Does the Super Bowl truly crown the league's best team?

[notthatbluestuff]

What do you think about this? Are you always satisfied that the last team standing is the best? Or is it not always so simple for you?

[The BILLievers]

I feel like every year is different which is why i picked option 3. If there's a lot of parity in the NFL in that particular season I'd say it's whoever got hot at the right time. But when there is truly an elite team that is head and shoulders above the rest I'd say the champion is the best in the world. 

For example last year, I don't think the Bengals were the best team in the AFC but made the super bowl. But the Bucs in 2020 and KC in 2019 was truly the best team.

[Duluther]

There’s generally overlap, but no. Still, It doesn’t matter. The goal isn’t to be the best team, it’s to win the Super Bowl.

[CP3MVP]

2016 Pats were far and away the best team but the 2001 Pats weren’t 

[Malfatron]

Yes because they won the required games

[MWil23]

It crowns the best team on that "Any Given Day". That's the beauty and frustration about football, there's no "series" involved. Sometimes it's the best team and sometimes it's not, but as Americans, we love those underdog stories because of how our country was formed.

[mdonnelly21]

57 minutes ago, Duluther said:

There’s generally overlap, but no. Still, It doesn’t matter. The goal isn’t to be the best team, it’s to win the Super Bowl.

This bothers me. I'd prefer that the best team makes it and wins it. 

[Dbrog24]

As others are saying, definitely doesn't always crown the best team. I'm willing to bet if there were even 5 game series, the look of who won each year would be significantly different. It's just something that makes the sport different...some people hate that and watch NBA or NHL where it truly does usually end up with the "best" team winning. I happen to like both just in different ways

[Malfatron]

@Championshiporbust thoughts?

[TitanLegend]

3 hours ago, mdonnelly21 said:

This bothers me. I'd prefer that the best team makes it and wins it. 

There is no way to ensure this.

Just thinking of Tennessee teams cause I don't follow sports outside of football super heavily, the year the Grizz beat the Spurs who were the 1 seed in the west, the Grizzlies weren't a better overall team than the Spurs. The year the 8 seed Preds beat the 1 seed Blackhawks they were not a better overall team than the Blackhawks. Those teams just got hot at the right time when the 1 seeds weren't.

So even in 7 game series you're not safe from this.

[ronjon1990]

Sometimes it does. 

One issue is what designates a team as "the best"? The best on paper? The best overall on the field? The best offense? Best defense? Least points allowed? Most points scored? 

Rarely, if ever, does a team have the top ranked offense and defense. A team with a middling offense can win it all with a great defense and vice versa. 

If we averaged a ranking based on offense and defense ranks, my guess is the Super Bowl champ usually doesn't rank in the top 5. 

[NJerseypaint]

Any given Sunday. Not every winner is the best team and that's why this sport is so much fun.

[Duluther]

44 minutes ago, TitanLegend said:

There is no way to ensure this.

Just thinking of Tennessee teams cause I don't follow sports outside of football super heavily, the year the Grizz beat the Spurs who were the 1 seed in the west, the Grizzlies weren't a better overall team than the Spurs. The year the 8 seed Preds beat the 1 seed Blackhawks they were not a better overall team than the Blackhawks. Those teams just got hot at the right time when the 1 seeds weren't.

So even in 7 game series you're not safe from this.

But a series final still has the baked-in flaw that the best team may not make it to the ~SB. The way to get the most accurate “best” team is to eliminate the playoffs and in place post-examine each team’s resume with a thorough rubric. How ******* fun.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Nobody can convince me the 2012 Ravens were the best team in the NFL that year. We just got hot at the right time, and that's largely what the Superbowl crowns.

[Jakuvious]

More often than not, but not always. Like, the 2019 Chiefs don't really stand out to me against the 2020 or 2021 Chiefs. You could easily argue they were the 3rd best team of that group. 2020 was probably actually the best if I had to pick one. 2019 just had the defense get hot at the right time, got lucky/clutch when we needed to, and the injuries weren't as impactful as some of the other years (took some hits at DE, but had Suggs fall into our lap, Thornhill going down hurt but Sorensen wasn't trash yet and Fuller was super versatile.) 2020 had the OL injuries, 2021 and even 2018 were the times the team just wasn't absurdly clutch late in playoff games. I don't really think the 2021 Bengals were better than the 2021 Chiefs. Or that the 2018 Patriots were better than the 2018 Chiefs. But I don't really think the 2021 Chiefs were better than the 2021 Bills, or maybe even that the 2019 Chiefs were better than the 2019 Ravens. Matchups, luck, injuries, just being in the right place at the right time, all kind of matter. Change a few things each season and we could've won 4 straight superbowls, or we might not have even made it to any. The margins are pretty thin, and it takes talent and fortune. It's infuriating sometimes, when you know your team should win, and they don't. But I'm not sure the game would be as entertaining as it is otherwise. Like, if we knew, right now, that an Eagles/Bills superbowl was the end result of this season, the next 3 months would be far less interesting. The fact that we could instead get like, 49ers/Dolphins or something, and it really wouldn't be that shocking, is part of the appeal.