Most devastating losses in history for all 32 teams

[FearTheBeak]

As far as being devastated, The SB losses didn’t have that effect on me. We never had a chance in XL* so I was mostly angry. Mostly stunned in XLIX, but hey, we were champs the year before.

I was truly broken with the loss to the Packers in the ‘We want the ball and we’re going to score’ game. But most devastating was losing the WC game, to the Rams, for the third time that season, at home, with the ball bouncing off Engram’s fingertips. That destroyed me.

The ball was right there. Right……friggin’..…there.

 

[Ramfan128]

The superbowl loss to the Patriots stung a lot back then, but it's 3rd on my list.

1st was the playoff loss to the Saints in 2000 - we beat the Saints in week 17 in New Orleans to earn a wildcard spot, and were playing them again the following week in the wildcard round. Our defense was one of the worst of all time that year, while our offense was arguably the best of all time that year. Naturally, I was very confident going into the game. We got down 31-7, but the ripped off 3 TDs in the 3rd/4th quarters to make it 31-28. Our horrific defense got a stop and the Saints were punting with two minutes left. They couldn't stop us and I just know we had won....

....until Az Hakim muffed the punt. Three kneel downs later, game over. This one stung because the teams we would have to face in the NFC playoffs were the Vikings and Giants, and we had beaten them both that year pretty easily. I still believe we would have been in that superbowl against the Ravens, and with our explosive offense against their historically great defense....that would have been something..

2nd was 3 years later...Division round playoff loss to the Panthers. We needed an onside kick and FG to take it to overtime, and we got it - although Martz inexplicably played for the FG in regulation by running the clock down and settling for the FG....anyway, game went to two Overtimes. In the first both teams missed FGs and I thought ours was going in - was already jumping up and down as it was dead on straight......but fell just short.

Then on 3rd and 14, the first play in the second overtime, Steve Smith takes a pass over the middle to the house. I'll never forget the empty feeling watching him run the distance, knowing the game was over and feeling like it would never end.


then after those I would say Superbowl 36. It's still I think the 2nd or 3rd biggest upset in superbowl history, so it should bother me more, but we were losing the entire game and came back to tie it late, which led to Brady's signature career making drive. I had accepted defeat early on in this game, so it just didn't stick with me for long. In hindsight it was the end of the Rams attempt at a dynasty, which sucks, but at the time I thought we would be right back in it. What came out after the game, but nobody really talks about because we're the Rams and St. Louis was too small a market, is that the Patriots held our WRs and Marshall out of the backfield all game long...the refs basically helped rob us of that superbowl as well, and of course there was something about the Patriots filming our walkthrough....but our team partied late the night before and took the Patriots for granted....got what we deserved for that.

Nice little history lesson there, thanks Ramfan.

The Rams are an interesting team dating back to their LA days. They certainly competed hard in the NFC against the 49ers, Giants, etc. but never got it done in the '80s.

Just an FYI, NY Giants fans still are pissed about Flipper Anderson's walk off TD in the 1989 Divisional Playoff game.

To hear them talk about it, it's worse than 49ers over 2013 NFCC. #true story

Haha...I loved that play (well, I'm only 30 so I loved watching a highlight of it). We were really really really good in the 80s...problem was we never had a QB for Dickerson and there was always a better team....mainly the Bears, Giants and Niners.

My dad has been a Rams fan since the 60s, and I feel reasonably confident that I could name his top 5 worst losses:

5. 24-0 loss to the Bears in playoffs (1985 season) - my dad (for some reason) guaranteed victory over the Bears...lol. His coworkers didn't let him forget about that one for a while..

4. 14-7 loss to the Vikings in 1977 - the Vikings beat the Rams time and time again, and we finally got them in LA......only to have a driving rain storm muck the game up completely. He's still pissed about this game.

3. The Panther game I referenced above - seems silly compared to everything he's seen but I swear he irrationally HATES the Panthers to this day because of that game.

2. (You'll love this one) 30-3 loss to Niners in 1989 NFC championship game - up 3-0, Everett has a wide open WR, but Ronnie Lott manages to miraculously come out of nowhere to bat the ball away - as my dad tells it, we would have been up 10-0, but then it went down hill, including the ghost sack of Everett that sent him fetal.

1. 31-19 loss to the Steelers in the 1979 superbowl - Rams weren't supposed to even be there, but in the 3rd quarter we led 19-17 and then that famous missed tip that led to a long Steelers Touchdown pass...


Then as a bonus, his favorite win ever...probably even more than the superbowl....was the beatdown we put on the Niners 42-20 to end the streak of 17 straight :lol:

 

[Crizilla]

i just hate how both our super bowl losses have been complete nightmares.

 

[ctrcat]

#1 for this Panthers fan since it's founding wasn't either Super Bowl, or even a playoff game. It was @Atlanta in 2012 with @Atanta in 2004 a close 2nd. Let's be honest, for a two decades old franchise the Panthers can't be too bitter or crestfallen over anything, relatively speaking they've spoiled the locals and the future is bright. They have two more playoff wins than the Cardinals in 75 less years. But despite more division titles and playoff success, the Falcons still lead the overall series. As the worst team of the decade in 2010, Panther fans knew that Cam was special instantly, and entering his 2nd year in his home town, the Falcons were whipped everywhere but the scoreboard. Long story short, an inexplicable, maddening ending sent the Falcons into the #1 seed and the Panthers into a mini-tailspin which resulted in another playoffless season, GM Marty Hurney being fired, and a loss to the Hawks the next week who used the win into a 4 game win streak over the Panthers themselves. Although four years removed and not near the same utter range, the blood pressure rises thinking about Atlanta 2012 more than any game in team history.