Three consecutive championships, possible?
It has been forty-eight years since the birth of the Super Bowl. A total of seven teams have defended the Super Bowl nine times, including the Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers twice, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, and New Jersey. England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers twice.
But so far, no team has been able to complete three consecutive championships!
In fact, let alone three consecutive championships, even the feat of reaching the Super Bowl for three consecutive years has only been accomplished by two teams in history. The first one was the Miami Dolphins in the 1971, 1972 and 1973 seasons. But the team lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the 1971 season; the second team was the Buffalo Bills from the 1990 to 1993 seasons, reaching the Super Bowl for four consecutive seasons but losing all four times in a row.
In other words, the only team that was ever so close to winning three consecutive championships was the Miami Dolphins. But in reality, in the Super Bowl on January 16, 1972, the Miami Dolphins lost to the Dallas Cowboys with a score of 3:24. , there was almost no performance and no chance.
This is all!
In the long history, there have been two teams that have achieved three consecutive championships in four years. One is the Dallas Cowboys from the 1992 season to the 1995 season. However, in the 1994 season, the San Francisco 49ers shattered the Dallas Cowboys' three consecutive championships. Dream; the other team is the New England Patriots from the 2001 season to the 2004 season. The New England Patriots failed to enter the playoffs in the 2002 season, and lost to the Denver Broncos in the 2005 season.
Fate is really interesting, isn't it? The two teams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos, successively attacked the feats of two three-championship teams in four years to achieve dynasty greatness, and then wrote miracles and history on this year's Super Bowl stage, with a score of "54:57", which should be It is an insurmountable peak.
So, do the San Francisco 49ers have a chance to break the curse and complete the first three consecutive championships in history?
In the 2011 season, they failed in the National League finals; in the 2012 season, they reached the Super Bowl; in the 2013 season, they defended the championship; in the 2014 season, what will be the outcome?
Exactly ten seasons after the New England Patriots missed three consecutive championships, the San Francisco 49ers once again had a good opportunity to challenge for three consecutive championships - it was now more than just a theoretical possibility. When the San Francisco 49ers won the playoffs When it showed its unparalleled dominance in the four games of the 2018-19 season, the theory may have become the focus of heated discussion now. It is conceivable that after the new season kicks off, the entire league will definitely pay attention.
The defending season is full of difficulties and dangers, so what will happen in the second defending season - or more accurately, the third consecutive championship season?
The official channel of NFL TV slightly revealed the signal of "three consecutive championships" through the video production of the top 100 stars, which then triggered a heated discussion throughout the league!
The famous Madden game was the first to express "support". The company officially launched "Madden 15 (Madden-15)", and the cover character is none other than San Francisco 49ers No. 14 Lu Ke!
As the most popular live football game in the United States, there is no doubt about the status and value of Madden. Madden updates a version every year and maintains a tradition. Each new version of the game will choose a new cover character, and each new version of the game will have a new cover character. Everyone who can appear on the cover is the league's top popular superstar!
But what makes people laugh or cry is that the "Madden Curse" is a lingering anecdote in the league: that is, every player who appears on the cover of Madden may suffer a sharp decline in performance in the new season, and may even suffer Injuries that directly end the season are like Sun Wukong's curse.
The cover of "Madden 2004" chose Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, but he suffered a serious injury in the preseason and missed eleven games of the season. After returning in the thirteenth week of the regular season, his performance was terrible. , only completed four touchdowns and three interceptions in four games.
This is also known as the origin of the "Madden Curse".
The cover star of "Madden 06" is Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. After four wins and five losses, he was immediately reimbursed for the season and turned in the worst season of his career.
The cover of "Madden 07" was taken by Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander. He suffered two serious injuries throughout the season and almost ended his career.
And so on and so on. In just fifteen years since it began to choose real players as the cover in 1998, "Madden" has created many "brilliant" achievements. Even the game company itself ridiculed: They should make A movie called "The Madden Curse"; but not all players are troubled by this curse. Compared with the regular season code king's curse, its power seems to work sometimes.
"Madden 11" selected New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and performed very well. He led the regular season in passing yards, won 11 games and lost five losses, and was successfully selected to the Pro Bowl, but it is not certain whether he is " "The curse effect", this season Brees has passed a career-high 22 interceptions, which has not been broken so far.
"Madden 2005" is when Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis had the most dominant season in the league. All his statistics were red, and he was selected to the All-American first team and the Pro Bowl. It is still one of his most outstanding seasons to this day. .
"Madden 13" selected Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson. As a result, Calvin made the so-called curse a joke and became the first wide receiver in the history of the league to reach 2,000 yards receiving in a single season. In the end, In the voting for the top 100 superstars, Calvin ranked third behind the two top quarterbacks.
Now, it's Lu Ke's turn.
Putting aside the "Madden Curse", Madden chose Lu Ke as the cover. This is a drastic, pioneering and innovative move. This not only makes Lu Ke the first Chinese player to appear on the cover of Madden, but also one of the four players in the United States. For the first time in a major sports league, Lu Ke's unparalleled appeal in the NFL was felt head-on. All discrimination and prejudice were completely shattered, truly declaring Lu Ke's elite status.
After Madden announced the cover character, it immediately sparked a lot of discussion on social networks. Obviously, not every fan was happy to see such a result.
"God bless Bambi, I feel like a three-peat is on the line now."
"No, no, no, don't! I was looking forward to watching San Francisco win three consecutive championships, but now it's over."
"Bambi wants to report the game? Madden has already predicted it."
"Bambi came home with his second Super Bowl trophy and was just stunned."
"Bad news, the generals in San Francisco said: No appointment, no appointment, we will not make an appointment."
"Congratulations! Bambi has officially unlocked the 'Spell Package' service, and the 2014 season is in danger."
“Am I the only one who thinks the Bambi cover is really cool?”
"The last time Maddon chose a quarterback was Drew Brees in 2011, right? I'm looking forward to it. I wonder if Bambi will be affected by the curse this time."
"I was injured once last season, will it continue this season?"
"Looking forward to it, very much looking forward to it! I will buy it as soon as it is released, but... the nine people shouldn't be able to laugh, right?"
"The Seattle Seahawks smiled when they saw the Madden cover, and so did Richard Sherman."
…
The inspiration for the last topic comes from the bitter rivalry in the National League West, and it also comes from the final candidates for Madden’s cover—among the game company’s cover candidates, the top three players are Lu Ke and Richard Xie Mann and Peyton Manning, and then Lu Ke successfully won and appeared on the cover.
For Seattle Seahawks fans, Sherman has successfully escaped the "Madden Curse", which is undoubtedly a good thing.
Whether it’s a good thing or a curse, it can be seen from the choice of cover characters of Madden Games that they are very optimistic about Lu Ke’s three consecutive championships. This young quarterback has proven himself through his outstanding performance in the past three seasons. His strength and ability have also proven his ambition to be a champion. So, what reason is there not to challenge for three consecutive championships?
From defending the Super Bowl to winning the Super Bowl MVP, from the selection of the top 100 stars to the cover of Madden games, Lu Ke's super popularity can be felt throughout the league, inside and outside. At this time, let's look back at the Pro Bowl week. Pepsi-Cola stated that everyone could not help but marvel at Indra Lui's determination and wisdom.
Once upon a time, Roger Goodell was unremittingly and continuously promoting Lu Ke, determined to make Lu Ke a signature of the NFL, looking forward to opening up the global market outside of North America, so that the market value of the NFL can also be reflected on the players. , thereby creating more business benefits.
Everyone knows that compared to basketball and football, there are far too many players in football, which also means that the market value is allocated to those top players. The final maximum individual player value or the average player value is far away. It cannot be compared with basketball and football, let alone tennis, golf, boxing and other individual sports. To some extent, this also restricts the further promotion of rugby's commercial value.
According to the original pace, the NFL is developing and expanding in an orderly manner, and Goodell is always working hard. This is why he has received the support of most of the 32 team owners; and now, Goodell has found a breakthrough: Lu Ke! Perhaps Lu Ke's appeal in North America cannot be compared with that of Manning and Brady - after all, Chinese identity still has limitations; but in the global market, Chinese identity can be an advantage.
Not only for the Asian market, but also for other markets such as Europe, Oceania and South America, because Chinese represent cultural diversity, and it also means that young people from other lands can also participate. The NFL is just like the five major European football leagues and the NBA.
Goodell discovered Lu Ke's commercial value with a ruthless and sophisticated vision, and began to promote it unswervingly from the 2011 season. Throughout the process, burdened with doubts and challenges, exclusion and bad-mouthing, Goodell also I haven’t changed my mind, and now it’s finally time to harvest——
To be more precise, Lu Ke's performance far, far exceeded Goodell's imagination, both in terms of on-field performance and commercial value. Lech-Steinberg saw what Goodell did not see. He has truly become the number one player in the NFL today!
