total coincidence and none of these teams actually have anything to worry about.
Finally, we'll end here with a preseason stat that was dug up by one of the stat heads over at Reddit: If a team plays four or more preseason games and scores fewer than 43 total points over those games, history says they're going to have zero postseason success. Since 1983, 31 teams have fit that bill and none of those 31 teams went on to win a playoff game. This is bad news for the Jaguars, who just happened to be the only team not to crack the 43-point mark during the 2019 preseason. They also finished the preseason with a losing record, so we can probably go ahead and write them off as a Super Bowl contender.
Of course, it's completely possible the preseason means nothing at all and that the Jaguars will end up in the Super Bowl. We'll have to check back in February to find out.
