This very team and the '89 Bengals are the first two who come to mind though there may be better examples to give. That's where you all come in or maybe I will suddenly remember another team or so and make another post(s).Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Wed Sep 24, 2025 2:57 pm Also, I love that 1983 Packers team because it was fun, but it was also very self-destructive (50 turnovers) and the defense was abysmal. Washington would have likely worked them over at RFK, much as I hate to admit it.
A Green Bay/Washington rematch in the '83 divisional round? Well, it depends what Packer team shows up! Washington's secondary was a weakness of theirs which the 'LA Dickersons' (as CSK named them, lol) weren't able to expose at all. Dickey/Lofton/Jefferson & Co all waking up on the right side of the bed and it may have been interesting! Or...they get blown out as well.
Bengals beating Vikings on that final Monday/Christmas Night? Perhaps they do more than give Denver a game at Mile High, but beat them! Maybe they go to SBXXIV and, due to (Wyche's) familiarity with that system as demonstrated the year prior, at least give those Mighty Forty Niners a run for it yet again! Or...maybe they get blown out, one-and-done in the Wild Card game thus never even making it to Denver! Depends which team shows up. Whatever way the wind blows.
My '84 Steelers should at least get mention. They beat the Rams, finally beat the Raiders, and last but not least San Fran. But the very week after Candlestick, they lose to the Colts. They lose to Houston later that year as well. They beat Denver in the divisional, but yet again get crushed by Miami who, in turn, then get crushed themselves by the very team Pittsburgh beat.
I would think that the 'ideal' candidate here would be a team that either (preferably) finished 500 or just one game above or just one game below. Beat real good teams whilst losing to real bad teams. Pendulum always swinging back-and-forth. Simply, a "which team shows up" kind of a team.
The '83 Packers and the '89 Bengals are my two thus far.