Alternative Super Bowls - who wins these matchups?

[notthatbluestuff]

In another reality, these matchups could've taken place. Who would've won?

1998 - Minnesota Vikings vs Denver Broncos

2001 - Pittsburgh Steelers vs St. Louis Rams

2002 - Philadelphia Eagles vs Oakland Raiders

2007 - New England Patriots vs Green Bay Packers

2009 - Indianapolis Colts vs Minnesota Vikings

2010 - Green Bay Packers vs New York Jets

2012 - Atlanta Falcons vs Baltimore Ravens

2014 - Green Bay Packers vs New England Patriots

2015 - New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers

2018 - New Orleans Saints vs Kansas City Chiefs

[Shanedorf]

Just now, notthatbluestuff said:

In another reality, these match-ups could've taken place. Who would've won?

1998 - Minnesota Vikings vs Denver Broncos- that woulda been a great game

2001 - Pittsburgh Steelers vs St. Louis Rams

2002 - Philadelphia Eagles vs Oakland Raiders

2007 - New England Patriots vs Green Bay Packers

2009 - Indianapolis Colts vs Minnesota Vikings

2010 - Green Bay Packers vs New York Jets

2012 - Atlanta Falcons vs Baltimore Ravens

2014 - Green Bay Packers vs New England Patriots

2015 - New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers

2018 - New Orleans Saints vs Kansas City Chiefs

 

[TecmoSuperJoe]

1998: Broncos beat the Vikings. People talk more about the 1998 Vikings than the 1998 Broncos, but Denver was the more complete team. I'd take them.

2001: Steelers get wrecked by St. Louis, and I don't think it would be close. Especially in the dome. 

2002: Would be an interesting game between the Eagles/Raiders. Not sure. 

2007: Patriots. Odds are just greatly stacked in the Patriots favor. All around better team. 

[Hunter2_1]

On 3/7/2021 at 6:40 PM, notthatbluestuff said:

2014 - Green Bay Packers vs New England Patriots

2015 - New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers

2018 - New Orleans Saints vs Kansas City Chiefs

2014 - We were without Gronk and were without key members of the offensive line. Broncos went in on us, and I think this shows the Packers would have enough to beat us

2015 - I honestly think most teams would have beaten the Panthers that day. Pats nearly overcome Von's best ever performance, and run the Broncos close at MH - the team that trashed Carolina. So I got NE here

2018 - Chiefs in a close one. 49ers had a better defense than NO, but I would have liked to see what Kamara and Thomas would have done to the Chiefs D. Ultimately I think no one could stop KC though

 

[biggie.]

4 hours ago, Hunter2_1 said:

2014 - We were without Gronk and were without key members of the offensive line. Broncos went in on us, and I think this shows the Packers would have enough to beat us

 

Uh, what? That sounds more like 2015.

[ChazStandard]

8 hours ago, Hunter2_1 said:

2014 - We were without Gronk and were without key members of the offensive line. Broncos went in on us, and I think this shows the Packers would have enough to beat us

2015 - I honestly think most teams would have beaten the Panthers that day. Pats nearly overcome Von's best ever performance, and run the Broncos close at MH - the team that trashed Carolina. So I got NE here

2018 - Chiefs in a close one. 49ers had a better defense than NO, but I would have liked to see what Kamara and Thomas would have done to the Chiefs D. Ultimately I think no one could stop KC though

 

We had Gronk in 2014, that was the Butlerception year.

[biggie.]

1998 - Minnesota Vikings vs Denver Broncos - Denver was the more balanced and well-coached team.

2001 - Pittsburgh Steelers vs St. Louis Rams - As my brother points out: the only team in the league that could stop STL that potseason was NE.

2002 - Philadelphia Eagles vs Oakland Raiders - PHI doesn't have OAK's playbook and I can never see McNabb winning a Super Bowl.

2007 - New England Patriots vs Green Bay Packers - No relentless pass rush to take advantage of our o-line injuries and Brady's bum ankle.

2009 - Indianapolis Colts vs Minnesota Vikings - From what I recall, MIN's defense was not nearly as opportunistic as NO's that season. Plus Favre would have made some mistake that Brees avoided.

2010 - Green Bay Packers vs New York Jets - Nothing was stopping Rodgers tht postseason; it was his time.

2012 - Atlanta Falcons vs Baltimore Ravens - SF was better than ATL. No one was stopping the buzzsaw that was Flacco that postseason.

2014 - Green Bay Packers vs New England Patriots - I don't see why we'd lose here. Although they had a really crappy game against GB in the NFCC, SEA was the better team.

2015 - New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers - We had too many offensive line injuries to keep up with Carolina's pass rush and we always have issues with mobile quarterbacks.

2018 - New Orleans Saints vs New England Patriots - NO had an inferior defense, so Brady probably has a better day. This wasn't our flashiest team, but the offensive line and defense was playing out of their minds that postseason.

Edited March 11, 2021 by biggie.

[RaidersAreOne]

Raider only lost in 2002 because the opposition had every play and call of ours.  

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Nobody was beating the Ravens in 2012 with Playoff Flacco that year. He went through Luck, Manning and Brady to get there.

[Fray32]

9 hours ago, Hunter2_1 said:

2018 - Chiefs in a close one. 49ers had a better defense than NO, but I would have liked to see what Kamara and Thomas would have done to the Chiefs D. Ultimately I think no one could stop KC though

This was Mahomes' first year as a starter, not the superbowl year. Saints got bounced that year in the Minneapolis Miracle. I still take the Chiefs though.

[scar988]

I think those 2012 Falcons could have won against those Ravens. They matched up better than the 49ers did with their offense and had a defense that was comparable. I think those Ravens were a coin flip either way from winning vs. the 49ers or Falcons that year. Both teams matched up well.

[scar988]

On 3/7/2021 at 1:40 PM, notthatbluestuff said:

In another reality, these matchups could've taken place. Who would've won?

1998 - Minnesota Vikings vs Denver Broncos

2001 - Pittsburgh Steelers vs St. Louis Rams

2002 - Philadelphia Eagles vs Oakland Raiders

2007 - New England Patriots vs Green Bay Packers

2009 - Indianapolis Colts vs Minnesota Vikings

2010 - Green Bay Packers vs New York Jets

2012 - Atlanta Falcons vs Baltimore Ravens

2014 - Green Bay Packers vs New England Patriots

2015 - New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers

2018 - New Orleans Saints vs Kansas City Chiefs

Broncos win in 98. Period.

Steelers lose to the Rams in 2001. 

Eagles destroy the Raiders in 2002. They weren't that great of a team

2007, the Packers might actually be better for a win against those Patriots who were losing that game regardless. Jinx of the 72 Phins

Colts beat the Vikings in 09. Favre wouldn't have been able to keep up with Manning at that point.

2010 - Packers win. Period. Jets with Sanchez at QB sucks.

2012 - This is a coin toss regardless of who the Ravens played. 49ers and Falcons were equal matched that year.

2014 - I think the Packers lose to the PAtriots Brady voodoo

2015 - Patriots win that one too. That Panthers team wasn't that good. Lots of lucky breaks.

2018 - Chiefs demolish those Saints. Even with Alex Smith at QB. 

[notthatbluestuff]

50 minutes ago, Fray32 said:

This was Mahomes' first year as a starter, not the superbowl year. Saints got bounced that year in the Minneapolis Miracle. I still take the Chiefs though.

No, the 2018 Saints controversially lost the NFC title game to the Rams at home. 

[Uncle Buck]

1 hour ago, scar988 said:

Broncos win in 98. Period.

 

Colts beat the Vikings in 09. Favre wouldn't have been able to keep up with Manning at that point.

I would tend to agree with you about the '98 Super Bowl.  The Vikings were pretty banged up by the end of the year in '98.  In the NFCCG, John Randle came into the game at about 85% and took a hit on one of the first few plays of the game that left him at what he described as %15 of his healthy self.  If the Broncos and Vikings were both 100% healthy, I certainly wouldn't call it a forgone conclusion that Denver would win.  Another thing that I found very interesting was watching Elway and a number of other Broncos cheering when they saw it go up on the scoreboard in their stadium that they would be playing the Falcons.  Not to take anything away from that Falcons team.  That is possibly the most underrated 14-2 team of all time.

When it comes to 2009, I couldn't disagree more.  Favre was better than Manning in '09.  That was statistically the best year of his entire career.  Not only that, but that Vikings team was positively stacked with talent all over the field.  In addition to the HOF QB, their receivers, albeit young, were very good.  They also had a future HOF running back in Adrian Peterson, and a defensive line with the Williams wall that was historically good at stopping the run.  They also had a future HOF defensive end rushing the passer in Jared Allen.  Personally, I think the NFCCG was the true Super Bowl that year because either NFC team was very capable of beating the Colts.  That 2009 Vikings team is possibly the best one I've ever seen from the franchise, including the '70s Purple People People Eater teams.  The Vikings have taken a lot of brutal losses in the playoffs over the years, but they really were robbed that year.  It was truly a championship caliber team - even more so than the '98 team.

[scar988]

6 minutes ago, Uncle Buck said:

I would tend to agree with you about the '98 Super Bowl.  The Vikings were pretty banged up by the end of the year in '98.  In the NFCCG, John Randle came into the game at about 85% and took a hit on one of the first few plays of the game that left him at what he described as %15 of his healthy self.  If the Broncos and Vikings were both 100% healthy, I certainly wouldn't call it a forgone conclusion that Denver would win.  Another thing that I found very interesting was watching Elway and a number of other Broncos cheering when they saw it go up on the scoreboard in their stadium that they would be playing the Falcons.  Not to take anything away from that Falcons team.  That is possibly the most underrated 14-2 team of all time.

When it comes to 2009, I couldn't disagree more.  Favre was better than Manning in '09.  That was statistically the best year of his entire career.  Not only that, but that Vikings team was positively stacked with talent all over the field.  In addition to the HOF QB, their receivers, albeit young, were very good.  They also had a future HOF running back in Adrian Peterson, and a defensive line with the Williams wall that was historically good at stopping the run.  They also had a future HOF defensive end rushing the passer in Jared Allen.  Personally, I think the NFCCG was the true Super Bowl that year because either NFC team was very capable of beating the Colts.  That 2009 Vikings team is possibly the best one I've ever seen from the franchise, including the '70s Purple People People Eater teams.  The Vikings have taken a lot of brutal losses in the playoffs over the years, but they really were robbed that year.  It was truly a championship caliber team - even more so than the '98 team.

That 98 Vikings team was good. But I still think the better team won on the field in the metrodome in that NFCCG. That Falcons team didn't have the caliber QB y'all had (Cunningham is an all time great, Chandler a journeyman), but outside of WRs and TEs, I think the Falcons were as good or better at every other aspect. The OL was dominant that year, the running back group was killing it with the Dirty Bird himself at the helm, The linebacking corps has two guys who are at minimum Hall of Very Good with Henri Crockett and Keith Brooking in it. The corners and safety units were good too. I think had that team played anyone but the Broncos in the Super Bowl that year, they would have won the Super Bowl.