Count the shared AP MVP in 2003 between Peyton Manning and Steve McNair, and none of the last 17 AP MVPs have won a Super Bowl. That’s despite the fact that all 17 played on teams that made the playoffs, and often while playing for excellent teams. During that stretch:
- Three have played on teams that lost in the Wild Card round of the playoffs;
- Five have played on teams that lost in the Division round of the playoffs;
- Two have played on teams that lost in the AFC or NFC Championship Games; and
- A whopping seven AP MVPs since 2000 have lost in the Super Bowl.
This might be the part where we say that football is a team game, and one player can’t make the difference that it can in other sports. That might sound nice, except:
- In seven of the last 16 years, the AP MVP played on teams that made the Super Bowl. That makes it seem like one player is pretty important.
- Incredibly, six of those seven were favored in the Super Bowl! That’s the most amazing part of this streak: the 2001 Rams were favored by 14 points in the Super Bowl; the 2007 Patriots were favored by 12.5 points; the 2015 Panthers were favored by 5 points; the 2009 Colts were favored by 4.5 points; the 2002 Raiders were favored by 3.5 points; and the 2013 Broncos were favored by 2.5 points. Only the 2005 Seahawks had the AP MVP and were underdogs during this stretch.
- From 1993 to 1999, five of the eight Super Bowl champions had the AP MVP.
So maybe there is an AP MVP curse, in a similar way to the Madden curse. The table below shows how each AP MVP’s team has fared in the playoffs in each year:
As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments. Oh, and one other note: the Panthers loss in Super Bowl 50 meant another streak is still going. Ron Rivera was the AP Coach of the Year, but no AP Coach of the Year has won the Super Bowl that season since Bill Belichick in 2003.
