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| It took John Elway a while to conquer the Super Bowl, but there were never any demons in the AFC title game as Denver is 6-2 in franchise history. |
Cory Puffett
Since we only have two games this weekend and they are both
being played on Sunday, I felt I should write something a little different
today before previewing the games tomorrow.
So class is in session as I relay to you the history of
conference championships involving the four remaining teams.
Seattle Seahawks: 1-1
in Conference Championships
The Seahawks are by far the least experienced of this year’s
conference championship participants. This is only their third appearance in
this round and second as a member of the NFC.
They lost in their first, and only, appearance in the AFC
title game back in 1983. They went 9-7 and finished second in the AFC West. The
Los Angeles Raiders finished first in the division at 12-4 then beat Seattle in
the conference championship, 30-14.
Eight years ago they made their second trip this deep into
the playoffs after going 13-3 and winning the NFC West. They beat the Carolina
Panthers, 34-14, to advance to Super Bowl XL where they fell to the Steelers.
Seattle have played in five divisional playoff games since
then but couldn’t get back over the hump until Saturday when they beat the
Saints.
Seattle’s overall postseason record is 10-12 (.429). They are
7-7 since moving to the NFC prior to the 2002 season.
Denver Broncos: 6-2
in Conference Championships
The Denver Broncos made their first playoff appearance in
1977, the last of the 14-game seasons. They went 12-2 and won the AFC West. It
was the team’s first 10-win season. They beat the Steelers in the divisional
round then beat the Oakland Raiders, 20-17 in the AFC title game before losing
to the Cowboys in Super Bowl XII.
Denver was one-and-done in their next four appearances. Then
from 1986 to 1989 they made the playoffs three times and won the AFC
Championship each time before losing in Super Bowls XXI, XXII and XXIV.
Denver’s first loss in the conference championship was in
1991, a 10-7 loss in Buffalo.
Denver made it back to the AFC title game following the 1997
and 1998 seasons. These, of course, were John Elway’s last two years as an NFL
quarterback. They beat the Steelers in the 1998 playoffs then beat Green Bay in
Super Bowl XXXII. The next year they beat the Jets in the AFC Championship
before defeating the Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII.
The Broncos made it this far just once since then. After the
2005 seasons, they lost to the Steelers in the AFC title game. The Steelers of
course went on to beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL as I mentioned earlier.
This Sunday will be Denver’s ninth AFC title game.
Denver has had only four quarterbacks lead them this far in
to the playoffs. Craig Morton was at the helm in the 1977 season. John Elway
took them to their next six appearances before Jake Plummer led them in the
2005 season.
Fun fact, in Denver’s four AFC Championship games from 1986
to 1991, John Elway’s backup was former Houston Texans head coach, Gary Kubiak.
New England Patriots:
7-2 in Conference Championships
The Patriots are making their tenth appearance in the AFC
Championship and followed a remarkably similar path to the Broncos. Denver won
their first four, lost one, won two more, then lost their most recent title
game.
New England did the exact same thing except, instead of
winning their first four, they won their first five AFC title games. Their
first came in 1985. They finished the season in third place in the AFC East
despite an 11-5 record.
They had to play both teams that placed ahead of them in the
division, the Jets and Dolphins, and they beat them both. The 31-14 victory
over Miami came in the AFC title game. They went on to lose Super Bowl XX to
Chicago.
The Patriots’ next AFC title game followed the 1996 season.
Again they finished 11-5 but were the best team in the AFC East and had a first
round bye. They beat the Jaguars (a second-year expansion team), 20-6 in the
conference championship before falling to Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXI.
New England’s seven, and now eight, appearances since then
have all come under head coach Bill Belichick. They won this game in the 2002,
2004 and 2005 playoffs and went on to win all three Super Bowls.
Their first loss in the AFC title game was in the 2007
postseason when they lost to the Indianapolis Colts, 38-34.
The next year they went 16-0 in the regular season, beat the
San Diego Chargers in the AFC Championship, 21-12, and then lost Super Bowl
XLII to the Giants.
Two years ago the Patriots got their seventh conference
championship victory, a narrow win over Baltimore in which Billy Cundiff missed
a field goal that would have sent the game to overtime. They fell to Baltimore
last year, though.
This is New England’s first run of three straight seasons
making it this deep in the playoffs, and they’ve done it despite have one of
their unluckiest three-year stretches in terms of injuries and other
distractions, such as the death of Robert Kraft’s wife just before the 2011
season began.
San Francisco 49ers:
6-8 in Conference Championships
The San Francisco 49ers, making their 15th NFC
title game appearance, are the most experienced of the four teams remaining.
But the Broncos have as many conference championship victories as the 49ers
despite only making barely more than half as many appearances.
But there is a reason for San Francisco’s poor record in
this round of the playoffs, or at least poor in comparison to the other three
teams that will play this weekend. Remember that until 2002, Seattle was in the
AFC. So the 49ers are the only team that had to play in the NFC’s “golden age,”
so to speak.
From Super Bowl XIX, which followed the 1984 season, to
Super Bowl XXXI, following the 1996 season, the NFC champion won every single
Super Bowl. That 13-year run is that “golden age.” During that run, San
Francisco played in eight NFC Championship games. They went 4-4 in those games.
San Francisco’s first appearances in the conference
championship came after the 1970 and 1971 seasons. They lost to the Cowboys in
the NFC title game both years. They made the playoffs again following the 1972
season and the Cowboys beat them in the divisional round. San Francisco did not
make the playoffs again for nine years.
After just one winning record in the prior eight seasons,
San Francisco went 13-3 in 1981. They finally conquered Dallas, beating them
28-27 in the NFC title game, before beat the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.
The Redskins knocked off the 49ers in the 1984 conference
championship but San Francisco went 15-1 the following season and then crushed
the Bears 23-0 to advance to Super Bowl XIX, where they beat Dan Marino’s
Dolphins. That, of course, was Marino’s only Super Bowl visit.
San Francisco went one-and-done in the next three playoffs
but then beat the Bears and Rams by a combined 58-6 in the next two conference
championships. They edged the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII and then recorded the
largest margin of victory ever in a Super Bowl by beating the Broncos 55-10 in
Super Bowl XXIV.
The 49ers’ next three playoff appearances resulted in losses
to eventual Super Bowl champions, first the Giants in the 1991 playoffs and
then to the Cowboys in in the 1993 and 1994 playoffs. They beat Dallas in the
1995 playoffs to advance to Super Bowl XXIX where they beat the Chargers.
They made it back to the NFC Championship following the 1997
season but lost to the Packers, then made the playoffs just three times in next
thirteen seasons.
And that brings us to the Jim Harbaugh era of the past three
seasons. The 49ers have made the NFC Championship in three straight seasons for
the third time in franchise history. Harbaugh is the first coach to take his
team to three of them in his first three seasons as an NFL head coach. He is
1-1 so far.
This year is the first time the 49ers have ever made the conference championship
game after having to play in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
Tomorrow I will preview both conference title games, so be
sure to look for those two posts. I hope you enjoyed today’s history lesson of
sorts.
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