Pats, Rams join dubious club

By Rick Curl Sports Central Columnist

Both the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots and their counterparts in last year's showdown, the St. Louis Rams, will be staying home this postseason. So, when all things are said and done this year, there will be new conference champions and a new NFL champion, which is something that has only happened twice before since the Super Bowl was first played.

While there have been several teams that didn't make the playoffs following their Super Bowl appearance the year before, only two other times have both Super Bowl teams failed to make the postseason the following year. And of those two pairings, one team has done it twice.

The Patriots and Rams join Denver, Washington, and the Atlanta Falcons in that dubious club.

The first time it happened was during the 1988 season when the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins failed in their bids for a rematch.

The Broncos fell short with an 8-8-0 record and dropped to second place in the AFC West, while the Redskins dropped to 7-9-0 after claiming the title in Super Bowl XXII.

The Broncos had rolled through the regular season in 1988 to a 10-4-1 record and the top seed in the AFC playoffs. Denver rolled past Houston with a 34-10 drubbing of the Oilers at Mile High in their playoff-opener, then held off the Cleveland Browns 38-33 the following week in the AFC title game.

After their loss to the Redskins, the Broncos opened the following campaign by losing three of their first four games. The only win for the defending AFC Champs in that stretch was a 34-3 drubbing of the San Diego Chargers in Week 3.

They seemed to have the slow start licked and rolled through the next three weeks with road wins over San Diego and San Francisco, then a home victory against Atlanta.

But, the next two weeks were one nightmare after another.

Pittsburgh handed them a 39-21 loss, and then the Indianapolis Colts gave them a Halloween pasting in the Hoosier Dome on Monday night, 55-23. The loss to the Colts saw the Broncos fall to 4-5. They finished the rest of the year 4-3 to pull out a .500 season.

After finishing the 1997 season 11-4, the Redskins moved past the defending champ Bears with a 21-17 win. Then followed it up with a 17-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings in the conference championship game.

Their run through the 1997 postseason ended with a 42-10 pasting of the Broncos in San Diego. But, as Washington learned quickly the next season, oh, what a difference a year makes.

The Redskins joined the Broncos the following season in dismal starts. After an opening-day loss to the Giants, they seemed to be on track with back-to-back wins over Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. But losses the next two weeks to Arizona and a second loss to the Giants gave them a 3-5 start.

The roller coaster wasn't over for the defending champs who won their next three games, including a 35-17 win over their arch-rivals, the Dallas Cowboys. Then the bottom fell out and they closed out the season managing to win only two of their last eight games. That left them with a disappointing 7-9 record and a third place finish in the NFC East.

Super Bowl XXXIII put the final touches on the career of John Elway, and the amazing season of the Atlanta Falcons as Denver rolled past the "Dirty Birds" 34-19 in Miami.

Denver had achieved their second ring with a 38-3 steam rolling of Miami in their playoff-opener, followed by a 23-10 win over the Jets in the AFC final.

But, after claiming their second consecutive Super Bowl, the Denver Broncos once again found themselves out of the playoffs along with their January opponent.

With Elway retiring, the Broncos fell to 6-10-0 and the doormat of the AFC West.

The defending champs were doomed from the outset of the 1999 season, losing their first four in a row and winning only two of their first eight games.

They could only manage a pair of wining streaks during the season and both were only two games. The Broncos seemed to be rebounding from their 0-4 start with two straight over Oakland and Green Bay. Four of the next seven games were losses and the downfall of Denver continued. They managed to pull out wins in two of their last three games before finishing the season like they began, with a loss.

The first and still only Super Bowl appearance for the gentlemen from the south came from a pair of close contests.

In their playoff-opener, the Falcons held off San Francisco 20-18. The following week in the NFC Championship, the Falcons outlasted the Vikings 30-27 in overtime.

The year after a Super Bowl appearance was even worse for the defending NFC Champions. After the "Dirty Birds" danced their way to the NFL showcase game, they came crashing to the ground in 1999.

Following 14 wins that set the pace for them in 1998, they could manage only a 5-11 record the next year. If 1998 was a high-flying year for the Birds, then the year after was a trip in the subway.

The Atlanta faithful saw their squad lose seven of their first eight, with the only win a 20-17 decision in New Orleans.

The second half of their post-Super Bowl season was slightly better than the first half, but not much. They managed to win two games in a row to close out the year.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.