In Super Bowl, Every Dog Has Its Day (as Packers Can Attest)

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Seattle Seahawks are 4.5-point favorites for Sunday’s Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots.

Upsets can and do happen in the Super Bowl, and few franchises know that pain better than the 1997 Green Bay Packers.

In 1996, with Brett Favre winning his second NFL MVP and the Packers leading the NFL in points scored and points allowed, they rolled through most of the season and plowed through the 49ers, Panthers and Patriots by a combined 100-48 to win Super Bowl XXXI.

In 1997, the Packers weren’t quite as dominant. Favre tied for his third MVP and Green Bay finished second in points scored, fifth in points allowed and third in scoring differential. They beat Tampa Bay in the divisional round at Lambeau and upset the 49ers in San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game.

That set the stage for a historic repeat in Super Bowl XXXII. That was the expectation. The Packers closed as 11-point favorites against the Broncos – the 11th-largest spread in Super Bowl history – but were shocked 31-24.

By point spread, it was the fifth-biggest upset in Super Bowl history.

The Packers had a chance to go down as one of the best teams in NFL history. Instead, as Ron Wolf perfectly put it:

“We're a one-year wonder, just a fart in the wind. Now this will stop all this idiotic talk about a dynasty. We just got our guts kicked out here.”

Those words wound up being prophetic. After losing the Super Bowl in 1997, they lost at San Francisco in the wild-card round in 1998 and didn’t even make the playoffs in 1999 and 2000.

Long before the Bears mocked the Packers by wearing foam cheese graters, Broncos linebacker Keith Burns screamed, “Who cut the cheese?”

The Packers’ dynastic dreams were crushed by running back Terrell Davis, who carried 30 times for 157 yards and three touchdowns as Denver’s upstart line ran roughshod over Green Bay’s formidable front. Favre threw for 256 yards and three touchdowns, running back Dorsey Levens had 146 total yards and receiver Antonio Freeman had nine catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns, but Favre had two turnovers, Freeman had a third turnover and the Packers were guilty of nine penalties.

“They disrespected us all week,” Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe said after the game.

He’s right.

“To me, the key is our defensive line against their offensive line,” Packers safety Eugene Robinson said before the game. “I think it’s going to come down to how well that matchup goes, and I’m quite confident we’ll win that matchup. We have a great defense – a great defense – and I don’t mind saying that. It’s the truth. We’re playing great football right now.”

Sports Illustrated ranked the 1997 Packers as the 16th-best Super Bowl loser of all-time.

Of the 59 Super Bowl losers, the Packers tied for 25th in season scoring differential. With a 13-3 record, they are one of 12 teams tied for 18th with a .813 winning percentage.

Of note, Green Bay has been favored in all five Super Bowl appearances. That includes four of the largest spreads. They were 14-point favorites in Super Bowl XXXI against New England and Super Bowl I against Kansas City, 13.5-point favorites against Oakland in Super Bowl II and 11-point favorites in Super Bowl XXXI against Denver.

In Super Bowl XLV, the Packers were three-point favorites for their 31-25 victory over the Steelers.

All-time headed into this weekend’s 60th Super Bowl, the favorites are 37-21 straight-up but have covered only 28 times. (Note: The spread for Seattle vs. New England, Round 1, was even.) The 4.5-point spread for Sunday is right at the historic Super Bowl median.

Davis was MVP of Super Bowl XXXII. Almost incredibly, he’s the last running back to win game MVP honors. For this game at FanDuel Sportsbook, Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is the favorite at +115, followed by New England quarterback Drake Maye at +230 and Seattle receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba at +550. Up next are the running backs, Seattle’s Kenneth Walker at +850 and New England’s Rhamondre Stevenson at +3000.

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