The Philadelphia Eagles appear to be the best team in the NFLand their undefeated 8-0 record proves it. With an outstanding season up to Round 9, the team led by Jalen Hurts is perhaps the great favorite to reach the Super Bowl on the NFCbut there is a statistic that plays once morest them:
From 2000 to date, the last undefeated team in every season has failed to win the Super Bowl and only one has been able to take it. That team was the 2006 Indianapolis Coltswho went 9-0 until the Dallas Cowboys beat them 21-14. From there, Peyton Manning and company finished the season with a 12-4 record and won Super Bowl XLI. Outside of them, no one.
Is the undefeated record a curse?
Perhaps the clearest proof that going with an undefeated record does not guarantee anything is the 2007 Pats, who finished the regular season 16-0, won two more games (Divisional and AFC Championship) to go 18-0… and ended up losing Super Bowl XLII to Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin‘s New York Giants.
Other teams that went with undefeated records and lost the Super Bowl include the 2009 Colts, 2010 Steelers, 2015 Carolina Panthers and 2019 San Francisco 49ers, among others.
Here are the last teams to go undefeated in each season since 2000 and how they fared in Playoffs:
2000
Minnesota Vikings started the season 7-0but ultimately lost the NFC Championship to Giants 41-0.
2001
The then St. Louis Rams started 6-0but lost Super Bowl XXXVI to the Pats.
2002
That year the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders started the season 4-0. The Chargers did not qualify for the Playoffs, while the Raiders lost Super Bowl XXXVII once morest the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
2003
Kansas City Chiefs started 9-0finished the season 13-3, but lost the Divisional game 38-31 to the Indianapolis Colts.
2004
Philadelphia Eagles started the season 7-0but lost Super Bowl XXXIX to New England.
2005
The Colts started 13-0but did not even reach the Super Bowl, as they lost 21-18 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Divisional.
2006
Indianapolis once more started strong, with a 9-0 recordand ended up winning SB XLI once morest Chicago Bears.
2007
Tom Brady’s Pats seemed on track to break the Dolphins’ record of a perfect season. They finished the campaign 16-0made it to Super Bowl XLII once morest the Giants… and lost.
2008
Tennessee Titans started the campaign 10-0but upon reaching the Divisional game, they were eliminated by the Baltimore Ravens 13-10.
2009
Peyton Manning’s Colts once more, started 14-0 and lost Super Bowl XLIV to the New Orleans Saints.
2010
Bears, Steelers and Chiefs were the last undefeated teams with 3-0 records. Chicago lost the NFC championship to the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh lost the Super Bowl to the Packers and Kansas City lost in the Wild Card to the Ravens.
2011
Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers started 13-0but lost in the Divisional game to the Giants.
2012
The Atlanta Falcons started with an 8-0 recordand made it all the way to the NFC Championship, which they lost to the 49ers 28-24.
2013
Kansas City opened the season 9-0and lost in the Wild Card by one point to Indianapolis, 45-44
2014
Eagles, Bengals and Cardinals all started 3-0. Philadelphia did not qualify, Cincinnati lost in the Wild Card to Pittsburgh and Arizona lost in the conference championship to Carolina.
2015
Panthers started with a 14-0 recordand ultimately ended up losing Super Bowl 50 to the Denver Broncos.
2016
Minnesota had a 5-0 recordand in the end did not even qualify for the Playoffs.
2017
Kansas City started the season 5-0but lost the Wild Card 22-21 to Titans.
2018
Rams started with an 8-0 recordbut ultimately ended up losing Super Bowl LIII to the Patriots.
2019
49ers and Pats started 8-0 and qualified for Playoffs. San Francisco lost the Super Bowl to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, while Pats stayed in the Wild Card, which they lost to Tennessee.
2020
Steelers started 11-0, and appeared to be going for their seventh title, but fell by the wayside when they lost to Cleveland Browns in the Wild Card 48-37.
2021
Arizona Cardinals started 7-0but lost in the Wild Card to the Los Angeles Rams in the Playoffs.