With Super Bowl XLV approaching, I thought it would be fun to take a historical look at the event.  But I didn’t want to do the typical Records/Statistics type of analysis.  You know, the “career leader in passing yards” or “most receptions in a game”  kind of thing.  I was more focused on making observations from some of the information I found.  Where I did look at records and stats, it was more from a team standpoint than an individual standpoint.  So what follows is my random look at Super Bowls past (although where appropriate, I included info about the upcoming game).  It’s guaranteed to be insignificant and trivial – but hopefully you can find something fun or interesting!

TEAM TIDBITS:

• One of the participants in this year’s game, the Green Bay Packers, won the very first Super Bowl and then won it again the following year.  They returned 29 years later to win their third Super Bowl.  The only other time the Packers appeared in the game was the following year when they lost Super Bowl XXXII to the Broncos.  Now as most people know, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the other participant in this year’s game, hold the record for most Super Bowl wins with 6.  Their only loss came in Super Bowl XXX to the Cowboys.  So, Super Bowl XLV pits two of the most storied franchises in NFL history and after the game is over, those two will have combined to win more than 1/5 of all the Super Bowls!
• With their appearance in Super Bowl XLV, the Steelers will tie the Cowboys for most Super Bowl appearances with 8.
• Of the current 32 franchises in the NFL, only four have never even made an appearance in the Super Bowl: Browns, Jaguars, Texans and Lions.
• The Bills hold the record for the most consecutive appearances in the Super Bowl with 4 (SB’s XXV thru XXVIII).  They also hold the distinction of losing the most consecutive games – all four!  The Dolphins have the 2nd most consecutive appearances with 3 (SB’s VI thru VIII), going 2-1 in those games.
• Looking just at teams with multiple Super Bowl appearances, the 49ers are the only team that is undefeated, with a 5-0 record.  The Steelers have the 2nd best winning percentage at .857 and the Packers are tied with the Giants for third best with a .750 winning percentage.
• No team has ever won more than two consecutive Super Bowls.  There have been 7 different teams that have won back-to-back Super Bowls.  The Steelers performed that feat twice (SB’s IX & X and XIII & XIV).  The other teams that did it are the Packers, Patriots, Broncos, 49ers, Dolphins and Cowboys.  The 49ers are the only team to have done it under different head coaches (Walsh & Seifert)
• Going to the other side of the ledger, the most Super Bowl losses by any one team is 4.  There are three teams that lay claim to that dubious honor:  Bills, Vikings and Broncos.  Broncos fans can at least cheer the fact that they have 2 wins to go along with those 4 losses.  For the Bills and Vikings, their 4 losses came in their only appearances in the big game.
• As previously noted, the Bills hold the record for consecutive losses with 4.  The only other teams with consecutive losses are the Vikings and the Broncos with each losing two in a row.  The Broncos thus have the distinction of being the only team to have back-to-back losses and back-to-back wins.
• In addition to the Bills and Vikings, there are only two other teams with multiple Super Bowl appearances who are winless: Eagles & Bengals – both with 0-2 records.  An interesting fact here is that of these four winless teams, the Vikings are the only team to have never held a lead for even ONE second in any of their games!
• In the last 8 Super Bowls (counting this one), the NFC has been represented by 8 different teams while the AFC has only had 3 different representatives (Steelers, Colts & Patriots).  If you look at the last 10 Super Bowls, the NFC has actually had 10 different representatives.  Put another way to my fellow Redskins fans – - the Redskins are 1 of only 6 NFC teams to not have appeared in the last 10 Super Bowls!
• Speaking of dry spells, of all of the teams who have ever appeared in the Super Bowl, the Jets have the longest drought since their last appearance – 42 years.  They are followed by the Chiefs (41 yrs.), the Vikings (36 yrs.), the Dolphins (26 yrs.), the Bengals (22 yrs.) and yes … the Redskins (19 yrs.).

GAME NOTES/ODDITIES:

• The first Super Bowl, really wasn’t the “Super Bowl”??  That game, which was played on January 15, 1967, was actually billed as the “First World Championship Game AFL VS. NFL”.  It has since been dubbed Super Bowl I.
• Even though the game was called the Super Bowl after that first one, the title “Super Bowl” didn’t actually appear on game tickets until Super Bowl IV.
• No game has ever been played on the home field of any of the game participants.
• No game has ever gone into overtime.
• No team has ever been shutout.  Miami is the only team to not score a touchdown, losing to the Cowboys 24-3 in SB VI.
• There have been 8 kickoff returns for touchdowns yet not one punt has ever been returned for a TD.  Now I know that it’s probably a little easier to take a kickoff to the house than it is a punt, but still, I find this disparity to be odd.
• Still marveling at the fact that there has never been a punt returned for a touchdown, I did a random sampling of regular season stats for several different years and found that, on average, the number of punt returns for TD’s and the number of safeties recorded were relatively equal each year.  So given that, how do you then explain the fact that there hasn’t been a punt returned for a TD in a Super Bowl but there have been 6 safeties recorded over the years?
• And speaking of safeties, it was a safety that figured into what I think is the oddest halftime score in Super Bowl history.  The Steelers led the Vikings 2-0 going into the half in SB IX, a game they eventually won 16-6.

LOCATION, LOCATION:

• Only 8 states have ever played host to the Super Bowl.  Florida leads the way with 15, California is next with 11 and Louisiana follows closely behind with 9.  Texas is next closest with 3 games, counting this year’s game in Dallas – the other two were in Houston.
• Of all the cities that have hosted Super Bowls, Miami leads the way with 10, followed closely by New Orleans with 9.
• The venue that has hosted the most Super Bowls is the Louisiana Superdome.  The game has been played there 6 times, although it was just called the Superdome the first time the game was played there in 1977 (SB XII).  The game has been held in two different venues in Miami over the years.  The first 5 Miami games were held at the old Orange Bowl Stadium, which has since been demolished.  The last 5 Super Bowls held in Miami took place in the same stadium, although you wouldn’t know it if you just looked at the name.  That particular facility was originally known as Joe Robbie Stadium and it bore that name for it’s first two Super Bowl stints.  The next time the game showed up there, the stadium was called Pro Player Stadium.  Then the year the Colts beat the Bears in SB XLI (2006)  the game was held at that site again – it was called Dolphin Stadium then.   The fifth time that facility hosted the game was last year when the Saints beat the Colts.  It was named Sun Life Stadium that day.  It still goes by that name today – I think?

COLORS:

I took a look at team colors to see if they could somehow give us a clue as to what the outcome of Super Bowl XLV will be.  Every team has official team colors.  There will be a predominant color with one or more complementing colors by which the team is recognized.  So for example, the Steelers’ predominant color is black with gold being their main complementing color and they are often referred to as “The Black & Gold”.  Likewise, the Packers’ predominant color is green (officially dark green) and they too have gold as their main complementing color.  Of course in games, a team will wear either a white jersey that incorporates their team colors into the design or they will wear a dark jersey that is their predominant color with complementing colors included.  Now there are exceptions to this, like when a team may wear what is now called their “alternate” jersey or when they wear a “throwback” jersey from a time when their franchise may have had a different predominant color.  But that can be confusing so let’s just ignore it.  Okay, with this overly-detailed discussion as a backdrop, what observations did I make?

Taking a look at just the Super Bowl winners and considering them solely on the basis of their predominant color, paying no attention to the color of the jersey they happened to wear in the game, I found the following:

• “Green” teams have won 4 of the Super Bowls.
• Interestingly enough, 3 of the 4 “green” wins came in the first three Super Bowls (Packers twice then the Jets).  The Packers got the only other “green” team win in SB XXXI.
• “Black” teams have won a total of 9 Super Bowls (6 by the Steelers – 3 by the Raiders)
• For reference purposes, over the course of Super Bowl history, there have been a total of 3 “green” teams in the NFL and a total of 3 1/2 ‘black” teams (the Falcons were a “red” team for about as long as they have been a “black” team – thus the 1/2!)

It should be noted that in this year’s Super Bowl, the Packers were designated the home team.  As a result, they got to choose whether they would wear their dark jersey or their white jersey.  They decided to go with the dark jersey so then obviously, the Steelers will be wearing their white jersey.  Now taking into consideration the color of the jerseys worn by the participants in each of the Super Bowls, some interesting observations were made:

• In the last 6 Super Bowls, all of the winning teams wore their white jerseys.
• The team wearing white has won 13 of the last 19 Super Bowls.
• Of the 44 Super Bowls that have been played, the teams wearing the white jerseys have won a little more than 61% (27) of the time.
• The Packers wore their green jerseys in two of their three wins, including their last win.  Their only loss came while wearing white.
• In the Steelers six wins, they wore their black jerseys three times and their white jerseys three times.  They were in their white jerseys for their their last two wins.  Their only loss also came while wearing black.

So what can we conclude from all this color stuff?  Well, “conclude” may be a bit strong.  With respect to the predominant color scenario, given that the overall number of “green” teams and “black” teams has been pretty much the same, then clearly, “black” teams are more successful in the Super Bowl.  Considering the color of the jersey scenario, there certainly has been a long-running trend suggesting that you are much better off playing in your white jersey.  Looking at the Packers Super Bowl history, they are more successful playing in their green jersey so it is understandable why are decided to go with that his year.  On the other hand, the Steelers have had a little more success in their white jerseys, especially lately.  If you like to go with the law of averages line of thinking, then you might say that the Packers are in good shape this year since it is time for a team in the dark jersey to win.  So, add it all up and what do you get?  Who knows?  Bottom line is that color really doesn’t matter.  As we’ve always known, it’s the performance out on the field that matters.  Who wins the individual matchups, who comes up with more big plays at the right times, which team collectively has the bigger heart.  Those are the things that bring you victory.  Those are the things that make the game fun to watch.  Well, that and the commercials!

Anyway, as I said in the beginning, I guaranteed that what I had to say would be insignificant and trivial.  I trust that I have delivered!  But if any of this gave you an “I didn’t know that!” moment, then I accomplished what I set out to do.  Enjoy the game!