After the Denver Broncos took care of the New England Patriots 20-18 in a close one and the Carolina Panthers destroyed the Arizona Cardinals in the 2016 NFC Championship, it was settled that both #1 seeds advanced to the big game. And while it makes sense that the top seeds from each conference shall meet in the Super Bowl, it has been a rare occurrence throughout history.
Since 1975, when seeding was introduced as part of the NFL playoff structure, this will be only the 12th time in which the best team from the NFC faces its AFC counterpart.
Taking a look back, here are the previous 11 incarnations (winner in bold):
|
Super Bowl |
AFC Team |
NFC Team |
Score |
|
XI |
32-14 |
||
|
XII |
10-27 |
||
|
XVI |
21-26 |
||
|
XVIII |
38-9 |
||
|
XIX |
16-38 |
||
|
XXIV |
10-55 |
||
|
XXVI |
24-37 |
||
|
XXVIII |
13-30 |
||
|
XLIV |
17-31 |
||
|
XLVIII |
8-43 |
||
|
XLVIII |
28-24 |
Even as it is a small sample size and it is hard to find a trend with games that took place many years ago, it is quite astonishing that even as these games were supposed to pit prime competition in the highest stage, the end results have been mostly blowouts. The NFC has won 8 of 11 such matchups, and the overall victory margin has been an average of 20 points.
The other interesting factor is that the favorites in these matchups have gone 8-3 against the spread, with only the Raiders in SB XVIII, the Saints in 2009, and Seattle at SB XLVIII being able to win as underdogs.
Super Bowl 50 appears to be an excellent matchup on paper. Denver has flipped their script with the defense paving the way to the big game after many years of offensive dominance by the Manning-led Broncos, in what may be Peyton Manning's last chance of winning a ring. On the other hand, Carolina finally got over the hump and will face its chance of starting a dynasty led by Cam Newton who are able to dominate on both sides of the field.
Sportsbooks have the Carolina Panthers as the earlier favorite with a -3.5 point spread after they got through the Seahawks and Cardinals with relative ease. Still, there are more than enough days to dissect every possible matchup, go through the storylines and analyze all there is to analyze in what is sure to become another classic.
Regardless of which team wins Super Bowl 50, the stage is set for the two best teams in the league, a true testament to justice even in a league where crazy things happen all the time. All we can do is wait.