Nothing's going to temper the enthusiasm of Steelers fans after their sixth Super Bowl title. Nothing should. And that's not our goal here.
But we look at the postseason strength of schedule of every Super Bowl champion at the end of each season, and it doesn't say much about Pittsburgh's Super Bowl run here in 2008-09.
In fact, the Steelers path to victory in Super Bowl XLIII was so easy that it went down on them right there in the front seat on the ride to dinner.
Pittsburgh's postseason opponents this year were a meager 28-20 (.583). It was the easiest playoff schedule any champ has ever faced, and by a wide margin.
Until now, the title of "easiest road to the Super Bowl" was held by the 1982 Redskins. Their opponents were just 22-14 (.611). But those Redskins were something of a historic anomaly, as their easy path to victory came at the end of the strike-shortened 1982 season that was followed by an unusual 16-team playoff tournament in a 28-team league. It was the first and only time the NFL sent teams with losing records (the 4-5 Lions and 4-5 Browns) to the playoffs. Washington pasted Detroit in the first round.
Until this year, nobody faced a schedule as ridiculously easy. But Pittsburgh surpassed them all. They landed an 8-8 team in the divisional round, an 11-5 team in the conference title game, and a 9-7 team in the Super Bowl.
As CHFF reader Rich Lee pointed out, "The 2008 Steelers NEVER beat a team that was 12-4 or better. They were 0-3 with losses to the Giants, Colts and Titans. Convenient for them, all three teams were knocked out in their opening game."
Hey, at least Pittsburgh held serve.
But easy postseason slates are nothing new to the franchise. Before the 2008 Steelers, the team that faced the easiest playoff slate in a non-strike year was the 1979 Steelers. Their postseason schedule included the 10-6 Dolphins, 11-5 Oilers and 9-7 Rams (the only other 9-7 team to reach the Super Bowl before the 2008 Cardinals).
Interestingly, Pittsburgh's dreadfully easy playoff slate comes on the heels of a period of unusually difficult postseason schedules. The 2004 Patriots faced the single toughest playoff road in history (40-8; .833), beating the 12-4 Colts, 15-1 Steelers and 13-3 Eagles on the way to Super Bowl victory.
But you could argue that the 2005 Steelers and 2007 Giants actually overcame tougher gauntlets (both 51-13; .797). The opponent winning percentage was not as high as the one New England overcame in 2004, but both the Steelers and Giants had to play four postseason games.
Given the dysfunctional nature of
the NFL's corrupt playoff system, expect more radical extremes in the playoffs for years to come, or at least until the league fixes the system, weeds out 8-8 division champs and stops rewarding teams home playoff games against opponents with better records.
