http://tinyurl.com/bsrbdu 1. 2008 Arizona Cardinals This is good news for Ken Whisenhunt, who gets another two weeks to play the "no respect" card. But as impressive as this playoff run has been, when ranking the worst Super Bowl teams of all time, we must go on the full resume. Being one of only two 9-7 teams ever to reach the Super Bowl speaks for itself, but getting blown out late in the season by scores of 35-14, 48-20 and 47-7 (at New England, pictured) will get you high on the list. 2. 1979 Los Angeles Rams Thanks to this year's Cardinals, the '79 Rams are finally not the only 9-7 team ever to reach Super Sunday. Like this year's Cards, the Rams barely outscored their opposition (+14, compared to Arizona's +1 this season) and profited from a poor NFC West. Unlike the Cards, the Rams had to win their way into the playoffs and were 5-6 in mid-November at one point until a late four-game win streak. While the NFC was the poor, outmanned conference in the 1970s, the Rams had seven other 10-win seasons sandwiching the '79 campaign, showing they were a quality team for years, though not good enough to beat Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers in Super Bowl XIV. 3. 1989 Denver Broncos Denver was the unlucky Super Bowl punching bag for the dominant NFC during the late 1980s, and no season better exhibits the era than 1989, when the 11-5 Broncos were the only 10-win team in the AFC — compared to the NFC's seven 10-win squads. After managing to make it back to the Super Bowl, some searching for any hope pointed to Denver's NFL-low 226 points allowed. Analyst Terry Bradshaw saw through the mirage and boldly predicted a 55-3 whitewash. He was wrong, of course. It was 55-10. 4. 1985 New England Patriots The 11-5 Patriots got hot at the right time, becoming just the second wild-card team at that time to win three road games and reach the Super Bowl. New England was a quality squad, with a strong defense led by LB Andre Tippett (a poor man's Lawrence Taylor). But a team with a starting QB with 12 TD passes versus 17 interceptions (Tony Eason) had absolute zero chance against the legendary 15-1 Chicago Bears, who crushed New England 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. 5. 1986 Denver Broncos The 11-5 Broncos were good, but a mere +51 point differential would suggest they were only the ninth-best team in the NFL that year. It's somewhat of a miracle that they reached the Super Bowl at all, considering Denver finished 3-4 in their last seven regular-season games and the defense was an open wound in the final month (28+ points allowed in each of the final four games). It took "The Drive" by John Elway, the Broncos' 98-yard game-tying march in Cleveland in the AFC title game, to help lead the Broncos to Elway's first Super Bowl slaughter, a 39-20 loss to the Giants. 6. 1994 San Diego Chargers Hey, someone had to represent the AFC, right? The 11-5 Chargers, led by the very un-legendary Stan Humphries at quarterback, squeaked by the Dolphins (22-21) and Steelers (17-13) before being thrown to a drooling Steve Young, San Francisco's future Hall of Fame QB who was yearning for his first ring as a starter. The Chargers were no match for Young, whose six touchdown passes set a Super Bowl record in the 49-26 rout. 7. 1996 New England Patriots Bill Parcells' 11-5 Patriots were fortunate to avoid the top-seeded 13-3 Broncos in the playoffs, who fell victim to a smoking-hot Jacksonville Jaguars team on the rise who would become one of the top AFC teams for the ensuing few seasons. This meant the Jags had to take their passing game to frigid Foxboro, where the Pats iced Mark Brunell and Co. Eventually, the Patriots had to face the better conference in 1996 (the NFC had three of the NFL's top four teams) and lost 35-21 to Green Bay in the Super Bowl. 8. 2002 Oakland Raiders Though led by a high-powered offense and MVP Rich Gannon, the Raiders were the beneficiary of the only non 10-win season of the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era in New England in 2002. The AFC was muddled, with plenty of decent teams, but only four teams with 10+ wins and only the Raiders and Titans at 11-5. Not many Super Bowl teams endured a four-game losing streak during their season, either. Getting blown out in the Super Bowl by the Bucs (then following up that debacle with six straight losing seasons) shows the Raiders were somewhat a flash in the pan. 9. 2003 Carolina Panthers Just like many of the Super Bowl teams on this list, the 11-5 Panthers were good, but certainly not Super Bowl champion-worthy. They almost missed the playoffs after a late-season three-game losing streak, but righted their ship and shut down Philly in the NFC title games — those vaunted Eagles of Todd Pinkston and James Thrash at wide receiver. The Panthers did give us an exciting Super Bowl ending before losing to Tom Brady's Patriots by a late field goal. 10. 1995 Pittsburgh Steelers When you think of the Steelers, you think defense. These Steelers had a fun, attacking defense, but still gave up 327 points (ninth-fewest in the NFL) — a whole 104 more points allowed than this year's Steelers. The 11-5 Steelers were one of only three AFC teams to register double digits in wins back in 1995, the infancy of free agency, when it was the Cowboys and 49ers — and everyone else. Alas, Pittsburgh gave it a good run in Super Bowl XXX — even leading Dallas during the fourth quarter — but two phantom interceptions thrown by Neil O'Donnell to Super Bowl MVP Larry Brown (who just happened to be the only one around the ball) gave Dallas a 27-17 win. --

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