Why do people put so much stock in finals series/super bowl record?

[TB_Helmet]

I agree with the premise of the OP and what everyone here is saying.

However, (absurd) thought experiment. Let's say there's one world where Brady went 3-0 in Super Bowls and another where he made 11 of them but went 4-7.

Which world would you rather live in?

 

[richie021501]

I agree with the premise of the OP and what everyone here is saying.

However, (absurd) thought experiment. Let's say there's one world where Brady went 3-0 in Super Bowls and another where he made 11 of them but went 4-7.

Which world would you rather live in?

Depends. I'm assuming, in this hypothetical scenario, that 3-0 Brady had a career that was equal in length to 4-7 Brady. In this case, I would take 4-7 Brady because he has more rings. The number in the loss column is meaningless to me. 3-0 Brady is only 3-0 when he gets to the super bowl, he's 0-8 or so in other years.

 

[TB_Helmet]

Depends. I'm assuming, in this hypothetical scenario, that 3-0 Brady had a career that was equal in length to 4-7 Brady. In this case, I would take 4-7 Brady because he has more rings. The number in the loss column is meaningless to me. 3-0 Brady is only 3-0 when he gets to the super bowl, he's 0-8 or so in other years.

Exactly -- it's taking the premise of the OP to its logical extreme, just to see how secure people are in their assertions that losses don't matter.

Fortunately we don't live in either of those worlds!

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Because Americans don’t reward losing and Undefeated is the best... It’s a big plus for Montana and Bradshaw

They were not undefeated in trying to win championships, though. In fact, they were defeated quite often, LONG before the super bowl. They were merely undefeated in the very last game, in the relatively few times that they were good enough to even get there.

It doesn't have the simplicity of saying "never lost a Super Bowl" but it demonstrates some intelligence!

 

[Observer]

Losing the superbowl sucks really bad (emotionally) compared to other losses. The pain of a superbowl loss is about the same as the joy of a superbowl win. So I don't agree with discounting superbowl losses and counting wins only. There is also the 'choke' factor to consider which is a very negative thing in sports.

 

[AGCSBill]

Because Americans don’t reward losing and Undefeated is the best.

Being undefeated in the Super Bowl is a big thing when you win it 4 times. It’s a big plus for Montana and Bradshaw

BRADY IS STILL THE GOAT SO WHO CARES

This loss did nothing to impact him negativey

But, they missed out on more playoff games than Brady. Since when is the expectation one HAS to win a SB to be considered great? One of the two teams HAS to lose and Brady did not lose that game.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

I wonder if 15 years from now people will know who the starting QB on the iggles was. Our defensive game plan was awful.

 

[Doctor DDS]

Rings matter, stats matter, being clutch and winning the game are all important. For some reason many people have tried making it only about the rings and that is beyond stupid.

Brady highlights:
Most all time regular season wins and best win percentage
Most playoff wins
Most Super Bowl wins
Most Conference Championship wins
Most Divisional Round wins
Most times winning division
Most 12 plus win seasons
Most game winning drives in the playoffs (the clutch gene)

When you think about Brady and compare him to the other all time greats none of them have anywhere near the number of historic playoff drives that Brady has. (11 GW drives - 5 in SB - every single Pats SB win included a GW drive in the 4th quarter)

Montana had the drive against Cincy (5 GW drives - 1 in SB)
Elway had the drive against Cleveland (6 GW drives - 1 in SB)
Manning never had a memorable SB drive and beyond the 2006 AFCCG have a hard time thinking of many signature moments (2 GW drives - 0 in SB)

If people believe that Brady losing the Super Bowl this year hurt his legacy then they are saying he would have been better off retiring after last years Super Bowl with a 5-2 SB record. He'd have one less Passing Yard title. one less MVP, one less AFCCG 4th Qtr comeback and 1 less 500 Yard passing game in the Super Bowl but at least he would not have lost.

Losing the Super Bowl should rarely hurt a legacy. Only way it does if the player plays like crap and/or blows the game with a horrible gaffe (see Manning pick 6)

I prefer the Pats as a team to be 5-5 vs 4-0 without a question.

 

[fightingirish595]

They were not undefeated in trying to win championships, though. In fact, they were defeated quite often, LONG before the super bowl. They were merely undefeated in the very last game, in the relatively few times that they were good enough to even get there.

It doesn't have the simplicity of saying "never lost a Super Bowl" but it demonstrates some intelligence!

But they we’re undefeated on the biggest stage. The super bowl is arguably the biggest stage in sports. To me that counts for something when there’s a sample size of 4. Yeah some people are close minded and act like brady can never pass Montana because of that. And that’s idiotic. But I also think it’s ridiculous that some people seem to think it’s not a big deal. To me it is a big deal. Montana was clutch AF. There’s a reason he was the goat before brady

 

[richie021501]

Losing the superbowl sucks really bad (emotionally) compared to other losses. The pain of a superbowl loss is about the same as the joy of a superbowl win. So I don't agree with discounting superbowl losses and counting wins only. There is also the 'choke' factor to consider which is a very negative thing in sports.

Losing any game sucks. I would argue that if the pats had lost to the Titans or Jags, that would have been an even bigger choke job then losing the super bowl. We can't say the pain of a loss in that game is the same as the joy of a win because none of us have ever been in that position. Even if that was true, that still doesn't justify discrediting a player for getting his team further more often.

 

[richie021501]

Rings matter, stats matter, being clutch and winning the game are all important. For some reason many people have tried making it only about the rings and that is beyond stupid.

Brady highlights:
Most all time regular season wins and best win percentage
Most playoff wins
Most Super Bowl wins
Most Conference Championship wins
Most Divisional Round wins
Most times winning division
Most 12 plus win seasons
Most game winning drives in the playoffs (the clutch gene)

When you think about Brady and compare him to the other all time greats none of them have anywhere near the number of historic playoff drives that Brady has. (11 GW drives - 5 in SB - every single Pats SB win included a GW drive in the 4th quarter)

Montana had the drive against Cincy (5 GW drives - 1 in SB)
Elway had the drive against Cleveland (6 GW drives - 1 in SB)
Manning never had a memorable SB drive and beyond the 2006 AFCCG have a hard time thinking of many signature moments (2 GW drives - 0 in SB)

If people believe that Brady losing the Super Bowl this year hurt his legacy then they are saying he would have been better off retiring after last years Super Bowl with a 5-2 SB record. He'd have one less Passing Yard title. one less MVP, one less AFCCG 4th Qtr comeback and 1 less 500 Yard passing game in the Super Bowl but at least he would not have lost.

Losing the Super Bowl should rarely hurt a legacy. Only way it does if the player plays like crap and/or blows the game with a horrible gaffe (see Manning pick 6)

I prefer the Pats as a team to be 5-5 vs 4-0 without a question.

I agree 100%. It's never been all about ring count for me. A lot of other things go into the discussion, I think Brady has the edge over just about every other QB in almost every other area as well.

 

[richie021501]

But they we’re undefeated on the biggest stage. The super bowl is arguably the biggest stage in sports. To me that counts for something when there’s a sample size of 4. Yeah some people are close minded and act like brady can never pass Montana because of that. And that’s idiotic. But I also think it’s ridiculous that some people seem to think it’s not a big deal. To me it is a big deal. Montana was clutch AF. There’s a reason he was the goat before brady

Montana was clutch but it has nothing to do with being 4-0 in super bowls. Pick any year he didn't win the super bowl, are you saying he should be viewed as less clutch if he had gotten to the super bowl in that year and lost as opposed to not even making it? To me that sounds backwards.

 

[fightingirish595]

Montana was clutch but it has nothing to do with being 4-0 in super bowls. Pick any year he didn't win the super bowl, are you saying he should be viewed as less clutch if he had gotten to the super bowl in that year and lost as opposed to not even making it? To me that sounds backwards.

On the biggest stage he was undefeated and never threw an interception. That’s what I’m saying.

4 is a large sample size when we’re talking about Super Bowl appearances which is crazy because brady has been in 8. As for your question, no Montana wouldn’t be less clutch if he made a 5th Super Bowl and loss. But he wouldn’t have that undefeated on the biggest mystique, something that I think has to do with American culture

 

[richie021501]

On the biggest stage he was undefeated and never threw an interception. That’s what I’m saying.

4 is a large sample size when we’re talking about Super Bowl appearances which is crazy because brady has been in 8. As for your question, no Montana wouldn’t be less clutch if he made a 5th Super Bowl and loss. But he wouldn’t have that undefeated on the biggest mystique, something that I think has to do with American culture

I agree with the part about it being American culture. However, imo that's definitely a part of American culture that shouldn't exist .

 

[PittPatriot]

So it could’ve been the raw emotion after the Super Bowl but I got into a pretty heated discussion with a few friends of mine from Philadelphia. Obviously much of this revolved around allegations of cheating, fake walk-throughs, etc.
I bet them a pretty serious amount of cash the patriots would win a Super Bowl sooner than the Eagles will win another. It kind of seemed like a good bet, right?

 

[patriot1136]

Not sure how your time on the planet hasn't taught you this and I hate to be the one to have to break this to you but 99 out of every 100 people are idiots. And many of them are hate, envy and jealousy fueled. It's a small(minded) world after all.

you said this perfectly

 

[LuRkeR1978]

I've never understood the logic of how it's better to not make the playoffs or lose in the divisional round than it is to lose in the Super Bowl.

Joe Montana fallacy.

 

[fightingirish595]

I agree with the part about it being American culture. However, imo that's definitely a part of American culture that shouldn't exist .

Why, I mean this country is undefeated in a sense. Sure maybe some wars didn’t go exactly how we planned but we’re still here

 

[fightingirish595]

saying Joe was undefeated in superbowls and not making it is better than losing or vice versa are not exclusive

Those are 2 completely separate things.

 

[sambam94]

of course it sucks losing the SB, but as a fan it's about the excitement of the games..every play off game I get to watch is 1 more than most other fans get to watch. Many(including some here) just care about championships, Brady's legacy, records, ect. For me, it's the build up before a big game and actually getting to watch the event...the highs and lows, ect. That is what being a sports fan is all about.....not just looking back and seeing how many championships they won.