Conference Title Game Rematches

[Shipley]

The Washington Post ran an interesting story today about Sunday's AFC conference title rematch between the Chiefs and Bengals, and interestingly pointed out how relatively rare such games have been since the merger. Here's an excerpt from the article along with a rundown of the scores.

"For the first time the 2012 season, one of the NFL's conference championships will be a rematch when the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals meet Sunday to decide the AFC title. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, there have been only eight previous instances in which a championship game match-up was a repeat of the year before (including two trilogies). Here's a look back at the previous championship game rematches."

1970: Cowboys 17, 49ers 10
1971: Cowboys 14, 49ers 3

1974: Steelers 24, Raiders 13
1975: Steelers 16, Raiders 10
1976: Raiders 24, Steelers 7

1978: Steelers 34, Oilers 5
1979: Steelers 27, Oilers 13

1986: Broncos 23, Browns 20
1987: Broncos 38, Browns 33

1992: Cowboys 30, 49ers 20
1993: Cowboys 38, 49ers 21
1994: 49ers 38, Cowboys 28

2011: Patriots 23, Ravens 20
2012: Ravens 28, Patriots 13

[Brian wolf]

Doesnt surprise me at all ... The dominant team model ended by the early 90s with free agency and team expansion. The league and networks wanted more parity and thats what is has, where any team can improve instantly and challenge for a championship. The Chiefs really need to take advantage of their time at the top because nothing lasts and Andy Reid, despite being a HOF coach has lost two SBs and six conference championship games already ...

[racepug]

Andy Reid, despite being a HOF coach has lost two SBs and six conference championship games already ...

Yeah, I think he's a bit over-rated. Somewhat like a modern-day Don Shula.

[Brian wolf]

Its still amazing to me that in this era of football, the Belichick-Brady led Patriots went to EIGHT consecutive AFC Championship games starting in 2011 ... We will see if Reid-Mahomes can lead their teams to that many as well ...

[RichardBak]

Andy Reid, despite being a HOF coach has lost two SBs and six conference championship games already ...

Yeah, I think he's a bit over-rated. Somewhat like a modern-day Don Shula.

I dunno. You gotta be doing something right just to get in the position where you're even playing in a conference title game or Super Bowl, and on a fairly regular basis. BTW---Not a Reid fan by any stretch. And Shula also had a hard time winning The Big Game at the end of the season. OTOH he won a couple Super Bowls, which is a couple more than 95% of HC in history.

Hey, when you're from Detroit, with 1 freakin' playoff win in 65 years, you get excited about a 9-8 season. Losing a conference title game at this point would be close to nirvana. So it's all relative.

[racepug]

Andy Reid, despite being a HOF coach has lost two SBs and six conference championship games already ...

Yeah, I think he's a bit over-rated. Somewhat like a modern-day Don Shula.

I dunno. You gotta be doing something right just to get in the position where you're even playing in a conference title game or Super Bowl, and on a fairly regular basis. BTW---Not a Reid fan by any stretch. And Shula also had a hard time winning The Big Game at the end of the season. OTOH he won a couple Super Bowls, which is a couple more than 95% of HC in history.

Hey, when you're from Detroit, with 1 freakin' playoff win in 65 years, you get excited about a 9-8 season. Losing a conference title game at this point would be close to nirvana. So it's all relative.

Not only did Shula "have trouble winning the Big Game" his team was often FAVORED in said "Big Game." And, yes - while he DID coach his team to two S.B. victories, overall he finished with a LOSING RECORD in S.B.s

[Citizen]

The scarcity of rematches doesn't surprise me. More often than not (about two-thirds of the time this century), the team that loses that round doesn't get as far the next year.