Every team in the NFL has the goal of competing in the Super Bowl to win a championship. This season we will see the Cincinnati Bengals face off against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. Of course talent and coaching are the foundation of every Super Bowl team, however, many teams with extremely talented rosters or great coaching staffs have failed to win or even make the Super Bowl. If that's the case, then what else must a team do to make and win the Super Bowl?
The chart above shows the regular season statistics for the two teams that have made the Super Bowl the last six years (statistics from NFL.com and Statmuse). Note, the Bengals and Rams from 2021 got the benefit of an extra regular season game to pad their team stats a little more. Looking at the average numbers of Super Bowl teams the last six years a team must average more than 288 passing yards and over 118 rushing yards per game (averages taken out of a 16 game regular season) to make the Super Bowl. This shows that teams must have a balanced attack on the offensive side of the ball if they wish to have success in the playoffs. Another aspect to playoff success is the defense. Super Bowl caliber defenses should not surrender more than 238 passing yards and 107 rushing yards per game on average while also able to put pressure on the quarterback by getting about 2.5 sacks per game. Defenses need to be able to compliment offenses, and vice versa, by building off the momentum built by one another and helping each other get out of tight spots during a game. Turnovers is a great way defenses and offenses can play off each other. Teams the have made the Super Bowl tend to have a defensive turnover to offensive turnover ratio of 1.5:1.
These are just the fundamental aspects every team needs to be Super Bowl bound. Other aspects that can affect a team's post-season are penalties and clock management, as the Cowboys found out the hard way. The Cowboys committed 14 penalties in their Wild Card game loss to the San Francisco 49ers some of which came late in the game when they had costly penalties that kept the 49ers drive going and left less time for their offense to make a game winning touchdown drive. On top of that, the Cowboys ran a run play with 14 seconds left and no timeouts which ended up being the last play of the game. If the Cowboys had either been more disciplined, or had better clock management in the final seconds they could've been playing the Rams in the NFC Championship game and might've been able to make the Super Bowl for the first time since 1996.
As shown, making the Super Bowl is no easy task. A team must have the talent, the coaching, the execution, the discipline, and the luck of having no or few crucial injuries just for a chance to play for a championship. Super Bowl LVI is just around the corner and we'll see whether the Bengals or Rams will be hoisting up the Lombardi trophy in the end.