So apparently people think this past Super Bowl was the biggest upset. While I do agree that this was an upset of near epic proportions, it pales in comparison to what the New York Jets did to the Baltimore Colts 39 years ago. Yes, that event happened more than 15 years before any of the bloggers here were born, but that shouldn’t make the event any less than what it was.
Let’s begin with a little comparison of the regular seasons the favorites (New England and Baltimore) had before they crashed and burned in the Super Bowl…
As we all know, the Pats went 16-0. Through 8 weeks, they were on a torrid pace, beating their opponents by an average of 26.5 points. They obviously proceeded to win all of their games, but not as convincingly as they did prior to escaping Indianapolis with a win. They had multiple close calls, winning by only a FG against the Eagles (at home), Giants, and the horrifically bad Ravens. In the playoffs, they were solid, but just weren’t bowling through people like they had to start the year. Regardless, they just kept on winning and lighting up the scoreboard, finishing the season with the NFL single season record for TDs (75) and points (589). Don’t get me wrong, New England had a regular season for the record books.
The Baltimore Colts went 13-1 the season they played the Jets in the Super Bowl. Their one loss came against a Cleveland Browns team that finished the regular season a respectable 10-4. The Colts ended up avenging this loss by annihilating the Browns in Cleveland 34-0 in the NFL Championship Game. Outside of the regular season loss to the Browns, all of their wins in the regular season were by at least 11 points outside of a 28-24 win against the 10-3-1 LA Rams in the season finale. They also posted 4 shutouts (including the playoff game). Keep in mind, the Colts were doing this with Earl Morrall, a journeyman quarterback who was filling in for Johnny Unitas, who was knocked out with a season ending injury early. He did a more than adequate job, winning the NFL MVP just as Tom Brady did with the Pats this year. While they had the #2 scoring offense in the league, they won with defense as they only gave up 144 points throughout the season, tying the NFL record at the time.
Fast forwarding to the main event, the Super Bowls, both the Patriots and Colts came in as enormous favorites. The Patriots were favored by 12 points over the Giants (10-6), while Baltimore was favored to beat the Jets (11-3) by 18. Only Super Bowl XXIX (where the 49ers crushed the Chargers) had a larger spread (18.5 points) than Super Bowl III. One reason for the difference in the spread was that the Jets came from an inferior league. The AFL was widely regarded to almost be somewhat of a ‘minor league’ to the NFL. They still got some top notch players but not nearly as many as the NFL. Many members of the Jets that year were rejects from various NFL teams, including the Colts. That’s one glaring difference between the two Super Bowls. Today, you know that all of the best players are in the NFL as there is no other league to really compete with it. In reality, if the Jets were in the NFL for the ’68-’69 season, they more than likely would have a record very similar to, if not worse than the ’07-’08 Giants.
The actual manner in which the game was won also (in my eyes) proves that Super Bowl III was more of an upset. While the Giants played a fantastic game, they were losing for a nice chunk of the game. The Jets scored a TD early in the second quarter of Super Bowl III and never looked back. They shutout the high octane Baltimore offense until there were 3 minutes left in the game. The lone Baltimore TD was virtually scored in garbage time as the Jets were already up 16-0. The Jets were bigger underdogs than the Giants were, and they beat their opponent much more handily. The Giants needed an fluky (albeit amazing) play by Eli Manning and David Tyree to pull out this win.
Hear me out…remember how everyone was saying before the Super Bowl that the Patriots might be the best team of all time? From what I have found, the Colts are one of 5 teams in the Super Bowl era that have gone the regular season with 0 or 1 loss. That means they’re in the same club as the Patriots (if I’m wrong, tell me…I’m not 100% on that). Am I saying that the 1968 Colts are better than the 2007 Patriots? No, not necessarily. However, I feel that a lot of people forget about what the Colts did that year because of what they did in the Super Bowl. Today, people still talk about the historic seasons that 18-1 ’84 Niners and ’85 Bears had because they won the super bowl. I guarantee you that the ’68 Colts would be grouped in that discussion had they won Super Bowl III has they would have gone 16-1. Just seeing how many people say that Super Bowl XLII is the biggest upset, hands down, goes to show how that if a juggernaut goes into a Super Bowl and loses, time will erase them. Honestly, how many of you knew that the Colts were 15-1 heading into the Super Bowl? That’s one hell of a season and people just don’t remember because they didn’t get the ring and in time, the thing the Patriots will be remembered for is choking in the Super Bowl. Yeah, people will remember they were the first 16-0 team but what does it matter if you can’t win the big one?
In the end, the fact that an 13-3 team from what was considered an inferior league could come into the Super Bowl and handily defeat a 15-1 team from a superior league is astonishing and there is no question in my mind that the Jets winning Super Bowl III is easily a bigger upset than the Giants winning Super Bowl XLII.
Well ok...maybe Super Bowl III wasn't an upset to everybody.
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