Last year I wrote a lengthy post about the possibility of the 2012 NFL season culminating in a “Bird Bowl” between the Baltimore Ravens and the Atlanta Falcons. Alas, the Har-Bowl prevailed and the Ravens remained the only “bird” team to win the Super Bowl and became the first bird team to win it twice.
2013 left us without an opportunity for a Bird Bowl as the defending champion Ravens failed to make the playoffs. However, the Seahawks and Eagles made it to the postseason and, of course, the Seahawks will play in the Super Bowl on Sunday. They are the eighth bird team to make the Super Bowl after the Eagles (1980, 2004), Falcons (1998), Ravens (2000, 2012), Cardinals (2008) and of course the Matt Hasselbeck-led Seahawks team (2005).
Notably, the Seahawks will be facing the Denver Broncos, another animal team. This is the third ever “Animal Bowl.” The first was in 1998 (Broncos over Falcons) and the second was in 2006 (Colts over Bears). I guess it’s just a thing for Elway and Manning.
While I obviously recommend you read the original Bird Bowl post (it has aged well after a year, if I do say so myself), I’ll copy this little bit from the end of that entry for your reading pleasure:
–Notable Super Bowl matchups between teams with similar/related names:
- Colts over Cowboys (1970) – the Chisholm Trail Bowl
- Raiders over Vikings (1976) – the Marauder Bowl
- Cowboys over Broncos (1987) – the Rodeo Bowl
- Redskins over Bills (1991) – the Wild West Show Bowl
- Cowboys over Bills (1992 & 1993) – the Double Redundant Bowl
- Ravens over Giants (2000) – the Game of Thrones Bowl
- Buccaneers over Raiders (2002) – Brad Johnson’s finest hour
- Patriots over Eagles (2004) – the Murrica Bowl
- Packers over Steelers (2010) – the Blue Collar Bowl
[and, particularly apropos given the recent attention to Washington’s NFL team]
–While the Washington Redskins and the Kansas City Chiefs both made the playoffs in 1971, 1990, 1991 and 1992, the closest we’ve come to an “Insensitivity Bowl” was in 1991 when the Redskins won the Super Bowl and the Chiefs lost in the divisional round.
slazenger1 