Best Games (or interesting matchups) that Never Happened

[CSKreager]

Some regular season games that never happened due to scheduling weirdness/5th place schedules

1990 Jets vs Giants- only time we didn’t get a battle of NY since 1981

1993/1996 Lions vs Broncos- as it turned out Thanksgiving 1990 was the only time we EVER saw John Elway vs Barry Sanders

1985 49ers vs Chargers- we never got a Fouts/Montana sequel ala 1982

2001 Steelers vs Packers

[CSKreager]

SB 20 (85-86) Bears/Dolphins. The Pats defeated the Dolphins in the AFC championship but weren't very competitive in the SB. The Dolphins were the only team to defeat the Bears that season.

I think the real missed SB 20 was Bears/Raiders

For all that has been said of that CHI/MIA Monday Night at the Orange Bowl, let’s not forget thOSE Raiders also had familiarity with the Bears from A famously hard hitting game at Soldier Field in November 1984

And considering the Raider Mystique, beating an iconic team (plus MVP Marcus Allen) might have elevated the 85 Bears legend even more

[ShinobiMusashi]

Interesting one not brought up in this thread, 1972 Super Bowl VII the Steelers vs Redskins. 72 Steelers had a team of Destiny thing going and somehow surprisingly lost at home to the undefeated Dolphins in the AFCCG. I think that would have easily been one of the best of the first 9 Super Bowls and you would be talking about Pittsburgh winning 5 rings in the 70's because I think they take down George Allen's Over The Hill Gang in this hypothetical matchup.

92 Washington vs Dallas in the NFCCG was one I've always been interested in thinking about. Washington lost to San Fran in surprisingly close game and beat Dallas in the latter season rematch(in Dallas I believe?) in a game where that defense found a way to shut Emmitt down in the second half. I thought Washington's defense was bad matchup for Dallas and had they gotten out of Candlestick somehow had a strong chance to return to the Super Bowl in 92. Which leads to another interesting matchup that never happened, a Super Bowl rematch between Washington vs Buffalo in the Rose Bowl in XXVII, which for sure would have been a far more competitive game that I could easily see Buffalo pulling out a win in.

93 Oilers vs Cowboys Super Bowl was real hype in my neighborhoods that year all season long. Knowing what I know now about the Oilers of that era I just can't picture them winning in Buffalo or on the road at any point in the 90's AFC playoffs(or beating that Cowboys team). For as great as Moon was and easily one of my favorite players ever(probably my favorite QB to ever play the game) he would absolutely always play terrible in high pressure games. His most clutch performance ironically to me was always in The Comeback 35-3 loss in his drive to tie the game and put it into OT some of the throws he made to get them into FG range was Moon at his absolute best I believe. It was on the coaches for pulling back and playing for OT, had they let him go he possibly would have won the game with a TD on that drive.

I would have liked to have seen the Redskins in the playoffs in 96. Norv Turner knew the Cowboys better than their own head coach did(his undermanned Skins swept Dallas in 95). I had a cousin who was a huge Packers fan that season and would always tell me he did not want the Packers to play Washington because he believed they were the 1 NFC team that could beat them. I don't know if I agree with that now but when they were 7-1 at that time he made sense. Maybe he was on to something. But Washington had they been able to keep it together in 96 could definitely see them causing some problems for Carolina and Dallas in the playoffs. Especially with some type of home field advantage like it looked like they were on track to get after that hot start.

For all the talk about Minnesota vs Denver in 98 Super Bowl when I went through and watched through the season on Youtube last Summer I was left wondering more about a San Francisco vs Denver Super Bowl, Elway vs Young. San Francisco had a tough team that year(it took everything they had to finally beat Green Bay in the playoffs in The Catch II and they were out of gas, beat up, and emotionally spent after that) and I think would have given them a tougher game than anybody else in the NFC. I do think the Vikings were worse coached team than Atlanta and would have gotten demolished even worse than the Falcons did, like 42-17 type beat down.

I'd be interested in seeing a 3rd game of the Panthers vs Rams in the 99 playoffs. Panthers got hot and if you break down the stats isolating the #s for last 6-7 games their offense was even hotter than the Rams at that time. They ran into a blizzard in Pittsburgh that killed their season. Of course they were swept by the Rams in both games and neither was really close, I think a 3rd game would have been a tougher challenge for St. Louis in the playoffs. Then look at what Carolina did to the Rams in 2000 with an even worse team it's interesting to think about. I am not sure that the Rams beat that Panthers team 3 times in 1999. Could have been a prime situation for a huge upset like we seen with Jacksonville vs Denver in 1996.

The more I read from 74-75-78-79 and watch of the 1996 Broncos the more I realize how great that team really was that year. Definitely can see them beating the Packers in the Superdome in that Super Bowl had they not pulled back the starters so early in the regular season and slept on the Jaguars. That was for sure one of the best teams of the 90's to not win a Super Bowl and when you hear or read articles about teams closest to a 3peat they should probably be at or near the top.

2000 going into the playoffs I was sure it was going to be Vikings vs Raiders in Super Bowl XXXV. That would have been infinitely more entertaining Super Bowl game than what we got.

2001 early on in the season I knew in my heart we were set for an epic Raiders vs Steelers AFCCG that we were robbed of by the Tuck Rule, making me a Pats/Brady hater for the rest of my football watching days. On the other side yeah I've seen a lot knock on the 2001 Bears but I still was hyped to see them play that Rams team in the NFC side and think that would have been a really interesting game.

[CSKreager]

92 Washington vs Dallas in the NFCCG was one I've always been interested in thinking about. Washington lost to San Fran in surprisingly close game and beat Dallas in the latter season rematch(in Dallas I believe?) in a game where that defense found a way to shut Emmitt down in the second half. I thought Washington's defense was bad matchup for Dallas and had they gotten out of Candlestick somehow had a strong chance to return to the Super Bowl in 92. Which leads to another interesting matchup that never happened, a Super Bowl rematch between Washington vs Buffalo in the Rose Bowl in XXVII, which for sure would have been a far more competitive game that I could easily see Buffalo pulling out a win in.

I don’t see it. That NFC CG basically would have been like what happened when the 77 Vikings also went down to Dallas.

[7DnBrnc53]

I don’t see it. That NFC CG basically would have been like what happened when the 77 Vikings also went down to Dallas.

I agree. The 1977 Vikings were aging, and so were the 1992 Redskins.

Also, if the Skins beat the 49ers in 92, what becomes of Steve Young? Does Eddie D force the organization to keep Montana (this is right after they let Lott and Haley go)?

[ShinobiMusashi]

Very well likely, especially considering that by this point in 92 Rypien suddenly couldn't complete a pass to save his life for some reason(more pressure on him since the o-line had gotten old, can't remember but maybe Lachey was out or hobbled with an injury). The win over Dallas I remember they had to do a half back option pass to get any points on the board since Rypien was dead in the water. But they somehow pulled it out with Wilber Marshall and the defense basically eliminating Emmitt Smith from the second half of that game and getting some turnovers. And if I rememeber correctly a controversial tuck rule type of call with Aikman fumbling what looked like an incomplete pass that Washington got in their own red zone. Would be an interesting game to go back and rewatch.

[Sonny9]

Very well likely, especially considering that by this point in 92 Rypien suddenly couldn't complete a pass to save his life for some reason(more pressure on him since the o-line had gotten old, can't remember but maybe Lachey was out or hobbled with an injury). The win over Dallas I remember they had to do a half back option pass to get any points on the board since Rypien was dead in the water. But they somehow pulled it out with Wilber Marshall and the defense basically eliminating Emmitt Smith from the second half of that game and getting some turnovers. And if I rememeber correctly a controversial tuck rule type of call with Aikman fumbling what looked like an incomplete pass that Washington got in their own red zone. Would be an interesting game to go back and rewatch.

Lachey was out 6 games in the middle of the season and was spelled by Mohammed Elewonibi. Ray Brown started at guard over Jacoby the last 8 games and in the playoffs. Jacoby started the year at tackle filled in at guard a game or two, got hurt week 10, didn't play in 3 of the last 6 games. Although a backup, '91 was Russ Grimms last year

Although they got sacked more than 1991, they were tied with Dallas for the 2nd lowest sack percentage. Riggs retired. 78 carries 11 TDs in 1991. They didn't have a power back. Irvins went from 4.7 to 3.3 per carry. I think the lack of a run game hurt the most.

It looked like Rypien lost a little on his arm. He had a little trouble connecting with Clark in '92

The defense dropped off a little 11 less sacks but 82 less attempts and Darrell Green missed 8 games.

[Hickerson66]

1963 AFL/NFL Bowl Bears - Chargers. Bears D vs Alworth & co.

1985 Super Bowl XX Bears - Dolphins.

I would love to go back and be able to watch Marino against the Bears D, but Miami couldn't help themselves from giving the ball to the Pats in the AFC Championship.

[7DnBrnc53]

For all the talk about Minnesota vs Denver in 98 Super Bowl when I went through and watched through the season on Youtube last Summer I was left wondering more about a San Francisco vs Denver Super Bowl, Elway vs Young. San Francisco had a tough team that year(it took everything they had to finally beat Green Bay in the playoffs in The Catch II and they were out of gas, beat up, and emotionally spent after that) and I think would have given them a tougher game than anybody else in the NFC. I do think the Vikings were worse coached team than Atlanta and would have gotten demolished even worse than the Falcons did, like 42-17 type beat down.

The 1998 49ers weren't that good. Denver would have destroyed them. Arizona would have given Denver a better game that year than the 49ers would have.

The more I read from 74-75-78-79 and watch of the 1996 Broncos the more I realize how great that team really was that year. Definitely can see them beating the Packers in the Superdome in that Super Bowl had they not pulled back the starters so early in the regular season and slept on the Jaguars. That was for sure one of the best teams of the 90's to not win a Super Bowl and when you hear or read articles about teams closest to a 3peat they should probably be at or near the top.

I think Denver or Jacksonville defeats the Pack that year. NE could have as well, but I don't think the Tuna was that committed, and was on the way to the Big Apple (according to Mad Dog Chris Russo, he wanted to return to the Giants to be HC/GM, but they kept George Young, so he went to the Jets).

[saturdaysarebetter]

Cowboys-Raiders in Super Bowl XII instead of Cowboys-Broncos.