Players who miss out on the Superbowl

conace21
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Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by conace21 »

I just realized that after the 1995 season, George Teague went from Green Bay to the defending champion Dallas as a free agent. The Packers team he left went on to win the Super Bowl. Teague, in his presumed journey to win a title, was both one year too early and one year too late.
Are there any other cases where a player (through trade, free agency, Plan B...) joined the defending champions, only to have his old team win the ensuing championship?
MatthewToy
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by MatthewToy »

Does Preston Pearson count? He did win a ring with the 74 Steelers. Went to Dallas in 75 and lost to the same Steelers in the Super Bowl.
conace21
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by conace21 »

Not quite what I was thinking of, though still an intersting example.

1995: Teague plays for GB, and Dallas wins Super Bowl.
1996: Teague plays for Dallas and GB wins the Super Bowl.
Last edited by conace21 on Thu Dec 24, 2015 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
BD Sullivan
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by BD Sullivan »

conace21 wrote:Not quite what I was thinking of, though still an intersting example.

1995: Teague plays for GB, and Dallas wins Super Bowl.
1996: Teague plays for Sal and GB wins the Super Bowl.
A pair of kickers with some bad timing:

Although he helped win the first two AFL titles for the Oilers, George Blanda spent nine years with the Raiders (1967-75) and watched them go to a Super Bowl and lose, go to six conference title games and lose, and lose the Immaculate Reception game. Getting cut just prior to the 1976 season, he then watched them win their first Super Bowl title that year.

Lou Michaels joined the Colts in 1964, and was part of the team that lost that year to the Browns and in 1968 to the Jets in the Super Bowl. He was cut in favor of rookie Jim O'Brien just prior to the start of the 1970 season and watched the Colts win the Super Bowl.

A non-kicker:

Pettis Norman played for the Cowboys from 1962-70, and was a part of all that heartbreak, then was sent to San Diego in the Lance Alworth trade in May 1971 and watched the Cowboys win their first Super Bowl the following January.
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74_75_78_79_
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by 74_75_78_79_ »

A Teague example is tough to find, a player missing back-to-back Rings with two different teams in back-to-back seasons.

The best I can do for now is Steelers '73 Pro Bowl guard, Bruce Van Dyke going off to Green Bay the following year and, of course, Jack Del Rio going from Dallas to Vikes after the '91 campaign.
conace21
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by conace21 »

Every Super Bowl team has players who leave before the Super Bowl season, as well as players who leave afterwards. But I'm just curious if there was another example of a player switching teams and missing out on two Super Bowl seasons. In other words, the anti-Deion Sanders. Deion played for SF in 94 and Dallas in 95.
I figure if anyone knows about it, it'll be someone here.
Gary Najman
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by Gary Najman »

CB Chad Scott, who played for Pittabugh in 2004 (the season New England won the Super Bowl) moved the next season with the Patriots, and the Steelers won the Super Bowl that season.
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Todd Pence
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by Todd Pence »

The first name that comes to mind is Chicago Bear safety Todd Bell, who sat out the 1985 season in a contract dispute - and missed out on being part of one of the great dream teams in NFL history.
7DnBrnc53
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by 7DnBrnc53 »

Anthony Miller went to Denver in 1994, the year that his former team (Chargers) went to the Super Bowl. After the 1996 season, Miller was let go by Denver, who went on to win two Super Bowls.

Also, the Broncos released Michael Dean Perry a month before they played in SB 32.
Reaser
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Re: Players who miss out on the Superbowl

Post by Reaser »

Doesn't fit the original post but didn't feel like making a new thread to post my comment ...

... watching Rams "coaches film" just now and was watching Welker run routes and paused to think about how crazy it is that he never was on a SB winner.

2007 - Played on arguably the best regular season team in history, to date, and the best single season team to NOT win the SB.
2011 - Lose again to the Giants.
2013 - Played on what many at the time were calling the greatest offense of all-time (disputable but for narrative sake) ... Get smoked in the SB.
2014 - NE wins the SB 2 years after he left.
2015 - Denver wins the SB a year later.

and that doesn't include the other playoff losses when on the SB favorite or one of the favorites heading into the post-season - which his team was the/a favorite the majority of his NE/DEN career.
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