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With the Super Bowl slowly approaching, we are set to watch the AFC championship game as the New England Patriots travel to Denver to take on the Denver Broncos and on the NFC side, the Arizona Cardinals will travel east to take on the Carolina Panthers in the NFC championship game. The Baltimore Ravens know how hard it is to get to the Super Bowl as they have a 2-2 all-time record in the AFC championship game.
But getting to the Super Bowl in itself isn't easy for anyone especially in the AFC. It's especially hard to win the Super Bowl multiple times if you are an NFL team from the AFC since 1980. Since the start of the 1980 season, only six AFC teams have won the Super Bowl and they are:
- Baltimore Ravens (two times)
- Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (two times)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (two times)
- Denver Broncos (two times)
- Indianapolis Colts (one time)
- New England Patriots (four times)
But that isn't stat that is a bit shocking. Since the start of the 1980 season, only one AFC team has won a Super Bowl with two different starting quarterbacks. And that team is, you guessed it, the Baltimore Ravens with Trent Dilfer in Super Bowl 35 and Joe Flacco in Super Bowl 47.
People talk about how the NFL is so good due to the parity that goes on in the league and that's true to a certain extent. Since the NFL went to a 12 team playoff format in 1990, there have been at least four new playoff teams in every single season including this season. But at the end of the day, as history shows in the AFC specifically, the cream always rises to the top more times than not.
What is more impressive about the Ravens winning two Super Bowls with two different quarterbacks is the fact that the NFL is in a salary cap era with free agency involved as there will always be moving pieces every season. The Ravens have not only have been able to adapt historically, but they were able finish their goal winning it all with two different quarterbacks in a 12 year span.
The NFL introduced the salary cap in 1994. No team in the NFL during the salary cap era has ever won a Super Bowl with two different quarterbacks in a faster time frame than the Ravens. When people regard Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome as the best at his position, there are multiple reasons for that.