Is the Super Bowl winner really the best team from that season? Former Super Bowl champs weigh in

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Is the Super Bowl winner really the best team from that season? Former Super Bowl champs weigh in image

Do NFL team members regard the Super Bowl as a good measure of which team is best in a given year?

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Answer by Brian BillickHead Coach of the 2001 Superbowl Champion Baltimore Ravens 

Certainly fate is a factor, but you don’t back into the Super Bowl. As was the case (last year), the No. 1 seeds, who happen to be the No. 1 defense in the league (Seattle) and the No. 1 offense in the league (Denver) were destined to be here and have earned it.

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Answer by Steve Weatherford,  XLVI Super Bowl Champion with the New York Giants

Yes and no. For us, we barely made it into the playoffs, and what we did that enabled us to win the world championship was to play our best football at the right time. 

And I think one thing the Denver Broncos (struggled with last year) was keeping it going. They played so well all year, but they want to make sure they're playing their best right now, because if you look back at when the Giants were able to beat the New England Patriots in 2007 in Arizona, that was obviously very disappointing for (the Patriots) because they hadn't lost a game all year.

You want to play your best ball at the right time, and I think the New York Giants were able to do that, and I think the reason was that we had superior coaching.

Answer by Ted SundquistGM of the Denver Broncos (2002-2008) and Broncos College Scouting Director during their back-to-back Super Bowl XXXII and XXXIII wins

No, not necessarily, and here's the reason why: It's a marathon, not a sprint. It's the team that gets hot at the end, the team that's playing their best football, their most confident football, and has been able to maintain their health and keep their roster intact; it's that team that's usually the one that can go deep into the playoffs. And each game is just 60 minutes, and you can be at the top of the heap, but you're going up against another NFL team which is a collection of some very good players. I've always looked at the National Football League as 32 all-star teams, and it's just how you're able to get those all-stars to play together with one another that eventually determines who's going to win a championship.

The teams that dominate and put up the numbers and look really good during the regular season aren't necessarily always the teams that win the Super Bowl, as we know, but some aren't necessarily the ones that deserve to win a Super Bowl. As I look at it, as a general manager, I don't think that we really look at the Super Bowl and the team that comes out as having the best season, just the one that finished it the best.

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