The Top Five Offenses Since 2000 That Never Won A Super Bowl
A look at five great offenses that never won a Super Bowl.
All throughout sports there are teams that meet the eye test and feel like “sure things” to win a championship but fall short. I am going to rank the top five offenses since 2000 that never won a Super Bowl.
5. 2009 San Diego Chargers: This offense was explosive and had massive big play ability. While the Chargers of the last five to ten years haven’t had great success, this team was so close to winning it all.
They were led by Mr. Won’t Pullout, Philip Rivers who threw for 4,254 and 28 touchdowns. Alongside Rivers was one of the leagues all time backs in LaDainian Tomlinson. In 2009, Tomlinson rushed for 730 yards and 12 touchdowns.
For Tomlinson, that was a relatively down year and could be part of the reason the Chargers weren’t able to win a championship.
Out wide, Rivers was able to throw to Antonio Gates, who is a top five tight end of all time. Gates recorded 1,157 yards and 8 touchdowns. Outside of Gates, the late Vincent Jackson reeled in 9 touchdowns for 1,167 yards.
It was around this time I was getting into football so seeing a team put up 454 points in a season and end the regular season on an eleven game win streak was exciting. Unfortunately, they fell to the New York Jets in the divisional round.
4. 2011 Green Bay Packers: It pains me to write this one because I hate the Packers but man, this offense could strike at any time on the field. The Packers finished the 2011 regular season with a 15-1 record and Aaron Rodgers won his first of three MVP awards.
Rodgers threw for the second most touchdowns of his career with 45 and for 4,643 yards. His top target was wide receiver Jordy Nelson who went for 1,263 yards and 15 touchdowns, the most touchdowns of his career.
Quarterback play was no issue for this Packers offense but rushing may have been. None of the Packers backs went for over 600 yards as Ryan Grant rushed for 559 yards and 2 touchdowns and James Starks ran for 1 touchdown and 578 yards.
Maybe if this team had a better run game they could have beaten the Giants in the divisional round and made a Super Bowl run.
3. 2004 Indianapolis Colts: The 2004 Colts offense was littered with Hall of Fame weapons and was led by one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Peyton W. Manning.
Manning threw for 4,557 yards and 49 touchdowns which was good enough to secure him his second of five MVP awards of his illustrious career.
The past two teams I haven’t mentioned offensive line play but, the Colts had Jeff Saturday snapping to Manning and he was able to pave the way for Edgerrin James to rush for 1,548 yards and 9 touchdowns.
Outside of the run game, Manning had three receivers go for over 1,000 yards in Reggie Wayne who had 1,210, Marvin Harrison who had 1,113, and Brandon Stokley who went for 1,077. Lots of teams won’t have a receiver hit the 1k yards mark but to have three is OUTRAGEOUS!
On paper, this team looks unstoppable but, their one kryptonite was Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the New England Patriots. They lost to the Pats week one 27-24 in New England and again in the divisional round, 20-3.
2. 2000 Minnesota Vikings: I would give anything to go back in time to watch this offense operate, literally ANYTHING.
In my honest opinion, this squad had the greatest one two punch out wide with the GOAT Randy Moss as the number one Cris Carter as the number two with Dante Culpepper slinging the rock.
Culpepper threw for 3,937 yards and 33 touchdowns leading the Vikings to an 11-5 regular season record. His two top targets both had over 1,000 yards with Carter catching 9 touchdowns for 1,274 yards and Moss reeling in 15 touchdowns for 1,437 yards.
The pass game for the 2000 Vikings offense flourished just like their run game. Running back Robert Smith ran for 1,521 yards and 7 touchdowns behind a below average offensive line unit.
While their record didn’t look great on paper, this offense put up 397 points and their defense let up 371 including 104 in the last three games of the year. I don’t care who you have on offense, of your defense is letting up that many points, it’s tough to be successful.
In the playoffs, the Vikings won their wildcard game 34-16 over the Saints but were thumped by the Giants, 41-0. YIKES.
1. 2007 New England Patriots: The only squad that can say they went 16-0 since the leagues addition of a seventeenth game is the 2007 New England Patriots and their offense was unreal. It’s almost criminal that this team didn’t win the Super Bowl.
The Patriots were led by Tom Brady who secured his first of three MVP awards in the 2007 season as he threw for 4,806 yards and 50 touchdowns. He had lots of help from his number one receiver, a guy I’ve already talked about. Randy Moss.
Moss pulled in 98 catches for 1,493 yards, and an NFL record 23 touchdowns. Moss wasn’t the only receiver that put up big numbers though. Wes Welker recorded 112 catches for 8 touchdowns and 1,175 yards.
On the ground, Stephen Neal, Logan Mankins, Matt Light, and Dan Koppen paved the way for veteran back Laurence Maroney who rushed for 835 yards and 6 touchdowns.
I do like to imagine what could be if Eli Manning was sacked or if David Tyree dropped the pass off his helmet. This elite Patriots squad wouldn’t even be on this list.