Jason B. Hirschhorn – Sports On Earth
An MVP trophy, a record 73-9 regular season and 88 total wins make the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors one of the greatest teams in sports history, but it doesn’t make them champions. They fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers during a breathtaking Game 7, likely the signature moment in the hallowed career of finals MVP LeBron James. Though the defeat shouldn’t change how we view the otherworldly play of Stephen Curry and his teammates, it surely leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of fans in the Bay Area hoping to celebrate back-to-back NBA titles Sunday night.
With the loss, the Warriors join a select and, to some, ignominious group of regular-season juggernauts. Though uniformly important teams, all earned the dubious distinction of failing to complete perfect seasons.
NFL: 2007 New England Patriots
With a season that spans just 16 games followed by a 12-team single-elimination tournament, the NFL offers the one realistic chance at an undefeated team. So far, only the 1972 Miami Dolphins accomplished the feat, though they did so on a shorter schedule while playing only five teams with a winning record, including the postseason. Many great teams fell short of the Dolphins’ perfect mark in the ensuing decades, until the 2007 Patriots came along.
At the time, the Belichick-Brady Patriots had already secured three titles during the early 2000s, but they had since fallen short of returning to the Super Bowl. The blowup surrounding Spygate, the first of New England’s multiple cheating scandals, added extra motivation to the club. Combined with the acquisition of All-Pro wideouts Randy Moss and Wes Welker, the Patriots become the most dominant team since the advent of free agency.
During 2007, the Patriots set a still-standing record for points scored (589) while outscoring their opponents by an average of nearly 20 points per game. Only four times during the regular season did they fail to outscore their opponents by seven points or more. Tom Brady and Moss set the benchmark for the quarterback-receiver tandem, combining for a shade under 1,500 yards and 23 touchdowns. The offense continued to roll through the playoffs and into Super Bowl XLII.
And while other great non-champions ran into a buzz saw as they neared the finish line, the Patriots happened upon an overmatched New York Giants squad with Eli Manning under center and a defense with more star power than stopping power. The matchup, universally considered a mismatch, produced an incredible point spread of 12 1/2, the largest in over a decade.
And if not for one of the most unbelievable plays in Super Bowl history, perhaps the Patriots reach the still-untouched 19-0 plateau. With less than two minutes remaining in the game, David Tyree hauled in a Manning floater with his body fully extended, trapping the ball between his right hand and helmet as safety Rodney Harrison wrestled the wideout’s body to the ground. The third-down conversion kept the Giants’ final drive alive, and four plays later, they scored the go-ahead touchdown to secure a victory and end the Patriots’ run at perfection.
MLB: 2001 Seattle Mariners
Most baseball observers left the Mariners for dead in 2001. By that time, the cavalcade of stars the team assembled during the 1990s had flown the coop. Ace pitcher Randy Johnson forced his way out in 1998 after the team declined to offer him a contract extension. Franchise outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. left after 1999 to play for the team he rooted for as a child. Wunderkind shortstop Alex Rodriguez did the same one year later, signing with the Texas Rangers for a then-record $252 million. The departures left designated hitter Edgar Martinez as the only bona fide star left on the Emerald City’s baseball club.
Yet despite every expectation to the contrary, the Mariners bestowed many gifts upon their fans in 2001. They introduced American audiences to future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, a superb defensive outfielder and near-peerless contact hitter who wore only his first name on the back of his jersey. Journeyman Mike Cameron exploded for the best season of his career, setting new personal records for home runs (25), RBIs (110) and OPS (.832). Bret Boone, once a top prospect in Seattle’s farm system, returned to the team to win a Silver Slugger Award and finish third in MVP voting. The three, along with the still impactful Martinez, each earned trips to the All-Star game, as well as securing the cover of ESPN the Magazine in the same month.
The combined dominance of Seattle’s retooled lineup elevated the team to previously unseen levels. The team led the majors in runs (927) and wins (116), the latter tying a nearly 100-year old record. On the mound, Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia anchored a capable rotation that included four pitchers with at least 15 wins. The Mariners appeared primed for a lengthy playoff run at the conclusion of the regular season.
Yet the Mariners unraveled in October. Their bats went cold at the wrong time, and the pitching staff that squeezed by during the first 162 games suddenly couldn’t miss bats. The Cleveland Indians pushed them to the brink in the American League Division Series, forcing a winner-takes-all Game 5 with Moyer on the mound. The series previewed Seattle’s struggles against the eventual league-champion New York Yankees, who, if not for a seven-run inning in Game 3, would have swept the Mariners in the AL Championship Series. The four-year old Arizona Diamondbacks went on to topple New York in the World Series, pushing the record-breaking Mariners to the footnotes of history.
Little has gone well for the Mariners since their ouster from the 2001 playoffs. In the 14 full seasons since, the team has finished with a winning record just five times, never making the playoffs. Three quarters of Seattle’s core All-Star foursome left for other clubs, while Martinez hung up his cleats at the end of the 2004 season. The 2016 incarnation of the Mariners has perhaps the best chance of ending the postseason drought, entering Monday two games out of an AL Wild Card spot with a 36-33 record.
NHL: 1970-71 Boston Bruins
Fresh off winning a Stanley Cup the previous season, the Bruins had all the components of an all-time great champion. Hall of Famers Phil Esposito and John Bucyk led the front line, with all-time great defenseman Bobby Orr working behind them. Gerry Cheevers and Eddie Johnston formed an impressive tandem in goal. The team’s new coach, Tom Johnson, came with Hall of Fame credentials of his own from his playing career. From a talent standpoint, Boston possessed all the components needed for a historic year.
And during the regular season, the Bruins appears on track for exactly that. Esposito amassed a then-record 76 goals while Orr racked up 102 assists. Cheevers and Johnston allowed just 207 goals, the third fewest in the league. The first-time coach held up his end, guiding the team to an NHL-best 57-14-7 record and a first-place finish.
The team’s fortunes quickly changed during the playoffs. In the opening round, the Montreal Canadiens broke through the Bruins’ defense, averaging four goals a game against the previously stout Cheevers and Johnston. On the other side of the ice, the once vaunted Boston attack grew highly inconsistent, scoring five goals one game and producing just a single score the next. After battling to a 3-2 series lead, the Bruins dropped the final two games, with Montreal bouncing the defending champs by a combined score of 12-5.
Though the Bruins fell prematurely in 1971, they rebounded nicely with a successful championship run victory in 1972. The wait for the next title proved longer, as Boston dropped five Stanley Cup Finals over the following four decades before winning it all again in 2011.
College football: 2002 Miami Hurricanes
The history of college football is littered with near-national champions who lost their final game of the season. However, arguably none came closer nor had more talent than the Hurricanes.
Willis McGahee, Andre Johnson and Sean Taylor headlined a roster that included an astonishing 12 future NFL first-round picks. That talent allowed for two-time Heisman Trophy finalist Ken Dorsey to operate one of the most potent offenses in the nation.
A preseason No. 1 after an undefeated national championship run in 2001, Miami averaged 40.8 points per game in 2002, trailing only Kansas State among major conference teams. On defense, the team allowed just 19.1 points per game. The Hurricanes held tightly onto their top ranking throughout the year, heading into the national title game as the heavy favorites over Ohio State.
But a strong finish to the first half gave Ohio State a lead, and Miami forced overtime on a field goal with three seconds left. In OT, Dorsey connected with tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. for a touchdown on the opening possession. On the subsequent Ohio State drive, the Hurricanes appeared to hold on four downs to win the title before a highly debatable pass-interference call gave the Buckeyes a second chance.
Ohio State quarterback Craig Krenzel went on to score shortly thereafter, setting up a second overtime. Miami could not escape the second bonus period, as Maurice Clarett’s touchdown run put the Buckeyes on top for good, sealing the national championship.
College basketball: 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats
In the one-and-done era of college basketball, no coach has better mastered the art of recruiting than Kentucky’s John Calipari. Since taking over the program in 2009, Calipari has produced 25 NBA draft picks, more than any other coach over that span. While amassing talent provides any number of advantages on the court, the considerable year-to-year turnover creates difficulties when building a championship contender. That roster shuffling helps explain how Kentucky could win the national title one year and miss the NCAA Tournament the next.
Yet even with those concerns, Calipari managed to assemble the perfect combination of upper and underclassmen to create the best roster of his coaching career.
Headlined by future No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns and buttressed by more-experienced players like Willie Cauley-Steins, the Wildcats produced an undefeated regular season. In doing so, they became just the third team since the 1970s to accomplish the feat. With seemingly all the firepower imaginable, Kentucky entered March as the presumptive favorite to cut down the nets in the tourney.
Kentucky showed few signs of trouble through the first three rounds. Calipari’s crew easily dispatched Hampton by 23 points in the round of 64, followed by a 13-point win over Cincinnati and a record-tying 39-point margin of victory over West Virginia.
Notre Dame provided a greater challenge in the regional finals. The Fighting Irish stuck around until the end, with Jerian Grant’s missed 3-pointer at the end of regulation proving the difference between Kentucky’s perfect year ending and advancing to the Final Four. Another close game emerged against Wisconsin, only this time the Wildcats fell behind late in the second half, never to recover.
Kentucky’s final 38-1 record in 2014-15 makes it arguably the most dominant team to fall short of the title.
