History is unfavorable to the runner up, or even the overachieving sports team. To be remembered, you have to win the last game. Knowing this, I’m going to shed some light on the 10 greatest teams to not win the championship (I stuck with football, basketball, baseball, and hockey). NOTE: Due to a very last-minute addition, there will actually be 11 on this list.
10. 1996 DETROIT RED WINGS – This team won 62 games during the regular season… a record that stood until this year, when the Boston Bruins won 65 games. They scored 131 points, the most since the 1977 Montreal Canadiens tallied 132 (both teams were coached by Scottie Bowman, interestingly enough). They scored at least 1 goal in every regular season game, which is very rare in hockey. Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Paul Coffey, Igor Larionov, Keith Primeau, Chris Osgood and Mike Vernon were just a handful of stars on this team. They went into the playoffs as heavy favorites to raise the Stanley Cup, only to lose to their bitter rivals, the Colorado Avalanche, in 6 games in the Western Finals. This would be the beginning of the Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry that would dominate the NHL for years to come.
9. 1985 GEORGETOWN HOYAS – The Hoyas were in their 3rd National Championship game in 4 years, having lost in the championship game in ’82 to Michael Jordan and North Carolina, then winning it all in ’84 against Akeem (later on Hakeem) Olajuwon and Houston. Led by a dominating defense and all-world center Patrick Ewing, the Hoyas contested every shot and always won the rebound battle. Teams were reluctant to drive to the hoop, with Ewing waiting at the rim to contest and usually block their shot. They advanced to the final as heavy favorites versus the Villanova Wildcats, where the wheels inexplicably came off. The Wildcats would shoot an unheard-of 79 percent in the title game and outscore Georgetown 22-6 at the free throw line, capping off the ultimate Cinderella season by beating the Hoyas 66-64.
8. 2001 SEATTLE MARINERS – The Mariners won a record-tying 116 games during the regular season, never having lost more than 2 in a row. They scored the most runs in the league and gave up the fewest. They also had 59 wins by 4 or more runs, which had never been done before. They were led by Ichiro Suzuki, who won the AL batting title, AL Rookie of the Year, and AL MVP awards, amassing 242 hits and energizing the city and fanbase along the way. Other standout players included Brett Boone, Mike Cameron, Edgar Martinez, and Jamie Moyer to name a few. They won their division by 14 games and seemed destined to win the World Series. Their dream season came to an end in the American League Championship Series, where the New York Yankees would beat them 4 games to 1. This loss was so devastating that the Mariners would not reach the postseason again until 2022, at the time the longest draught in the four major North American sports.
7. 1986 EDMONTON OILERS – The Edmonton Oilers were heavy favorites to win it all in 1986. They had scored more than 400 goals for the 5th consecutive season and seemed poised to win their 3rd consecutive Stanley Cup. Wayne Gretzky scored a record 215 points, Jari Kurri actually scored more goals than Gretzky with 68, and Mark Messier was the premier center in the league. They swept the Vancouver Canucks in round one but ran into a hot goaltender in the second round, a brash young rookie named Patrick Roy. In Game 7, with the score tied 2-2, an errant pass by defenseman Steve Smith behind his own goal bounced off goaltender Grant Fuhr and into the goal, and the Oilers never recovered, losing the pivotal Game 7. Had they won that series and eventually won the Stanley Cup, they would have been champs 5 years in a row, and 6 out of 7.
6. 2001 ST. LOUIS RAMS – “The Greatest Show on Turf” scored over 500 points for the 3rd consecutive season and were favored to win the Super Bowl for the 2nd time in 3 years, only to lose to the New England Patriots on a last second field goal. Led by league MVP Kurt Warner, 2000 MVP Marshall Faulk, a slew of offensive weapons and a revamped defense, the Rams went 14-2, dominating in every facet of the game on their way to the playoffs. They scored 45 points and intercepted Brett Favre 6 times in a playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, then rallied from an early deficit to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. In the Super Bowl, they ran into some young quarterback named Tom Brady, and went from an all-time great team to a footnote in the first of his 7 eventual Super Bowl wins. The Patriots would end up winning the Super Bowl 20-17, ruining the Rams incredible season.
5. 1991 UNLV RUNNIN’ REBELS – The 1990 Runnin’ Rebels took the college basketball world by storm, going 35-5 and advancing to the National Championship game, defeating the Duke Blue Devils handily, 103-73. And it seemed the following season they had just gotten better. In 1991 UNLV went undefeated, 34-0, heading into the NCAA tournament. From there, they made it to the semifinals, where they would again match up against the Duke Blue Devils for a chance to play in the championship game. Up to that point, going into the previous season, they had a 45-game winning streak, the longest such streak since UCLA’s historic 88-game winning streak in the early ’70s. And they didn’t just win, they dominated. And they dominated with a sense of confidence and swagger rarely seen in any sport. But it wasn’t meant to be, as Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill and the rest of the Blue Devils exacted revenge for the previous year, beating UNLV 79-77 on their way to the National Championship.
***NOTE: I’m including a late addition as a TIE to #4, as it just happened (my list, my rules)***
4A. 2005 USC TROJANS – The 2005 USC trojans were 2-time defending national champs heading into the season. They had the 2 previous Heisman Trophy winners in quarterback Matt Leinart and running back Reggie Bush, and were favored to win for the 3rd year in a row, which hadn’t been done since the 1930’s. They often won big, with 9 of their 12 wins by more than 17 points. Talks of ‘Greatest Team of All Time’ were quickly dashed though, as USC lost in the National Title game to Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns 41-38, often considered one of the greatest college football games of all time. Things would only go downhill from there, as in the following years many of the wins and accomplishments from this year and the previous 2 seasons were voided due to rules violations and player eligibility.
4B. 2023 BOSTON BRUINS – The ink isn’t even dry on this one. The ’23 Bruins broke multiple regular season records on their way to the Presidents’ Trophy, including regular season wins (65) and regular season point tally (135). They had offense, defense, goaltending, coaching… everything. And the playoffs started how everyone thought they would, with the Bruins taking a 3-1 series lead against the underdog Florida Panthers. Amazingly, the Panthers would win the next 3 games, including Game 7 in overtime, to knock out the Bruins and ruin their chances of being included in the ‘Greatest Team of All Time’ discussions.
3. 1968 BALTIMORE COLTS – The Baltimore Colts of 1968 were absolutely dominant, going 13-1 during the regular season, outscoring their opponents by over 250 points over the course of the season. Led by legendary coach Don Shula, they had 2 outstanding quarterbacks in Earl Morrall and Johnny Unitas, and a suffocating defense, which had just shut out the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Championship game 34-0 heading into the Super Bowl. And as far as the Super Bowl went in those days, the NFL seemed far superior to the AFL, and as such the Colts were 19 1/2-point favorites to win. But the AFL’s New York Jets had other plans, showcased by quarterback Joe Namath’s bold guarantee that they would win. And they did, beating the Colts 16-7, defeating a team many touted as the greatest football team of all time.
2. 2016 GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS – The Warriors started the season 24-0 and eventually went 73-9 during the regular season and seemed to be in cruise control on their way to a likely 2nd straight NBA Championship. They never lost consecutive games and did not at any point lose to the same team twice. Over the course of the season the team broke over 25 NBA records and winning the NBA championship seemed like a foregone conclusion. Steve Kerr was Coach of the Year, and Steph Curry was league MVP for the 2nd consecutive year. On the way to the Finals the Warriors only real challenge was a Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals, forced by the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder. The Warriors eventually won to advance to the Finals. In their way were the Cleveland Cavaliers, the same Finals opponent from the previous year, led by Lebron James. The Warriors were up 3 games to 1 yet surrendered the lead and ended up losing the last 3 games, including Game 7 at home. Even though they won more regular season games than the ’96 Chicago Bulls, not winning the championship excludes them from most ‘all-time best team’ conversations.
1. 2007 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS – New England had no apparent weaknesses in 2007. Tom Brady was league MVP and threw for 50 touchdowns, then an NFL record. Randy Moss caught 23 touchdowns, also an NFL record. As a team, they were the first team since the ’72 Dolphins to go undefeated during the regular season (16-0). They also scored the most points (589) in league history and had the greatest ever point differential (+315). A win against the New York Giants in the Super Bowl would all but cement them as the greatest team of all time. But Michael Strahan, Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants took care of business, beating the Patriots 17-14 in what has to be the biggest upset in NFL history.