The Saints and Colts are both 11-0, marking the first time in history two teams have gone this deep into a season without losing. If anyone knows anything about football, they know this to be true: if they both go undefeated, they will not meet in the Super Bowl. That’s just the way it works. We never get what we want in this league, and the hype machine would blow this possibility down a river like a ship out to sea.  Think about it: when’s the last time we got the matchup we so richly deserved? Let’s take a walk down memory lane…how about the last ten Super Bowls?

Super Bowl XXXIV

What was: Rams vs Titans.

A lot of people remember this as being the matchup for the ages, offense vs defense. But that, as they say, is a ‘misremembrance.’ The ‘00 Titans were number one in defense, but the ‘99 Titans were 15th! Hardly strength vs strength, it was really set up to be a gunfight from the beginning.

What should have been: Rams vs Jaguars.

As gross as it may be to picture the odd camo jerseys in the Super Bowl, the Jags were the best team in football in 1999. They were number one on defense (and thus the stoutest test for The Greatest Show) and number six on offense, with Mark Brunell, Jimmy Smith, Keenan McCardell and a 14-2 record. You want a crazy stat: the only team to defeat the Jags in 1999? The Titans (20-19, 41-14, and 33-14 in the playoffs). Again…the schedule.

Super Bowl XXXV

What Was: Ravens vs Giants

The 2000 Ravens was the greatest defense of all time and had the mediocre offense to back up that claim. No one gave up fewer points in a 16 game schedule. The thing was that the Giants were kinda like the Giants of ‘07: They got crazy hot at the end, bullied their way into the playoffs, and were the Cinderella story of the year (if Cinderella got boatraced in Tampa in the final act). It was Jim Fassel’s “All-In” year, and the drubbing they took exposed them for what they were.

What Should Have Been: Ravens vs Rams.

The Greatest Show On Turf team wasn’t as good as the ‘00 edition. Marshall Faulk was absolutely unstoppable. Kurt Warner had some confidence. Brenda Warner was especially weird looking. It was the ultimate challenge: the greatest defense of all time against the best offensive scheme. But the team fell apart under Mike “Tea And Cake And Pie” Martz and eventually got knocked out by Az-Zahir Hakim’s muffed punt.

Super Bowl XXXVI

What Was: Patriots vs Rams.

This was actually one of the best Super Bowls of all time. It was a David and Goliath for the ages and the best single gameplan ever executed. Bill Belichick took his average defense and threw them at the Rams like chaff. It destroyed the budding Rams dynasty and planted the seeds to launch the Pats’. This game should be played on NFL Films every single day. But it shouldn’t have happened.

What Should Have Been: Raiders vs Rams.

Remember the Chuck Rule? We were that close to the matchup everyone wanted to see. Jon Gruden’s resurgent Raider Nation in a gunfight with the best Rams team yet. If you think about it, the Chuck Rule not only affected the fates of the Aught Rams and Aught Pats, but also the Aught Raiders, who were a year away from losing their last meaningful game of the 21st century. Gruden never looked right in Tampa; he was born to be a Raider. But, one snowy night in Foxboro…

Super Bowl XXXVII

What Was: Buccaneers vs Raiders.

On paper, this matchup was actually pretty good. The top-ranked Tampa-2 D against the number two ranked Gannon-led Raiders O. In a year of EPIC mediocrity (11 was the most wins in the AFC and only nine teams finished with double-digit wins), this was probably as good as we were going to get. But it was a year late. Sure, the Gruden vs the Raiders angle was interesting, but it was about as unsatisfying as this year as a whole.

What Should Have Been: Buccaneers vs Raiders.

Okay, hear me out. This year was so crappy across the board that the best two teams did end up making it to the final game. But it was a year too late. It SHOULD have been Gruden’s Raiders vs Dungy’s Bucs, since essentially that’s what it was from a personnel standpoint. Bill Callahan was totally outgunned as a gameplanner and Gruden had about as much to do with their victory as Barry Switzer had with Dallas’s in Super Bowl XXX. Take a look at this season, it really was a disaster.

Super Bowl XXXVIII

What Was: Patriots vs Panthers.

While this was the Pats’ second title, it really was the true beginning of the dynasty. This is when the Pats started to look like a team that just couldn’t lose, going 14-2 (winning their last eleven of the regular season). The Panthers were an interesting story as well, with Stephen Davis making the Redskins feel stupid for letting him go (1444 yards rushing). The game came down to the wire, so it couldn’t have been that bad. But as good as the Pats were, the Panthers were painfully average (15th on offense, 10th on defense). We could have done better than this, couldn’t we?

What Should Have Been: Patriots vs Rams

Beggars can’t be choosers. This should have been the revenge game, considering the Rams of ‘03 were a lot like the Pats of ‘01: Marc Bulger steps in for the injured Kurt Warner, rattles off 12 of 15, and gives a tiny dusting of hope for the penultimate good Rams team. But they couldn’t get by Carolina in the opening round. How bad was the NFC in the mid-aughts, by the way?

Super Bowl XXXIV

What Was: Patriots vs Eagles.

Again, the Pats opened the season by murdering everyone in their path (except for Miami and Pittsburgh) and the Eagles were riding the Terrell Owens show through the still-bad NFC (only three teams had double-digit wins!). The game itself had a fair amou

nt of heroics, including the last time anyone liked Terrell Owens. As you’ll recall, McNabb “got tired in the Super Bowl” and the Eagles lost by a field goal.

What Should Have Been: Patriots vs Eagles.

For the only time all decade, the fates got it right. The Eagles were the only decent team in the NFC (two 8-8 teams made the playoffs!) and, frankly, were probably the most talented in the whole league. The only alternatives to the Pats were the shockingly good Steelers (who were tops on D and had a rookie quarterback that didn’t lose until the AFC title game) and the Colts (Peyton Manning winning a billion awards and the Colts outscoring everyone). But the defending champs against the most talented team was just about as good as we were going to get.

Super Bowl XXXL

What Was: Steelers vs Seahawks

This was one of the worst Super Bowls in recent memory. From the awful officiating (see Matt Hasselbeck’s 15 yard penalty and all the phantom holding calls on Seattle) to the terrible quarterback play (Hasselbeck 53% comp, 273, 1 TD, 1 INT; Ben Roethlisberger 43% comp, 0 TD, 2 INT), it was nothing short of miserable for a fan of neither team.

What Should Have Been: Colts vs Seahawks

Not to take anything away from Seattle, who was the number one seed in the NFC and had MVP Shaun Alexander, but there wasn’t a lot of competition in their division or conference. The Colts, however, were the best team in the league (14-2), number one on offense and number two on defense. If Nick Harper’s wife didn’t STAB HIM in the leg, he would have taken that Jerome Bettis fumble to the house, ending the game. And even still, Mike Vanderjagt had to shank a field goal to ruin the playoffs for Indy. To his credit, he was liquored up.

Super Bowl XXXLI

What Was: Colts vs Bears

A pretty solid strength vs strength game. Peyton Manning vs Brian Urlacher. The number 2 O vs the number 2 D, the birth of the Devin Hester Era (2006-2007) and Rex Grossman fooling everyone into thinking he was an NFL quarterback. The Bears were a very good team in, again, a terrible conference (three double digits, a 9-7 and 8-8 wild card) and lost to the best the AFC had to offer.

What Should Have Been: Chargers vs Bears

This wouldn’t have made the game any better or closer, but the Chargers’ got their best year out of LaDainian Tomlinson this season. Indy was good, but not like the year before (their D was ranked 23). The Chargers had the best offense and best point-differential in the league (a ridiculous 189 points), and lost every game by a field goal (13-16 to Baltimore, 27-30 to KC, 21-24 to New England in the playoffs). Talk about being That Close. Fast forward to now, where LDT is as good as done and Shawne Merriman’s strangling bisexual reality stars.

Super Bowl XXXLII

What Was: Giants vs Patriots

Another accidental classic, a game everyone saw as a blowout on paper turning into one of the best Super Bowls of all time (unless you’re from Boston). The unbeatable Pats juggernaut against a well-coached and somewhat lucky ragtag group of G-Men. Basically a carbon-copy of the Pats first title against the Rams.

What Should Have Been: Packers vs Patriots

Again, nothing should be taken away from the Giants and that game. But let’s face it: everyone wanted to see Brett Favre’s last hurrah go up against the abominable Patriots. The Pack was fourth in offense and sixth on D, and had a great storyline of Green Bay getting one more chance with number four (comedy is tragedy plus time, right?). But Favre threw two killer picks to sink their chances, and then went to the Jets, and then went to the Vikings. Maybe he’ll go to the Bears next.

Super Bowl XXXLIII

What Was: Steelers vs Cardinals

By all indications, this matchup proved to be pretty good. The Steelers were the top-ranked defense in football in an insanely competitive year in the AFC (six double digit win teams). The Cardinals were Warner’s second Show and featured the best tandem of receivers in the game. Back and forth, a pick six by James Harrison and the last second toe-tap of Santonio Holmes landed the Steelers their sixth ring. But was either team the best in their conference?

What Should Have Been: Titans vs Giants

This is where it gets scary. The Titans got to 10-0 and both teams got to 11-1 before limping into the playoffs and being one-and-done when they got there. The Giants (three on O, five on D) got blasted out of the building by the Eagles and Kerry Collins’ resurgence came to a slamming halt against the team that killed him in his only Super Bowl. But these were the two best teams all year.

So what have we learned? In every Super Bowl but the last, at least one of the teams that was supposed to get in did. But the last was the most recent. So if we’re making predictions…

Super Bowl XXXLIV

What Should Be: Colts vs Saints

Manning is having the best season of an already Hall of Fame career, willing his bruised and battered team to victory every single week. It’s like every week is Elway’s Super Bowl. The Saints, meanwhile, look absolutely unbeatable, outscoring everyone and having enough playmakers on defense to stifle anyone’s chance of coming back. Both teams could likely go undefeated into this final, epic showdown.

What We’ll Get: Bengals vs Falcons

Cincinnati’s running game murders Denver and San Diego in the first two rounds and their corners shut down Manning’s passing game in the Championship. The Falcons get hot down the stretch, are the beneficiaries of Andy Reid’s psychotic game management, shock the Saints by running the ball 60 times, and are in the right place at the right time for Brett Favre’s “I’m 40 and still a crazy gunslinger” meltdown game. That sound you hear is Roger Goodell vomiting uncontrollably into his desk drawer and then fining himself. But it could happen.

The Purple Kool Aid