# Greatest team to get the biggest ass-kicking **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 8, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390 "2019-01-08T04:29:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/41 "2019-01-09T17:50:17Z")
Wasn’t there an American football team which won every game but the SuperBowl? That must have hurt. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/42 "2019-01-09T17:54:29Z")
New England Patriots, 2007. The Super Bowl loss was on a fluke play (a Giants receiver, David Tyree, caught a touchdown with his _helmet_). Yes, it hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/43 "2019-01-09T17:57:02Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Wasn’t there an American football team which won every game but the SuperBowl? That must have hurt. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > New England Patriots, 2007. The Super Bowl loss was on a fluke play (a Giants receiver, David Tyree, caught a touchdown with his _helmet_). Yes, it hurt. Yes but the OP isn’t just asking about upsets; he’s asking about great teams getting unexpectedly crushed in blowouts. The Giants only squeaked by the Patriots 17-14. If the Giants had won 77-14, that would have fit more what the OP is about. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/44 "2019-01-09T19:06:26Z")
1990 Reds beat the (heavily favored) A’s 4-0 in a World Series sweep ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/45 "2019-01-09T19:12:09Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > New England Patriots, 2007. The Super Bowl loss was on a fluke play (a Giants receiver, David Tyree, caught a touchdown with his _helmet_). Yes, it hurt. Nitpick: the pass that Tyree caught was a 32-yard gain on a fourth-and-long during the game-winning drive. The TD pass was caught by Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds to play. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/46 "2019-01-09T19:27:01Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Nitpick: the pass that Tyree caught was a 32-yard gain on a fourth-and-long during the game-winning drive. The TD pass was caught by Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds to play. It was a 3rd-and-5. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/47 "2019-01-09T20:55:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Yes but the OP isn’t just asking about upsets; he’s asking about great teams getting unexpectedly crushed in blowouts. Okay then, the 1940 NFL championship game. The great Washington Redskins team got destroyed by the Chicago Bears 73-0. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/48 "2019-01-09T21:00:42Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Yes, Slingin’ Sammy Baugh and his Redskins got totally waxed. I had a phone conversation with Sam Baugh back in the 1990s. Nice guy. He later autographed my NFL book that I sent to him. And then in 2016 on a road trip with my mom from CS to TX, I visited his grave, there in the cemetery just outside of Rotan TX. > > Yes, 73-0 is a true shellacking. I remember reading a story about that game as a kid. Apparently, the Redskins had a chance to score early in the game and didn’t. Someone asked Baugh what would have been different if they had scored there. He replied “the final score would have been 73-7”. Don’t know if it is true, but I hope it is. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/49 "2019-01-09T21:58:51Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > It was a 3rd-and-5. You are correct. My mistake. Manning escaped a sack (which would have made it 4th and long) and made the pass to Tyree. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/50 "2019-01-09T22:50:07Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I remember reading a story about that game as a kid. Apparently, the Redskins had a chance to score early in the game and didn’t. Someone asked Baugh what would have been different if they had scored there. He replied “the final score would have been 73-7”. > > Don’t know if it is true, but I hope it is. I’ve heard that story also. Hey, maybe you’re the one I heard it from! 😃 It sounds like something Baugh would have said. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/51 "2019-01-09T23:09:09Z")
Reigning world _and_ European Champion Spain getting destroyed 1-5 by Holland in the 2014 opening round. They even had a a 1-0 lead at first. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/52 "2019-01-09T23:16:33Z")
Leaving aside the Don Denkinger issue, the 11-0 beat-down that the Royals gave the 101-game-winning (best in all of baseball) Cardinals in the 7th game of the 1985 World Series should be somewhere on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/53 "2019-01-09T23:36:21Z")
:In 1995 in the Australian Football League, Carlton were nigh on unbeatable. They cruised through the season, eventually winning the grand final easily by 10+ goals. Probably the best-ever team in my lifetime - cetainly in the discussion. However - in Rounds 7 & 8 of that year, they played two very lowly teams, and lost both games - by 12 and 10 goals respectively. Absolutely slaughtered. The two sides that beat them finished 12th and 14th (out of 16) at the end of the season. The legend goes, the Carlton players saw an opportunity (or two) to get hold of a little more folding cash, and so entered into ‘arrangements’ with various bookmakers. Of course, not true:cool:🆒🆒 ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/54 "2019-01-09T23:39:27Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Other examples from baseball would include the 1914 World Series, in which the heavily favored Philadelphia Athletics lost in four straight games to the Boston Braves (who had been in last place before catching fire in mid-season). Some have asserted that there may have been “external factors” (think Pete Rose) involved in the result. > > Another example was the 1954 Cleveland Indians’ World Series loss to the New York Giants. The Indians, who’d set a National League record with 111 wins, fell in four straight. In the mid-1980s, a friend of mine who knew a long-time maintenance guy at the Indians’ stadium said that the team had never really recovered from that loss. In fact, the maintenance guy told him, they’d never really recovered from"that catch", Willie Mays’ legendary catch (and throw) off Vic Wertz in the first game, which stopped an 8th-inning Indians rally and set the stage for the rest of the series. Since we’re talking World Series, let’s not forget the defending world series champion Oakland Athletics getting swept by the Cincinnati Reds in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/55 "2019-01-09T23:40:30Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Leaving aside the Don Denkinger issue, the 11-0 beat-down that the Royals gave the 101-game-winning (best in all of baseball) Cardinals in the 7th game of the 1985 World Series should be somewhere on the list. Yeah, but that was 1-game. Baseball’s a best 4 of 7 and the Cardinals were pretty much there with the Royals until that night. As a Cardinals fan, the 2004 World Series beat-down by Boston was much harder to take, far more embarrassing. The only thing embarrassing about losing to KC was the way the team came unglued in the middle innings with Andujar and Herzog getting ejected. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/56 "2019-01-09T23:50:38Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > The 1989 Denver Broncos won 10 of their first 12 games before finishing the season at 11-5. They had gone to two recent Super Bowls, for the 1986 and 1987 seasons. Although they lost both Super Bowls (39-20 to the NY Giants in Super Bowl XXI, and 42-10 to the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII — anybody else remember QB Doug Williams’ MVP performance in that one? 4 TD passes in the 2nd quarter). Although they lost both, the Broncos had a formidable team and were returning to their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 seasons. And Denver QB John Elway’s performance in the AFC Championship Game was widely considered his best ever. > > But the San Francisco 49ers had a strong team that year and were favored to win Super Bowl XXIV. > > The 49ers defeated the Broncos by the score of 55–10, winning their second consecutive Super Bowl, and tying the Pittsburgh Steelers with four Super Bowl victories. The game remains the most lopsided game in Super Bowl history. San Francisco’s 55 points were the most ever scored by one team, and their 45-point margin of victory was the largest ever. The 49ers are also the only team to score at least eight touchdowns in a Super Bowl and at least two touchdowns in each quarter — the only mistake was Mike Cofer’s missed extra point attempt. > > 55-10! I also remember the Super Bowl cover’s title the week of the Super Bowl. It had a picture of John Elway with the title “We’ll show up.” Everyone knew the Broncos were dead meat; it was just a matter of how badly they would be beaten. Most had the 49ers winning by a touchdown or two, but it was far worse. I remember how the Broncos were confident that Atwater and others would be able to defend the middle deep ball. They got torched again, and again, and again…by the middle deep ball. Sometimes it was Rice, sometimes it was Taylor. Occasionally, Montana mixed it up with Brent Jones and Roger Craig to keep the linebackers near the line of scrimmage. God what a massacre that was. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/57 "2019-01-09T23:51:40Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > On the other hand, the Skins were 3 point underdogs in Super Bowl XXII, and whomped the Broncos, 42-10. I still remember “the quarter” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/58 "2019-01-10T00:02:38Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > 1990 Reds beat the (heavily favored) A’s 4-0 in a World Series sweep This was the one I thought of - two of the games were very close, though - 2-1 in the final game and 5-4 in extra innings for game 2. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/59 "2019-01-10T00:50:48Z")
Going back to Super Bowl 18 and the CFP Championship 2019, there are just so many parallels. Another example: Alabama goes for a fake field goal with the game still somewhat within reach, only to have it backfire massively. Very reminiscent of the Redskins deciding to throw a screen pass in the direction of Joe Washington with the game still only 14-3, promptly intercepted by Jack Squirek who then made it 21-3. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390/60 "2019-01-10T01:01:04Z")
asahi: > [@](#): > > Yeah, but that was 1-game. Baseball’s a best 4 of 7 and the Cardinals were pretty much there with the Royals until that night. Sure, but I didn’t see that the OP specified a championship. From the OP, I figured a one-game ass-kicking qualified. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-team-to-get-the-biggest-ass-kicking/827390.md?page=4)