The Buffalo Bills were trailing the New York Giants by one point with 8 seconds left in the Super Bowl. They decided to bring on Scott Norwood to attempt a 47-yard field goal to take the lead and ultimately win the game. However the kick sailed wide right, giving the dub to Bill Parcell and his star studded Giants team. In the next three years, the Bills went on to make the Super Bowl each time, but lose in miserable fashion each time. We now look back at the 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 Buffalo Bills consecutive Super Bowl losses as one of the most embarrassing stretches in sports history.

But What if the Kick Was Good?

Well the first thing that would happen of course is that the Buffalo Bills would be crowned Super Bowl champs. Scott Norwood would be known as a hero to the city. On the other side, the Giants, and particularly their quarterback Phil Simms, would be in dismay. Simms, after having quite the lackluster season, would retire a couple years earlier than he would have if the team had won, leaving the Giants without a man at the quarterback spot.

The 1991 NFL Draft

In the original 1991 NFL Draft, the Bills had the 26th pick while the Giants had the 27th, but due to the fact that the Bills won the Super Bowl, these two picks will be swapped. The change of picks doesn’t make a huge difference in the draft, but the Giants’ need for a new quarterback does. With the 16th pick of the draft, the Seattle Seahawks will select the first quarterback chosen, Dan McGwire. The Los Angeles Raiders chose the second quarterback available in the draft, Todd Marinovich, with the 24th pick of the draft. This left the Giants to take the next best quarterback available on the board. And who this quarterback may be you ask? Well the third quarterback chosen of the 1991 draft, that the Giants will get with the 26th pick, is Brett Favre, who was originally taken by the Atlanta Falcons with the 33rd pick! The Falcons went on to pick up Browning Nagle with their pick, who was originally picked by the New York Jets one pick later, whose director of play personnel Ron Wolf also really wanted Brett Favre. If you don’t know who Browning Nagle is, you’re not alone. Google him if you want, but all you have to know is that he wasn’t very good. The Jets, who also were in need of some help on defense, pick up Mo Lewis, a linebacker from Georgia, who goes on to have a pretty good Pro Bowl career.

The 1991 NFL Season

At the beginning of the year, the Bills are the early front runners to make the Super Bowl. These predictions turn out to be correct as they go 13-3 and go all the way to the Super Bowl to face the Washington Redskins. But instead of losing to the mighty Redskins, they ride their wave of confidence to another Super Bowl victory, making it two in a row. The Giants also have a very solid year, going 10-6 but losing in the Wild Card game of the playoffs behind their Rookie of the Year quarterback Brett Favre.

The 1992 NFL Offseason

After coming off of a horrible season, Ron Wolf decides to leave the Jets and go to the Packers, while on the Packers, Wolf tried his hardest to get Favre from the Giants. But instead of Favre playing backup quarterback like he did with the Falcons, he started for the Giants, which showed how much they depended on him. Therefore the Giants decided to keep Favre and not trade him to Wolf and the Packers. So instead of having Favre as their starting quarterback, the Packers had Don Majkowski, who actually did have a solid career before Favre took his starting spot.

The 1992 NFL Season

The Giants and their phenom quarterback and the Bills and their solid team of veterans both had very good seasons. The Bills went 11-5 and squeezed in with the wild card spot while the Giants went 12-4 and won their division over the Cowboys, since they had beaten them twice that season. So the team that originally won the Super Bowl in 1992 didn’t even make the playoffs! Everyone was hoping for a Giants-Bills Super Bowl rematch, The Bills sailed through the playoffs to make it to the championship, but the road for the Giants was much harder. They met up with the San Francisco 49ers and their quarterback Steve Young, prodigy of the great Joe Montana. It was a battle of the two MVP favorites, and in the end the Giants came through with the win after a touchdown pass from Brett Favre thrown to Ed McCaffrey in the final seconds. The dream Super Bowl was set up. The Bills up against the Giants. Although the Bills were coming off two consecutive Super Bowl wins, Brett Favre and his Giants conquered all odds and won the Super Bowl in dominating fashion, bringing the trophy back to the Meadowlands.

Let’s Speed Things Up

For the next decade or so, no huge changes in the drafts or trades occur, but the powerhouse teams in the NFL do. Instead of the best teams in the league by 2004 being the Patriots, Steelers and Colts, the teams that nobody ever wants to play are the Giants, Bills and the Rams. Now we’ve already went over the Giants and Bills, but why are the Rams on top of the league? The answer to this is “Jeremy Shockey”. We now all know that the Giants took Shockey with the 14th pick of the 2002 Draft, but because Brett Favre led his team to an amazing season almost every year, the Giants moved way down and ended up with a much later pick. On the other hand, the Saint Louis Rams were coming off of a disappointing  Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. The team thought that Kurt Warner needed some more targets to get their team back to a super bowl caliber. So they set their eyes on the big tight end from Miami. The Rams traded up to get Shockey, and the dynamic trio of Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and the newly acquired Jeremy Shockey dominated the league. In the 2002 season the Rams defeated the Raiders in the Super Bowl and went on to beat the Patriots next year in a thrilling rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI. After that win, the Rams had gotten three rings in the last four seasons, establishing the franchise as one of the best ever.

The 2004 NFL Draft

The 2004 draft class is argued to be the best ever. It consisted of many big names such as Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Larry Fitzgerald, Sean Taylor, DeAngelo Hall, Vince Wilfork and many others. In the original draft, the Chargers picked Eli Manning with the first pick of the draft, the Giants picked Philip Rivers with the fourth pick of the draft and the Steelers picked Ben Roethlisberger with the eleventh pick. But since the Giants were coming off an impressive 12-4 season and a loss in the divisional round of the playoffs to their division rival the Eagles, who also had a very impressive season being led by their quarterback Donovan McNabb, there was no way they could have gotten the fourth pick. The team that got the pick instead of them were the Washington Redskins, who originally chose Sean Taylor with the fifth pick. At the time the Redskins quarterback position needed to be worked on. The current starter Patrick Ramsey didn’t prove much during his two years of playing time, and so after the Chargers take Eli Manning with their first pick, the Redskins draft Big Ben with the fourth pick! Why Ben Roethlisberger instead of Philip Rivers you ask? Well most teams actually had Roethlisberger ranked as the number two quarterback in the draft, ahead of Rivers and behind Manning, so it would make much more sense for the team to pick Roethlisberger. In fact, the only reason the Giants actually did pick Philip Rivers was just to deal him to San Diego to get Manning. So finally after the Chargers and Redskins pick, the Steelers are up, and they take Philip Rivers.

The Super Bowl Winners 

Now that the whole entire field is set, and all changes that occurred due to Scott Norwood’s kick have already happened, we will now see how different each Super Bowl will be, from Super Bowl XXXIX to Super Bowl LI, and why the teams that won had came out on top.

Super Bowl XXXIX

Original Outcome: New England Patriots over Philadelphia Eagles

New Outcome: New England Patriots over Green Bay Packers

Why: With Aaron Rodgers having an extra year of experience under his belt because he didn’t have to sit behind Favre, the Packers are able to power through the Vikings, Eagles and then Rams in the NFC Championship game, but ultimately lose to Brady’s Patriots. This is a very important win for Brady becaused he narrowly avoided losing two consecutive Super Bowls, which nobody wants to do.

Super Bowl XL

Original Outcome: Pittsburgh Steelers over Seattle Seahawks

New Outcome: Washington Redskins over Pittsburgh Steelers

Why: The Redskins originally lost in the NFC Championship to Seattle, but Ben Roethlisberger helped them power over the Seahawks and then pummel Philip River’s Steelers in the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl XLI

Original Outcome: Indianapolis Colts over Chicago Bears

New Outcome: Indianapolis Colts over St. Louis Rams

Why: The Giants made an impressive playoff run, making it all the way to the Championship game but the greatest show on turf was too much for them to handle. In the end Peyton Manning picks up the Super Bowl win, giving him his first ring in his career. After this game Faulk decides to call it a career and retire, with an impressive three rings and Warner decides to go to the Cardinals, who had been eyeing him forever. But Warner decided to stay in St. Louis until then to ride out the wave of success. This left a lonely Jeremy Shockey and the St. Louis Rams became the losing prone team that we know today.

Super Bowl XLII

Original Outcome: New York Giants over New England Patriots

New Outcome: San Diego Chargers over New York Giants

Why: Going into the postseason, every football fan knew who would win the Super Bowl. The future champions would of course be the undefeated Patriots. Tom Brady could beat anyone right? Wrong. Brady definitely a talented quarterback, but in the AFC Championship game he fell to his archnemesis, Eli Manning! Eli then went on to defeat Brett Favre and the Giants in the Super Bowl in a thriller.

Super Bowl XLIII

Original Outcome: Pittsburgh Steelers over Arizona Cardinals

New Outcome: Arizona Cardinals over Pittsburgh Steelers

Why: All Kurt Warner wanted was just one more ring before he retired, getting him four total and putting him in the discussion of the best ever. Well Warner did just that. After a mediocre performance from Philip Rivers, the Cards came on top after Rivers threw the potential game-winning touchdown pass right over the head of Santonio Holmes and out of the back of the endzone.

Super Bowl XLIV

Original Outcome: New Orleans Saints over Indianapolis Colts

New Outcome: New Orleans Saints over San Diego Chargers

Why: Everybody was looking forward to see Eli Manning, who used to sit behind Drew Brees, square off against him in the Super Bowl. But the Saint courage was just too much for him to handle, as Brees went on to get his first Super Bowl victory.

Super Bowl XLV

Original Outcome: Green Bay Packers over Pittsburgh Steelers

New Outcome: Same

Why: Rodgers, although winning two MVP’s already, was yet to win a Super Bowl. He led his team to a dominating win, and also led Philip Rivers to a very embarrassing Super Bowl record of 0-3. After the game, the Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and company had had enough of Rivers, and decided to release him. So next year in the draft after failing to get the first pick from the Panthers the Steelers traded way up to get the eighth pick from the Titans and draft Jake Locker, while the Titans, who now had the second to last pick in the first round, drafted Andy Dalton.

Super Bowl XLVI

Original Outcome: New York Giants over New England Patriots

New Outcome: New York Giants over San Diego Chargers

Why: After Eli’s Chargers strikes again, defeating the Pats in the AFC Championship game, he squares up with the Giants and their quickly aging quarterback Brett Favre, who is on the brink of retirement and just trying to go out with a bang. The rematch of Super Bowl XLII proves to be just as exciting as the first one, as the Giants sneak out with the win and Favre retires, after a great career spent completely with the Giants. In the offseason, New York signs the hottest available quarterback, Philip Rivers.

Super Bowl XLVII

Original Outcome: Baltimore Ravens over San Francisco 49ers

New Outcome: Washington Redskins over Baltimore Ravens

Why: After a long wait to make it back to the Super Bowl, Big Ben finally gets there after Kaepernick fumbles at the one yard line with three seconds left on the clock in the NFC championship game. In the first half of the Super Bowl, the Ravens, led by Joe Flacco, stayed on top for most of the time but after the blackout the Redskins went on a scoring fury to cap off an impressive comeback and give Roethlisberger his second Super Bowl win. After the playoffs, the 49ers decided to trade Kaepernick to the Chiefs and give back the starting job to Alex Smith.

Super Bowl XLVIII

Original Outcome: Seattle Seahawks over Denver Broncos

New Outcome: Same

Why: Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch absolutely mowed down the feeble Peyton Manning to get the Super Bowl victory. Many speculated that Peyton was ready to retire, but he wasn’t going to leave until he had another Super Bowl victory under his belt.

Super Bowl XLIX

Original Outcome: New England Patriots over Seattle Seahawks

New Outcome: Same

Why: Brady proves himself to be one of the best ever, picking up his third ring giving him the fourth most for any quarterback ever, just behind Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Kurt Warner.

Super Bowl L

Original Outcome: Denver Broncos over Carolina Panthers

New Outcome: Same

Why: Peyton Manning gets his second Super Bowl ring just like he wanted, and he retires happily. The quarterback position in Denver is now open after Brock Osweiler goes to the Texans, so the Broncos draft Paxton Lynch, hoping that he can be the future of the team.

Super Bowl LI

Original Outcome: New England Patriots over Atlanta Falcons

New Outcome: Same

Why: Both the Chargers in the divisional round, led by Eli Manning, and the Jets, led by second year quarterback Marcus Mariota, who the Titans passed up on after getting Andy Dalton in the 2011 draft, posed threats to Tom Brady and the Patriots, but he still got through them and went on to make an insane comeback after being down 28-3, and winning it in overtime to give him four rings.

That’s All!

It’s pretty amazing to think that a single field goal could’ve changed the whole entire landscape of the NFL, even over 25 years later. Some teams benefited from the changes, while others did not. Record holders changed, dynasties changed, drafts changed and fans changed. To conclude, it is always fun to be imaginative and just think “what if”, because the events that could have happened might be pretty crazy.

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