Mad Men seemed to have a better chance of beating out Breaking Bad for the best drama series Emmy Award Sunday than the Indianapolis Colts had of beating the 49ers in San Francisco.
But the Colts, 10-point underdogs, didn’t just beat the Niners. They whipped them, 27-7. They held San Francisco to 14 first downs. They limited Colin Kaepernick to 150 passing yards and less than three yards per carry.
The 49ers are now 1-2 and third in the NFC West. Stunning, right? Well, maybe it shouldn’t be.
Perhaps San Francisco is simply the latest casualty of the Super Bowl loser curse.
The curse was most prevalent from 1998-2007, when only two teams (1999 Titans and 2005 Seahawks) made the playoffs a year after losing the Super Bowl. The Falcons went 5-11 a year after losing the 1998 Super Bowl; the Giants went 7-9 after losing the 2000 Super Bowl; the Panthers were 7-9 a year after losing the 2003 Super Bowl; the Eagles missed the playoffs for the first time in six years after losing the 2004 Super Bowl; the Bears finished last in the NFC North a year after losing the 2007 Super Bowl; and the Patriots missed the playoffs the year after losing the 2008 Super Bowl.
More recently, two teams — the 2010 Colts and 2011 Steelers — lost in the first round of the playoffs a year after losing the Super Bowl. The Patriots were upset at home in last year’s AFC championship game after losing the Super Bowl two years ago.
Add it all up, and no Super Bowl loser has returned to the big game the following year since the Buffalo Bills lost four in a row from 1990-93.
Increased parity in the NFL makes it difficult to build dynasties and return to the Super Bowl year after year, we get that. But there have to be other reasons why Super Bowl losers tend to fare so badly the following season.
Perhaps losing the Super Bowl is such a difficult thing to get over mentally that it takes at least a season for players to recover their focus. Maybe as defending conference champions, Super Bowl losers don’t sneak up on anybody anymore, always drawing top effort from their opponents. It’s possible that other teams’ offensive and defensive co-ordinators spend the entire offseason coming up with an answer for whatever was working for the Super Bowl loser — in this case, Kaepernick’s read-option offence.
For the first time in a long time, the 49ers are dealing with some serious adversity. Sunday’s loss to Indy marked the first time San Francisco has dropped back-to-back games in the Jim Harbaugh era. Kaepernick has averaged 140 passing yards in his last two outings, throwing four interceptions and no touchdown passes.
Now, we get to see what the 49ers are really made of. They have a short week to prepare for a road game at St. Louis Thursday night.
San Francisco is a 3-point favourite, and most will pick the Niners to win. But, if Sunday didn’t already, history should have taught us not to be surprised if they don’t.