1985 New England Patriots

There was a prelude to Super XX, which featured the wild-card Patriots versus Mike Ditka's Bears. In the second game of the season, the Pats traveled to Soldier Field only to get handled, 20-7, by Chicago, scoring a meaningless fourth quarter touchdown to avoid getting shutout. The Pats troubles continued during the following weeks as they lost two out of three of their next games, starting the season 2-3. But, after week 5, they turned it around, and there was some actual hope for New England, winners of 12 of their last 14 games, going into Super XX.

Make that fleeting hope. The Patriots weren't just handled in their second meeting with da' Bears; they were tortured, mawled and massacred. It was quickly apparent that the Patriots offense was completely impotent against a defense starring Richard Dent, "Refrigerator" Perry and Mike Singletary. Out of 21 first half plays only four went for positive yards, as the Pats accrued -19 total yards. The second half didn't get much better. The New England offense looked equally incompetent, and Chicago matched its first half total with 23 more points in the second half, including a one-yard insult-to-injury TD run by the Fridge.