When friends and family offer the sympathetic phrases “there’s always next year” or “they’ll be back,” I often meet it with a head shake. The fact of the matter is it’s hard to lose a Super Bowl and rebound quickly.
Outside of the Patriots’ three straight appearances from LII to LIV, there hasn’t been a Super Bowl loser that has made it back to the big game the following season since the early 90’s Bills, who strung together a historic four straight Super Bowl defeats. The grueling NFL schedule is unkind in general, and the pressures of postseason failure can weigh deeply on entire franchises the following season (see: Philadelphia 2023).