Why have Super Bowls been so much closer in the last 10 years?

Question

I am 27 and when I was a kid it was often blow out wins by the NFC teams (often 49ers or Cowboys). How is it that they have become more competitive?

Answer 1

Talent of the teams are are more in line with each other.....

Answer 2

Free agency and salary cap. The SBs in the 70s were close because defense dominated so offenses played ridiculously close to the vest to keep games close. In the 80s, high flying offenses meant that SBs could get seriously carried away. And juggernauts like the Redskins, 49ers, Giants and kept star studded rosters together for a long time. When these juggernauts met weak-sister team like the Broncos or Patriots in the SB, it was a slaughterfest.



But the salary cap and free agency hit in the early 90s. You can see the extreme blowouts becoming rarer and rarer to the point of non-existence afterwards. Off the top of my head the last truly ridiculous blowout was the 1994 49er win. The last moderate blowout was when Tampa took Oakland apart. I might be forgetting one somewhere.



The cap and UFA means that juggernauts can't stay together. Even the Patriots who have been good for so long are actually rebuilt on an almost yearly basis. This reduces continuity and makes it harder to dominate (though they certainly had it going in the first 3/4ths of the 2007 season). The talent is more spread out and the lack of continuity makes games more competitive.

Answer 3

It's been longer than that. I am 37 and the 80s were even worse than the 90s for blowout Super Bowls. It's a combination of factors.

1) Better preparation. There's so much better information on players, schemes, and coaches nowadays that a team would be hard-pressed to come into a super bowl without being prepared.

2)Free agency. Back in the day, team gets good and keeps its players until it decides to get rid of them. Players had little power/control over their situations, so teams could stash good players on their bench/practice squad. Nowadays, a team gets good and if they aren't smart, they can't lock up their mediocre/role players typically. It forces them to constantly swap out parts. Less continuity + free agency = no true dynasties. Yes the Patriots and Ravens and Steelers keep winning, but they are also constantly swapping out parts around a few stalwarts.

3) Randomness. Since the gap between the most talented playoff teams and the next level has narrowed, the 1-and-done format of the playoffs leads to a greater chance of the 'morally' best teams getting upset. It's not a best-of-7.



There's probably more reasons. That's off the top of my head.

Answer 4

The game has developed a lot in the way of energy.

In my opinion back then it was you are losing give up. Now I think that the impacting inspirational players/ coaches get involved and tell them not to give up, then a boost of energy is gained and its a whole new game.

Answer 5

Each team has figured out what the other team likes to do on offense and defense.

Answer 6

Who knows, but its a lot better this way. Who wants to see a blowout superbowl?

Answer 7

Parity.