Cooked Fish?

Sporting News, The, Dec 6, 1999

In 1997, the Seahawks finished the season ranked third in the NFL in offense and eighth in defense--and missed the playoffs. Through the first 11 weeks of this season, they ranked 19th in offense and 24th in defense--and seemed virtually assured of ending the league's longest current playoff drought (10 seasons).

Advancing to the Super Bowl may be an entirely different matter. No team this decade has played in the Super Bowl without finishing at least 11th in offense or defense during the regular season, and most teams did much better than that.

         Super Bowl   Off.   Def.
Season   teams        rank   rank

1990     Giants        17      2
         Bills          6      8

1991     Redskins       4      3
         Bills          1     27

1992     Cowboys        4      1
         Bills          2     12

1993     Cowboys        4     10
         Bills          6     27

1994     49ers          2      8
         Chargers      11     14

1995     Cowboys        5      9
         Steelers       6      3

1996     Packers        5      1
         Patriots       7     19

1997     Broncos        1      5
         Packers        4      7

1998     Broncos        3     11
         Falcons        7      8