History highlights of the Big Game
The first ever Big Game took place in January of 1967. Back then it was a game between two teams in two completely different leagues and was billed as the “AFL-NFL World Championship Game”. It pitted the winner of the NFL season with the winner of the AFL season. There were two different football leagues! It wasn’t until the two leagues merged that we had the first NFL The Big Game which was January 1971.
Two historic franchises are tied for the most The Big Game wins ever. The New England Patriots—thanks in large part to coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady—and the Pittsburgh Steelers both have six The Big Game victories. The Pats have won recently, coming in 2018. The Steelers haven’t won since 2010. The Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, and New York Giants are next in the list of most The Big Game victories.
The Rams have underperformed this year and it’s looking likely they won’t even make the playoffs. But had they continued playing at the high level of last year, it’s possible we could’ve seen a Big Game rematch. That hasn’t happened since the 1992 and 1993 seasons, when the Cowboys and Bills matched up for two consecutive big games. The Bengals are sitting in a good position to get back to the Big Game. They are currently a top four seed and slated to host a playoff game. Playing in two straight big games has been a trend for some AFC teams recently. The Chiefs made the big game in 2019 and 2020, the Patriots were in three straight from 2016-2018, even Peyton Manning’s Broncos went to two big games in three years. Can the Bengals do it again this year?
