Crazy NFL Streak Ends With Chargers Loss

A streak that began with the 2009 Super Bowl is officially over. For the past four years the team that has played Philadelphia in the Eagle's home opener has gone on to win the Super Bowl.It all started week 2 of the 2009 season when the New Orleans Saints went into Lincoln Financial Field and defeated the Eagles 48-22. The Saints went on to have a 13-3 season. This was the breakout season for a Saints team that until then really struggled. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it brought life and hope back into a city that had been just devastated. The Saints made it to the Super Bowl that year. They were dubbed the underdogs against Peyton Manning and The Indianapolis Colts. They earned the title with a 31-17 victory.

The next chapter in this crazy superstitious story book streak was week 1 of the 2010 season when The Green Bay Packers went into Lincoln Financial and beat the Eagles 27-20. This season for Green Bay was shaky. They were riddled with injuries including star tight end Jermichael Finley and their top running back Ryan Grant. The Chicago Bears were on a tear all season and many pegged them as the NFC Championship favorite. The playoffs for Green Bay seemed out of reach late in the season. So many things had to happen for Green Bay to even make it to the playoffs that year. Ironically enough, it was the Eagles that allowed Green Bay to get in. On December 19th, week 15, The Giants were beating the Eagles handily. They had a 31-10 lead with 8:17 left in the 4th quarter. 28 points later, including a punt return for a touchdown by the dangerous DeSean Jackson, the Eagles had the win and a lone position in first place for the NFC East. This win allowed Green Bay to earn that wildcard spot and even more ironic, Green Bay went on to beat Philadelphia in the wild card round of the playoffs. Charles Woodson, the star defensive corner at the time joked all post season that he couldn't wait to meet President Obama, a tradition for every Super Bowl winning team. He did indeed get to meet him after a victory over The Pittsburgh Steelers in the new Cowboys Stadium.

Another team who benefited from playing Philly in Philadelphia for the home opener was the 2011 New York Giants. You want to talk about a team that turned themselves around? After week 15 the Giants were 7-7 losing 5 out of their last 6 games. Things were so bad that Giants fans were calling for Tom Coughlin's head. From week 16 on, The Giants did not lose and upset the New England Patriots yet again as the second wild card team in two years to win the Super Bowl. That game at Lincoln Financial in week 3, the score was 29-16 in the Giants favor.

The last and final team in this strange streak is The Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore clinched the AFC North after week 16. They had one motivation going into the post season and that was to win one more Super Bowl ring for their star career linebacker Ray Lewis. That journey really began week 2 against Philadelphia with a 24-23 loss. Who would have thought that loss would have been the best gift ever? Despite the usual terrible play of Joe Flacco, he had a miraculous post season throwing some incredible passes, especially to Anquan Boldin, who is now a 49er. Even though a power outage in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome during Super Bowl XLVII almost ruined the momentum of the Ravens, they held on to win it with a score of 34-31.

So when the 2013 season schedule was released, many eyes went right to the Philadelphia Eagles' schedule and saw that The San Diego Chargers were destined for Super Bowl glory. Fast forward to week 17 of the season, much like the Packers in 2010 and Giants in 2011, several events had to occur for the Chargers to make the playoffs. Guess what? They did! The Ravens lost and so did Miami. With a crazy last minute field goal miss by The Kansas City Chief's kicker Ryan Succop, The Charger's won the game sneaking their way into the playoff. Suddenly eye brows were raised. Were the Chargers really going to keep this incredibly unique streak alive? Could they beat the Bengals and advance? The answer is yes. After an awful game from Andy Dalton and the incredible defensive stand of San Diego, they advanced. Late in the 4th quarter of last night's divisional game against the Denver Broncos it looked like San Diego would come up with a miraculous come back and a win. Unfortunately two first downs later, Denver up 7 points was able to take a knee and run out the clock. With that, this crazy NFL Super Bowl streak was over. What will be the next crazy streak? Could it be the last team to beat San Fran wins it? That's two years going. Will it be Seattle? We will see.

Let me know what other crazy NFL streaks there are in the comments below and I may read them on the air!