Most-surprising SB, or League Championship, matchups?

[74_75_78_79_]

This based on pre-season expectations, of course.

Man, to go back in time to Vegas, Summer '81, and bet a healthy amount - say, $500 - on the Forty Niners and Bengals actually meeting in Pontiac that January...

Sure-enough, no one was expecting a Packers/Eagles title game 21 summers prior either!

Other, or even-better, examples?

[ChrisBabcock]

1999 Rams/Titans

[Brian wolf]

Balt/NYG in 2000/01 or Pitts/Seatt in 2005/06

[Brian wolf]

NYG/Chic in 1956 NFL Championship and Oak/Hou 1967 AFL Championship

[racepug]

This based on pre-season expectations, of course.

Man, to go back in time to Vegas, Summer '81, and bet a healthy amount - say, $500 - on the Forty Niners and Bengals actually meeting in Pontiac that January...

Just thinking about it that's the first one I came up with. It's tough to come up with a better example. Weren't both those teams coming off of losing seasons?

[7DnBrnc53]

NE-Rams 2001 (SB 36): The Rams weren't the surprise, but the Pats were.
Pitt-Arz 2008 (SB 43): Nobody thought that Arizona would ever make it, and I didn't think that the Steelers would make the playoffs that year, let alone the SB.

[74_75_78_79_]

NE-Rams 2001 (SB 36): The Rams weren't the surprise, but the Pats were.
Pitt-Arz 2008 (SB 43): Nobody thought that Arizona would ever make it, and I didn't think that the Steelers would make the playoffs that year, let alone the SB.

I was pessimistic going into 2008, thinking the 'Burgh would finish 8-8! Knowing how tough their schedule was ahead of time didn't make me reverse that (thank God I was wrong) thought process. And then the Cards representing the NFC...

Definitely the Pats - but not the Rams - a surprise for 2001! But how about two years later? To those going in who thought that NE winning-it-all in '01 was a fluke, and then they not making the playoffs in '02, and Carolina winning just one game in 2001 had to make that an historically unlikely guess for either conference. And then Week #1: Milloy controversially being released just before the season, and signed to Buffalo. He & Bledsoe beating Pats, 31-0, "maybe they should have kept Bledsoe as well", the Pats players "hating" Belichick (or so rumor had it), etc, had to REALLY keep the possibility even further off the radar!

[7DnBrnc53]

NE-Rams 2001 (SB 36): The Rams weren't the surprise, but the Pats were.
Pitt-Arz 2008 (SB 43): Nobody thought that Arizona would ever make it, and I didn't think that the Steelers would make the playoffs that year, let alone the SB.

I was pessimistic going into 2008, thinking the 'Burgh would finish 8-8! Knowing how tough their schedule was ahead of time didn't make me reverse that (thank God I was wrong) thought process. And then the Cards representing the NFC...

Definitely the Pats - but not the Rams - a surprise for 2001! But how about two years later? To those going in who thought that NE winning-it-all in '01 was a fluke, and then they not making the playoffs in '02, and Carolina winning just one game in 2001 had to make that an historically unlikely guess for either conference. And then Week #1: Milloy controversially being released just before the season, and signed to Buffalo. He & Bledsoe beating Pats, 31-0, "maybe they should have kept Bledsoe as well", the Pats players "hating" Belichick (or so rumor had it), etc, had to REALLY keep the possibility even further off the radar!

Good points. I remember laughing in the summer of 2003 when Athlon picked NE to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl (to play Tampa Bay). I picked the Bills and Bucs to go to Houston that year (I thought that a surprise AFC team would go, and that looked like a good pick after Week 1).

[Gary Najman]

This based on pre-season expectations, of course.

Man, to go back in time to Vegas, Summer '81, and bet a healthy amount - say, $500 - on the Forty Niners and Bengals actually meeting in Pontiac that January...

Sure-enough, no one was expecting a Packers/Eagles title game 21 summers prior either!

Other, or even-better, examples?

I agree, and it's interesting that they beat a very likely pre-season matchup (Cowboys-Chargers).

[Jay Z]

1960 Packers Eagles. Even well into the season.