Super Bowl power rankings: Who’s the best loser?
By John Buhler
15. 1999 Tennessee Titans, Super Bowl XXXIV
The 1999 Tennessee Titans literally came up a yard short of winning Super Bowl XXXIV at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, when St. Louis Rams linebacker Mike Jones stopped Titans wideout Kevin Dyson at the goal line. Tennessee would lose to St. Louis, 23-16 in one of the best games in Super Bowl history.
This was the first year of the Titans moniker in Nashville, as they had been the Tennessee Oilers their first two seasons since leaving Houston for the Music City. The Titans went 13-3, but did not end up winning the AFC Central. That year the Jacksonville Jaguars were a ridiculous 14-2 under head coach Tom Coughlin. In fact, all three of the Jaguars’ losses in 1999 came to Jeff Fisher’s Titans, including the 1999 AFC Championship in Jacksonville.
Tennessee defeated the Buffalo Bills in the Music City Miracle in the Wild Card round, Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts in the Divisional round, and Coughlin’s Jaguars in the AFC Championship. The Titans would have to face Kurt Warner’s Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV as a seven-point underdog in Atlanta.
The mix of quarterback Steve McNair, running back Eddie George, and frankly a team of destiny made the Titans one of the better teams to come out of the AFC in the 1990s. What was ultimately the difference in Super Bowl XXXIV was that the Greatest Show on Turf Rams had a bit more offensive firepower than what Fisher’s Music City Miracle Titans had to counter.
The 1999 Titans were a team that had the right makeup to win a Super Bowl, but came up a yard short. Tennessee would have a few more great years under Fisher, but the Titans haven’t been to a Super Bowl since.
Next: 14. 2004 Philadelphia Eagles