Worst team the DID win a championship

[Hat Boy]

I may be biased as a die-hard Ravens fan but didn't this so called terrible offense score 34 points in the Superbowl and have a young and healthy Jamal Lewis in the backfield?

BAL TD Duane Starks, 49 yd interception return (Matt Stover kick is good)

BAL TD Jermaine Lewis, 84 yd kickoff return (Matt Stover kick is good)

The offense only scored 20 points, but that is "lighting it up" for them.

[NJTank]

Some people have mentioned both the 97 and 03 Marlins in this thread. I get that neither team had gaudy numbers, but it's hard to say they were the worst to win a championship. One team was loaded with weapons/talent (1997), and in 2003 the team was loaded too...it's just the players were beginning to become all-stars at that point. Now they're stars for other teams.

I mean look at the 1992 Blue Jays. Nobody mentioned them, but:

Pos R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG

C Pat Borders 47 116 26 2 13 53 1 33 75 0.242 0.290 0.385

1B John Olerud 68 130 28 0 16 66 1 70 61 0.284 0.375 0.450

2B Roberto Alomar 105 177 27 8 8 76 49 87 52 0.310 0.405 0.427

SS Manuel Lee# 49 104 10 1 3 39 6 50 73 0.263 0.343 0.316

3B Kelly Gruber 42 102 16 3 11 43 7 26 72 0.229 0.275 0.352

LF C. Maldonado 64 133 25 4 20 66 2 59 112 0.272 0.357 0.462

CF Devon White# 98 159 26 7 17 60 37 47 133 0.248 0.303 0.390

RF Joe Carter 97 164 30 7 34 119 12 36 109 0.264 0.309 0.498

DH Dave Winfield 92 169 33 3 26 108 2 82 89 0.290 0.377 0.491

Only three starters on that team had decent batting averages.

Umm I think when a team repeats the next year then it cant be called the worst team to win a championship, and they had a great pitching staff that year.

[infrared41]

Granted, I have already mentioned a team in this thread but the more I think about it the more silly this thread becomes to me. If a team wins a championship they must be pretty good. Were the '88 Dodgers on paper or by their record the best team in baseball that season? No but they were the best when it counted the most. Same goes for the '06 Cardinals, '87 Twins, 2000 Ravens, and so on.

Every team we have mentioned here is wearing a ring. All the teams we think were better are not. Doesn't that pretty much sum it up?

[Sport]

I'll add one just to show I'm not just blatantly picking on rivals. The 1990 Cincinnati Reds. Yes, they swept the A's, and yes they won the division wire-to-wire, but those two things were pretty much accidents. Oakland and Pittsburgh played like poop in their series and nobody in the West really challenged all year. They had a pitching staff that all had great years with Jose Rijo, Tom Browning, and Jack Armstrong and their bullpen was stellar with Dibble, Randy Meyers and Norm Charlton. BUT, outside of Bary Larkin and Eric Davis they were outfitted with some pretty solid no-namers. They were just consistently above-average, but they would get crushed by some of the world series champions that came later.

[Jigga]

I knew someone was going to say the Ravens offense put up 34 points, blah, blah, blah...no they didn't. Go check how they scored. Do offenses get credit for a Pick 6 and a kick return?

They CLEARLY deserved to win that game. I'm not taking that from them. I just think they are one of the worst teams to win a major championship. I'm entitled to my opinion...and you're just as entitled to disagree.

However, fact is fact. The offense did NOT put up 34 points. So many people around here will say, "The defense didn't give up any points." That is true, so you can't have it both ways.

[Cujo]

I knew someone was going to say the Ravens offense put up 34 points, blah, blah, blah...no they didn't. Go check how they scored. Do offenses get credit for a Pick 6 and a kick return?

They CLEARLY deserved to win that game. I'm not taking that from them. I just think they are one of the worst teams to win a major championship. I'm entitled to my opinion...and you're just as entitled to disagree.

However, fact is fact. The offense did NOT put up 34 points. So many people around here will say, "The defense didn't give up any points." That is true, so you can't have it both ways.

All true. Given the Ravens' stellar defense and their sub-par offense, going into the game, many were predicting it to be the lowest scoring Super Bowl of all-time. However, the Ravens' offense were able to outscored the Giants' offense 20 to zip, so they do deserve a good amount of credit for racking up enough points to win without counting the D/ST points.

And for having the second best D of all-time, the '00 Ravens are definitely NOT the worst team to ever bring home Lombardi.

[ninersdd]

How about the 06/07 Colts?

Worst run defense during the season, before they got lucky in the playoffs, and Manning had 3 TDs and 7 picks in the 4 playoff games.

You probably didn't think of them

[pcgd]

And for having the second best D of all-time, the '00 Ravens are definitely NOT the worst team to ever bring home Lombardi.

Defiantly agree. When half of the team was one of the best of all time, its really hard to say they are the worst.

I can accept an argument that they could be the worst quarterback and offense to win a Super Bowl, but the defense more than makes up for any shortcomings the offense had.

[Shumway]

The 2006 Cardinals are the worst team I've ever see win a championship. I watched every game between them and the Reds that year as well as some of their battles with the Cubs and outside of Pujols it was a lot of ho-hum boredom, and David Eckstein, David :censored:ing Eckstein, how I hate that little man! The Cardinals won a bad division with 83 wins (the Reds finished 4 back after collapsing in August) and took advantage of the crapshoot that is the MLB playoffs.

others:

08-09 Pittsburgh Penguins. They snuck in as a 4 seed and would've been lower had it not been for Philadelphia blowing a few games down the stretch. They were also out of the playoffs pretty late in the season, late enough for Maz to give up all hope. They got hot near the end and I'll give them credit for beating Detroit in Detroit after losing games 1 and 2, but to me they just don't feel like the best team in the NHL should.

the rest I'm just going to list

05-06 Miami Heat

05 Pittsburgh Steelers (Kimo Von Oelhoffen)

02 Anaheim Angels who was even on that team? Oh yeah, David Eckstein

I wouldn't say they were the worst team to win a World Series, but yeah, they were an unexpected winner. Regardless, it was the greatest sports-related moment in my life.

[NEW.ERA]

Here's one that I debated amongst friends but I felt it should be included as maybe ''not the best team to win a championship''

2008 Pittsburgh Steelers

Probably the worst O-Line to win a championship giving up 139 sacks probably a lot more if Ben wasn't such a beast and finding his way out of what was sure to be a sack, I mean the Steelers we're never a team to light up the scoreboard with there offense.

Along with the 00' Baltimore Ravens and the 85' Bears this gets thrown into the phrase ''Defense truly does win championships''

[HedleyLamarr]

Here's one that I debated amongst friends but I felt it should be included as maybe ''not the best team to win a championship''

2008 Pittsburgh Steelers

Probably the worst O-Line to win a championship giving up 139 sacks probably a lot more if Ben wasn't such a beast and finding his way out of what was sure to be a sack, I mean the Steelers we're never a team to light up the scoreboard with there offense.

Along with the 00' Baltimore Ravens and the 85' Bears this gets thrown into the phrase ''Defense truly does win championships''

Not a chance in hell.

Didn't the Steelers play one of the most difficult schedules since the merger in 1970?

[Saintsfan]

I am a bit surpised that the Tampa Bay superbowl winning team hasn't got more mentions. Another defense dominated team, but without the stellar quality of the Ravens or Bears Ds. Maybe more offense than either of those other teams, but another less balanced team.

Also the Giants team that beat the Patriots in 07? Beating a 16-0 team in the Superbowl kind of takes them a little out of the reckoning maybe, but hardly a team that convinced anyone of its greatness last season?

Come to think of it maybe the first Patriots Superbowl team could come into the reckoning to a degree.

As for the NBA, its hard to think of many contenders, as the NBA is still to a large extent dominated by dynasties. But I can think of a few not so great champions from the late 70s as maybe contenders.

[Roger Clemente]

Here's one that I debated amongst friends but I felt it should be included as maybe ''not the best team to win a championship''

2008 Pittsburgh Steelers

Probably the worst O-Line to win a championship giving up 139 sacks probably a lot more if Ben wasn't such a beast and finding his way out of what was sure to be a sack, I mean the Steelers we're never a team to light up the scoreboard with there offense.

Along with the 00' Baltimore Ravens and the 85' Bears this gets thrown into the phrase ''Defense truly does win championships''

Not a chance in hell.

Didn't the Steelers play one of the most difficult schedules since the merger in 1970?

They did have the toughest so-called "strength of schedule" of not only 2008, but all the NFL since at least 2002 and including 2009 (according to ESPN).