Hosting the NFL’s Biggest Game is a death wish to a team’s Super Bowl aspirations. Want proof? Here it is

SCOTT JACOBS

When Jerry Jones stated that he wanted the Dallas Cowboys to not only host America’s biggest game, but to partake in it too, it’s as if he sent a giant middle finger to the Super Bowl gods up in the sky.  A 1-4 start, became 1-5 yesterday, as the Cowboys slumped to a painful defeat, losing their man under center in the process.

It’s hard to put America’s team in the same category as the lowly Lions, Panthers and snakebitten 49ers, but there they are, resting comfortably at a practically dead 1-5, with their franchise quarterback Tony Romo out at least six weeks.

I suppose history is bound to be defeated by the odds one of these years, but it really seems that there are special forces in place to prevent a team from having the ultimate home-field advantage in the NFL’s annual party.

With the Dolphins slouching to a forgettable 7-9 finish in 2009, the year they hosted the Super Bowl, it’s time to look to the history books, where those who host the NFL’s crown jewel, not only never get to their own party, they usually don’t even make the post-season:

Season      Host                Previous Season                Year Hosting

2009           Miami              11-5 (Wild Card Round)        7-9 (Missed Playoffs)
2008           Tampa Bay     9-7  (Wild Card Round)        7-9 (Missed Playoffs)
2007          Arizona            5-11 (Missed Playoffs)          8-8 (Missed Playoffs)
2006          Miami               9-7  (Missed Playoffs)           6-10 (Missed Playoffs)
2005          Detroit              6-10 (Missed Playoffs)         5-11 (Missed Playoffs)
2004          Jacksonville   5-11 (Missed Playoffs)          9-7 (Missed Playoffs)
2003          Houston           4-12 (Missed Playoffs)          5-11 (Missed Playoffs)

Only two teams since this NFL switched to their 8, 4 team division format in 2002 have improved their record from the year before, the year they were hosting the Super Bowl. No team that has hosted the Big Game since that time has won double digit games, and every team on this list missed the playoffs altogether!  Dallas seems destined to join this sad-sack list, especially now that Jon Kitna is left to pick up the pieces of this Big D mess.

Now, you could make the argument that none of the teams who have hosted the Big Game in that span were even Super Bowl contenders, with Miami the lone team to win 10 or more games the year before.  But in the parity-driven world that is the NFL it’s hard to comprehend that teams can’t even sneak into the playoffs the year they host.  With the way history has frowned on teams spending boatloads of money to host the Big Game, you’re really much better off playing online slots or roulette online than you are of planning the Big Game years in advance.  That is if you want to win.  You do want to win right?

The moral to the story.  I saw this coming all along.  Well kind of.

“But we haven’t even started the damn season yet and already the analysts have narrowed down the list of contenders to about six (the Jets, Colts, Ravens, Chargers, Cowboys, and Packers).   First off, eliminate the Cowboys.  Dallas has won just one playoff game under Wade Phillips and no team has ever played the Super Bowl at home.  This year will be no exception.”

That’s what I wrote back in September in my ill-fated 2010 NFL Preview, despite picking Dallas to finish with the NFC’s best record.  But it’s so true.  If you want to win the Super Bowl, don’t host it.

That’s why, Indianapolis better win it all this year, because they host it next year.  Though if anyone is going to break this hex one would think it’d be the Colts, but by then Manning and Co. will be a year older, and the curse that is Hosting the Super Bowl will be another year more advanced.

This so-called curse then heads to New Orleans in 2013 and up north to the Meadowlands in– say it with me– New Jersey, not New York, in 2014.

By 2015 we’ll see just how legit this stranglehold is.

For now, like the Cubs, the curse lives on.  Wait till next year!  That’s all Dallas can pretty much do.

Photo: Getty

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