Seems a # of fans here would welcome not getting the bye since the last SB winners did not have one....which makes no sense at all
All of these teams got the most insanely lucky bounces, calls, weather, and breaks that defied the odds in the most crazy of ways. Last I checked, we didn't have anything near the kind of luck that would take to make these crazy runs. I believe that was all used up in the tuck rule game.
There isn't any logic behind this. It isn't the "new trend" as some people want to cling to. It was all sheer, blind luck..in every single scenario.
2005 Steelers---didn't have to play NE as they were eliminated the week before, and saw Vanderjagt miss a game winning FG in the divisional round. They also got ENORMOUS breaks in the term of 3 referee calls that took away Seattle touchdowns or first and goal drives which drastically changed the game more than any other SB in history. They literally took 21 Seahawk points off the board (14, but they also took away a first and goal from the two yard line). Of course, as we know the NFL ref apologized after the game, not that it means anything. Major luck advantage to the Steelers.
2006 Colts---lucked out in the fact that they hosted the AFCCG where the heat and Patriot injuries (illness? Malaria?) worked for them, not against them. On top of that there were about 3-4 major calls (once again the ref apologizes after the game in the form of a letter) and situations like Caldwell dropping the ball etc that all went their way. They also lucked out in the sense that they may have had the single worst SB opponent in Chicago in the history of the game that year.
2007 Giants---Somehow overcome 2 missed FG's by Tynes in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game, only to see Brett Favre serve them up the game on a silver platter in terms of a costly, and very strange INT. They use overtime to win 23-20 and move on to the SB. Then there was the helmet catch, Pierre Woods recovers a key fumble at the NYG 25 yard line to take control of the game yet somehow manages to gift wrap it to the Giants, etc, etc. As we know the ref stated that he "began to blow the whistle" (whatever that really means) on the helmet catch play. As the film points out, Seymour was being manhandled right in front of the ref with his entire head being pinned back by the offensive lineman with no call. As we know this occurred on a third and long that should've been their second to last play. On top of that there was the Asante Samuel and Brandon Meriweather missed/dropped INT's, and the fact that Rodney Harrison somehow decided to play the man and not the ball. Of course David Tyree goes on to do nothing with his life in the form of football again....how could it have been any other way?
2011 Giants---(part 2)
again with the NFC Championship overtime dramatics with recovering fumbles or bad INT's.
How many times is a team going to win BOTH of their conference championships in overtime, then go on to have miracle catches in the SB--thus beating the
same opponent twice. It's got to be like a one in a million chance of happening.... Not only should the Giants never have made it out of either NFCCG, they should never have been in the position to make miracle catches in back to back showings....oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the Giants coughed up the ball FOUR times, with N.England recovering a big fat zero...
2012 Ravens---They parlayed another insanely crazy miracle catch where the safety blew his assignment with :30 seconds left on a hail mary bomb for a TD with the chicken decision from Fox and Manning to not go for a game winning FG in regulation. There's no way that they win this game 9/10 times, and should have never moved on. In Foxborough, Aqib Talib's chronic hip injury decides to flare up per his usual horrible timing, and after being stopped on the first 2 drives, they somehow come to life in the 3rd quarter taking advantage of the mismatch of Boldin vs. Cole. As if that wasn't enough, our lead running back gets cold ****ed by (yet again...) Bernand Pollard. Honestly, you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried. That play ends up being the nail in the coffin as the Pats are driving down 21-13. The wind/weather was a huge factor as we had the ball inside the BAL 35 a whopping seven times, yet couldn't kick FG's due to the crazy weather!! On top of that, star player Rob Gronkowski is hurt yet again in the most important game of the season. Talk about your breaks.
They then go on to benefit from a clear defensive pass interference call that should have placed the ball at the one yard line with another new set of downs when the 49'ers have the ball on their last offensive play where SF easily scores from a yard out to win the game---had the call been correct. Again, lots and lots of LUCK...
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In a nutshell, I'm not sure if anyone actually took the time to go back and look through all of the crazy things that had to happen for these teams to have made it with their wildcard slots. The odds of this stuff happening are ridiculously slim. It has nothing to do with the "new trend." It was sheer, blind luck x1000 for all of these events to have taken place.
Unless we want to rely on luck that we obviously do not have, earning the bye is the most obvious way to a potential SB appearance.
