As we approach the next Super Bowl we see the culmination of an exciting season in professional football. Fans everywhere are jumping on the bandwagons and getting their best trash talk on. Unfortunately, someone has to lose the big game. While it can be argued that everyone wins that is involved in some way, it still can’t possibly be a boost to the ego to lose with a large scoring differential. Here are five of the worst losses the game has witnessed:

1. Super Bowl XXIV: San Francisco 49ers 55 – Denver Broncos 10. Ouch! 45 points! Joe Montana and Jerry Rice showed their superior athletic abilities in this absolute stomping of the Broncos. Quarterback John Elway wasn’t going to let this ruin his career though; he came back to the big game and won – twice. Retiring as one of the greatest to play the game, the old-for-football Elway passed for over 300 yards and ran in a touchdown in the second victory. He truly ended his career on a high note with back-to-back Super Bowl wins and the enormous loss to San Francisco is barely a memory. See kids – you don’t win every game but persistence pays off!

2. Super Bowl XXXV: Baltimore Ravens 34 – New York Giants 7. As the Baltimore Ravens took the field, the camera focused on future-hall-of-famer Tony Siragusa while the stadium roared with disapproval as if they stepped into hostile territory. Those boo-birds undoubtedly fueled the team’s dominance as they held the Giants to only 152 yards of total offense. It must have felt intensely gratifying to silence the naysayers!

3. Super Bowl XVIII: Los Angeles Raiders 38 – Washington Redskins 9: In the only Super Bowl win for the City of Angels, the Raiders onslaught began with a blocked punt that was run in for a touchdown. It was the most lopsided victory in the history of the game to that point. Now Los Angeles patiently waits for a new NFL franchise. Talk about feelings of loss!

4. Super Bowl VI: Dallas Cowboys 24 – Miami Dolphins 3: This simply must be mentioned here since this demoralizing loss fueled the now-immortalized 1972 Dolphins to become the only perfect team in NFL history. Coach Don Shula told players that the only way to redeem themselves was to make it to the Super Bowl the following year and win. The rest, well, is history!

5. Super Bowl XX: Chicago Bears 46 – New England Patriots 10: Breaking the previous record for most points scored in the big game, the Bears win after falling behind in the first 1:19 of the game (which was a Super Bowl record for scoring). Things have changed for these teams now as anyone who has turned on a television in the last few months knows. The Pats are trying to join the elite status that is only occupied by the aforementioned 1972 Dolphins. I guess no one is down for long!