The hardest thing to do in sports is to repeat as champions. MJ and the Bulls repeated twice in the 90s as part of three-peats. Kobe and Shaq repeated in the 2000s with the Lakers. Kobe repeated once again to close out the decade with the Lakers. The Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Yankees all completed a repeat in the last 30 years. So why do NFL teams find repeating as champions so hard?
Lack Of A Repeat:
The last team to repeat as Super Bowl champions were the 03-04 New England Patriots. Led by Bill Belicheck and Tom Brady, the Patriots won back-to-back vs. the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles. Since then, only three teams have made it back after winning the Super Bowl. Those teams are the Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, and the Kansas City Chiefs.
But none of them were able to repeat. The Seahawks came up one yard short of a repeat. The Patriots lost a slugfest to the underdog Eagles and Nick Foles. The Chiefs got trounced by Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Besides these three teams, why hasn’t anybody gotten back the following year?
Reason For Lack of Repeat:
Most of the teams that win and don’t return the following year have one thing in common. They have to deal with injuries. They all deal with injuries often, often enough that you roll your eyes every time someone new gets hurt. Some teams return to the playoffs and finish the season with a top record.
Since the last repeat, 11 champions were able to return to the postseason. The central theme amongst them, however, is injuries. Critical injuries can kill a team’s chances of repeating in an instant. The 2007 Steelers saw Ben Rothlisberger get injured and missed all of the offseason after a near-fatal motorcycle accident. Their season went downhill quickly as they finished 8-8 and missed the postseason.
Rams Chances Of Repeating:
The LA Rams went all in last year, hoping to win a ring. They did and now find themselves with a giant target on their back. After winning the Super Bowl, their reward is the most challenging schedule in the league. Coming into the season, quarterback Matthew Stafford had an operation on his throwing elbow. Stafford suffered from tendonitis and missed a good portion of training camp. The injuries started piling up soon after.
Wideout Van Jefferson is on the IR through week seven after minor knee surgery in August. The offensive line has three of the week one starters out with injury. The defense is depleted by injury and the Monday night game against the 49ers showed that. Stafford has suffered 17 sacks this season, 14 coming in two games combined (Week one, week four)
Injuries have depleted this team, and before the season, I predicted just that. Injuries would be the only reason this Rams team would not repeat.
Checkout another article “Where Will Stafford Rank In Rams History?”
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