Sixth seeds that have won the Super Bowl

The Buffalo Bills are heading into the playoffs for the first time since 1999. The good news is they’re in the playoffs for the first time this millennium. The bad news is that historically they probably won’t do much more than that.

Since 1990 when the NFL expanded it’s playoff format to include six teams from each conference, only two six seeds have gone on to win the Super Bowl. The 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers and 2010 Green Bay Packers won it all from the low spot on the totem poll. Both of those teams had franchise quarterbacks leading the way for them in those years. To make the probability even worse, only eight teams in the history of the NFL have ever won the Super Bowl from the Wild Card seeds in the playoffs.

One of the biggest factors standing in the Bills way from making it to the Super Bowl is the road games. Road games are difficult to win in the NFL, but even harder in the NFL Playoffs and three in a row is tricky. Buffalo is lucky to have a fan base that travels so well and a first round game in a city that historically doesn’t support their team all too well.