Undefeated.

[Dave Gray]

I think that we all need to learn a lesson from the Packers.  It happens every year: Don't start talking about an undefeated season until a team is on the doorstep.  And the doorstep is mid-playoffs.

Every year, some team gets hot and wins a bunch in a row and people start talking.  Perhaps it's because the talking heads on ESPN and the radio need something to talk about.  But what we need to realize is that it's not the same skill-set that makes you have a long win streak in the regular season that makes you win in the playoffs.

Winning in the regular season means getting up for your big games and not falling into traps for your week to week pushover opponents.  It also requires a little bit of luck.

To win in the playoffs and in the Super Bowl, it's all about peaking at the right time.  It's about winning several really hard games in a row.  It's about being able to play through injuries, because it's likely your tough games are going to beat you up from week to week.

How common is it for the best regular season team to fall off in the playoffs or the Super Bowl?

[MikeO]

It goes beyond a perfect season or undefeated. What it tells me is the Colts and Packers can't think about "resting" guys in Week 17 if you have a BYE week locked up. It hurt both of them and probably cost them both rings.

Play hard for 17 weeks, don't get in the mode of "sitting" and "resting" guys in late December. Once you take your foot off the gas pedal, its over! Once you have huge momentum, keep it going at all costs and play balls out at full speed every game.

[masterfins]

IMO the problem with the Packers was the death of Philbin's son, combined with the fact they took it for granted they would easily beat the Giants, hence they were unprepared.  Not to mention the Giants defense is the healthy its been all season and is playing great.

[Spider-Dan]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

NE was the perfect storm and they couldn't do it.  It won't be done.  You need the perfect combination of:

- new impact talent (so the league is playing catchup trying to gameplan against you)
- no injuries
- accomplished team (a team that has titles already in the bag, so they can go for making history without the media hammering them over not resting players)
- asshole coach (someone who is willing to throw fly routes on 4th down when winning by 20, to prevent the random fluke comebacks)

NE had all of that and (due to Spygate) was playing with a big chip on their shoulder.  They didn't give a f*ck about sportsmanship or respecting the game; they just wanted to crush all the haters who were saying that they cheated their way to 3 rings.  And they couldn't do it.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Disagree. 

Bears came close in '85.  49'rs came close in '84.

And odds are if the NEP coach staff hadn't spent the entire before the superbowl day dealing with a bullsshit and false alegation that they taped the Rams practice and instead had that day to do final game planning then the Pats would have won the game. 

Another team will go undefeated.  The only question is when.   

[Spider-Dan]

Disagree. 

Bears came close in '85.  49'rs came close in '84.

SF lost in week 7.  That's not really "coming close;" they never had to face the pressure of the week-to-week media frenzy once you get to 10-0 (ish).

CHI got to 12-0 and buckled.  Just because they were able to win the rest of their games (after the pressure of being undefeated had been relieved), that doesn't mean they would have anyway.

As a NE fan, you should be quite aware that the difference between, say, 14-2 and 16-0 is not simply winning-two-more-games.  Teams that have been eliminated from contention and have nothing to play for against a 12-1 team are motivated to make history against a 13-0 team; just ask the '11 Chiefs or the '98 Giants.

[Brian Fein]

^^ Disagree with you blaming the media for the Patriots losing the Super Bowl.  Shame on you.

The Giants played the Pats tough at the end of the regular season, as did the Eagles and Ravens.  Its only a matter of time before good coaches with talented players can game plan to your previous game tape and find a way to beat you.  Add in a few lucky bounces (like catching a ball with your helmet) and you lose the game.

[Cathal]

 I think you just struck a nerve with him.

[Spider-Dan]

^^ Disagree with you blaming the media for the Patriots losing the Super Bowl.

How can you possibly arrive at that conclusion when I never even mentioned the Super Bowl?

I'm talking strictly about the regular season.  In the playoffs, every team is always maximally motivated and there's never any media pressure to rest players or other such garbage.

[MikeO]

^^ Disagree with you blaming the media for the Patriots losing the Super Bowl.  Shame on you.

The Giants played the Pats tough at the end of the regular season, as did the Eagles and Ravens.  Its only a matter of time before good coaches with talented players can game plan to your previous game tape and find a way to beat you.  Add in a few lucky bounces (like catching a ball with your helmet) and you lose the game.

If you look at how the Pats ended that season and its playoff games leading up to that Super Bowl, they were on a decline.  Yes they were winning but the wins were becoming tougher for them. That team peaked in early December and never was the same the final month of the year and the playoffs.

[Landshark]

If you look at how the Pats ended that season and its playoff games leading up to that Super Bowl, they were on a decline.  Yes they were winning but the wins were becoming tougher for them. That team peaked in early December and never was the same the final month of the year and the playoffs.

Regardless of whether they were on a decline or not, the fact is, the Giants were able to do what no one else had done all season.  They got to Brady. 

That was the happiest I've ever been to see a team other than the Dolphins win a Super Bowl

[MikeO]

Regardless of whether they were on a decline or not, the fact is, the Giants were able to do what no one else had done all season.  They got to Brady. 

Getting to Brady was key, but it still took a lucky catch by Tyree to beat them.

[el diablo]

As long as the "Any given Sunday" concept applies, going undefeated will be next to impossible. The longer your streak is, the more determined teams are to break it. There are no division III teams in the NFL.  Luck is only opportunity presenting itself.