- Joined
- Mar 19, 2006
- Messages
- 33,965
- Reaction score
- 14,423
So, the 1960-2000 NE Patriots had 2 SB appearances. Of course, for 7 of those years there was no SB to go to...
The SB was first played (going back to the retroactively named Super Bowl I) in January, 1967, when the KC Chiefs soiled the bed by a margin of 35-10 against the Green Bay Packers. 30 years later, the New England Patriots soiled the bed less spectacularly by the score of 35-21 to, drumroll, the Green Bay Packers. Of course, we soiled the bed legendarily against the Bears in between.
The simple way to break it down would be that from 1960-2000 the Patriots won zero SBs and went to 2 SB (40 years). Now we've won 6 in 18 years. These are identified with Brady and Belichick. In order to even things up, we would expect TFB to play another 22 years, and win another 7-8 super bowls. But this seems unlikely, and I am a bit of a pessimist at heart.
Here's another way to do it:
Pre-SB Years: 1960-1984, 24 years. (For this purpose let's call the 85 regular season the SB year, just as 96 was the year we went to the 97 SB)
Generational implication: You could be born into a Patriots-loyal home in 1960 and love this team your whole life until your mid 20s, and get your heart stomped by the 85 team. But at least you made it to see the promised land. You sniffed relevance under Fairbanks, with packed rosters that underachieved. Some years we were in it... but we all knew we only dreamed of winning it all.
SB Appearance Era: 1985-1996. 11 Years, wow, some QB should get the number 11 as if to represent the almost-good-enough era. Actually, 85 was a sacrificial lamb, but by God I believed until I ripped my "Berry the Bears" beefy T in half about mid way into the 2nd quarter, jesus, even saying "mid way" brings back bad memories of that year. Enough said. I told myself we'd make it back, we'd... well, we'd make a respectable show of it next time. I was right, just a decade+ later.
Generational implication: It was 1996 before you could be proud, really proud, of the way a Pats season ended, in a "Rocky" kind of way. They were actually in that SB for the first time. They actually had a real live shot. God Bless Drew Bledsoe in so many ways.
The Tuna Bowl Era: 1997-2000. 4 Years. Transition period. I'm calling BB's 1st year as head coach part of that era, because it was a soap opera era that was still not yet resolved. TFB was still holding a clipboard, Mo Lewis and Drew Bledsoe were still chugging through their lives like the iceberg and the Titanic in Hardy's "The Convergence of the Twain," with nary a clue of the place Lewis would have in Bledsoe's heart... and BB was still the "overrated" former Cleveland coach who couldn't handle the bright lights and resigned on a napkin. Every Pats-JETE game was called "The Tuna Bowl" or "Tuna Bowl II" or whatever, because these clowns up in heah thought that was an actual bowl that actually mattered. I believe I remember a "good riddance" or two emanating from the Jersey muck, as they celebrated the Curtis Martinness of it all.
It's-the-Pats'-world-you-only-live-in-it era (Our Millennium): 2001-2018 (soon to be '19.) 18 years and counting. 6 SB championships, 10 SB appearances (or as some would call them "AFC Championships," colts banner cough cough) 13 AFCCG appearances, if I counted right (prob. not).
Generational implication: Patriots fans born in the year this run began can drive and vote right now. We can add say, 5 years, to capture "years of meaningful fandom" where most really grasp the game, in both the earliest era and this one. Right now up to young adulthood, you could be born into a Pats-loving household and not understand the concept of not being in the hunt.... just as in that previous era, you could only hope, even with so few teams, especially in the AFL years... but it was as one out of many (I know, I know, we managed to lose an 8-team AFL title in 63, but really... we were a half game over 500 at 7-6-1, tied with the Bills... SD went 11-3... we soiled the bed magnificently in that one. The team that lost to the Bears was dominant by comparison.)
Conclusion: Let's set aside the "Appeared in the SB" and "Tuna Bowl" eras, and focus on the bookends.
By my calculations, we need 6 more seasons of the present era to balance the 24 seasons of pre-Super-Bowl-era Patriots history.
Brady's already been his own Steve Young in SB terms (6 Rings, compared with 4[Joe Cool] and 1[Steve Young]; 19 years w/the team, vs. 13[Joe Cool] + 11 [Steve Young]...) ...but let's say we'll need the beginning of another QB's career in terms of pure time served in order to get the next 6 seasons completed. I mean, let's say that... it might not even be true
If Brady completes the full 24 years all by himself, he'll also be his own Steve Young in terms of time served... Montana and Young overlapped, however, playing in total 1979-1999, a 20-year span. This time-serving goal is eminently within reach.
However, we might need another "Steve Young" to complete the 6 years to balance the 24 before SB contention.
During this 6-year span, to average out previous seasons in the present era (selling us short, really, given the down years between SB-winning spans...) statistically, we should appear in 4 AFCCGs, winning 3 (i.e., 3 more SB appearances.) We should win 2 of the 3 Super Bowls in which we play.
How spoiled am I? That actually sounds rather bleak.
I mean, reading the above prognosis... My final comment as a spoiled Pats fan would be, quit slackin', Brady. I'd rather see 6 more years like the last 6, with 3 Super Bowl wins, 4 SB appearances, and 2 AFCCG losses (sad, but we have to accept the likelihood given the data to date)
I would especially like to hear what this looks like to @JetFan79 (If I got that name right). But any replies are, of course, welcome.
The SB was first played (going back to the retroactively named Super Bowl I) in January, 1967, when the KC Chiefs soiled the bed by a margin of 35-10 against the Green Bay Packers. 30 years later, the New England Patriots soiled the bed less spectacularly by the score of 35-21 to, drumroll, the Green Bay Packers. Of course, we soiled the bed legendarily against the Bears in between.
The simple way to break it down would be that from 1960-2000 the Patriots won zero SBs and went to 2 SB (40 years). Now we've won 6 in 18 years. These are identified with Brady and Belichick. In order to even things up, we would expect TFB to play another 22 years, and win another 7-8 super bowls. But this seems unlikely, and I am a bit of a pessimist at heart.
Here's another way to do it:
Pre-SB Years: 1960-1984, 24 years. (For this purpose let's call the 85 regular season the SB year, just as 96 was the year we went to the 97 SB)
Generational implication: You could be born into a Patriots-loyal home in 1960 and love this team your whole life until your mid 20s, and get your heart stomped by the 85 team. But at least you made it to see the promised land. You sniffed relevance under Fairbanks, with packed rosters that underachieved. Some years we were in it... but we all knew we only dreamed of winning it all.
SB Appearance Era: 1985-1996. 11 Years, wow, some QB should get the number 11 as if to represent the almost-good-enough era. Actually, 85 was a sacrificial lamb, but by God I believed until I ripped my "Berry the Bears" beefy T in half about mid way into the 2nd quarter, jesus, even saying "mid way" brings back bad memories of that year. Enough said. I told myself we'd make it back, we'd... well, we'd make a respectable show of it next time. I was right, just a decade+ later.
Generational implication: It was 1996 before you could be proud, really proud, of the way a Pats season ended, in a "Rocky" kind of way. They were actually in that SB for the first time. They actually had a real live shot. God Bless Drew Bledsoe in so many ways.
The Tuna Bowl Era: 1997-2000. 4 Years. Transition period. I'm calling BB's 1st year as head coach part of that era, because it was a soap opera era that was still not yet resolved. TFB was still holding a clipboard, Mo Lewis and Drew Bledsoe were still chugging through their lives like the iceberg and the Titanic in Hardy's "The Convergence of the Twain," with nary a clue of the place Lewis would have in Bledsoe's heart... and BB was still the "overrated" former Cleveland coach who couldn't handle the bright lights and resigned on a napkin. Every Pats-JETE game was called "The Tuna Bowl" or "Tuna Bowl II" or whatever, because these clowns up in heah thought that was an actual bowl that actually mattered. I believe I remember a "good riddance" or two emanating from the Jersey muck, as they celebrated the Curtis Martinness of it all.
It's-the-Pats'-world-you-only-live-in-it era (Our Millennium): 2001-2018 (soon to be '19.) 18 years and counting. 6 SB championships, 10 SB appearances (or as some would call them "AFC Championships," colts banner cough cough) 13 AFCCG appearances, if I counted right (prob. not).
Generational implication: Patriots fans born in the year this run began can drive and vote right now. We can add say, 5 years, to capture "years of meaningful fandom" where most really grasp the game, in both the earliest era and this one. Right now up to young adulthood, you could be born into a Pats-loving household and not understand the concept of not being in the hunt.... just as in that previous era, you could only hope, even with so few teams, especially in the AFL years... but it was as one out of many (I know, I know, we managed to lose an 8-team AFL title in 63, but really... we were a half game over 500 at 7-6-1, tied with the Bills... SD went 11-3... we soiled the bed magnificently in that one. The team that lost to the Bears was dominant by comparison.)
Conclusion: Let's set aside the "Appeared in the SB" and "Tuna Bowl" eras, and focus on the bookends.
By my calculations, we need 6 more seasons of the present era to balance the 24 seasons of pre-Super-Bowl-era Patriots history.
Brady's already been his own Steve Young in SB terms (6 Rings, compared with 4[Joe Cool] and 1[Steve Young]; 19 years w/the team, vs. 13[Joe Cool] + 11 [Steve Young]...) ...but let's say we'll need the beginning of another QB's career in terms of pure time served in order to get the next 6 seasons completed. I mean, let's say that... it might not even be true
If Brady completes the full 24 years all by himself, he'll also be his own Steve Young in terms of time served... Montana and Young overlapped, however, playing in total 1979-1999, a 20-year span. This time-serving goal is eminently within reach.However, we might need another "Steve Young" to complete the 6 years to balance the 24 before SB contention.
During this 6-year span, to average out previous seasons in the present era (selling us short, really, given the down years between SB-winning spans...) statistically, we should appear in 4 AFCCGs, winning 3 (i.e., 3 more SB appearances.) We should win 2 of the 3 Super Bowls in which we play.
How spoiled am I? That actually sounds rather bleak.
I mean, reading the above prognosis... My final comment as a spoiled Pats fan would be, quit slackin', Brady. I'd rather see 6 more years like the last 6, with 3 Super Bowl wins, 4 SB appearances, and 2 AFCCG losses (sad, but we have to accept the likelihood given the data to date
)I would especially like to hear what this looks like to @JetFan79 (If I got that name right). But any replies are, of course, welcome.
Last edited:
