who would be featured on missing rings?
of the top of my head- the early 80's chargers, the late 80's early 90's eagles, the early 90 oilers, i'm sure there are more.

From the linked article the teams are "Three of the five lost in a Super Bowl — the Vikings of Joe Kapp and Jim Marshall, who lost Super Bowl IV to the Chiefs; the Bills team that lost Super Bowl XXV to the Giants on Scott Norwood's missed field-goal attempt; and the Bengals squad of Boomer Esiason and Sam Wyche that was beaten in the final minutes of Super Bowl XXIII by Joe Montana and the 49ers.
The other two never made it to the Super Bowl — the 1998 Vikings, led by Cris Carter and Randall Cunningham, who lost to Atlanta in the NFC title game; and the Chargers' Air Coryell contingent from 1981, which lost the AFC title game to the Bengals in minus-59 wind chill."

Missing Rings sounds great, but I've a terrible suspicion that the Andy Reid Eagles teams that made it to multiple NFC championship games (and lost all of them before finally winning and going on to SB XXXIX) may be featured. If so, I will need to go hide in a dark place so that I'm not tempted to throw things at the TV.

I'm betting that they'll wait until McNabb and Reid are no longer in Philly before doing one on the '04 Eagles. I could see them doing one on the 1980 team, though.

How about one of the "Luv Ya Blue"-era Oiler teams? (I'd go with the '79 squad)

Am I the only person really hoping "Missing Rings" was a documentary on the craziest stories about how SB winners have lost/had stolen/pawned/gambled their SB rings?

I think that would be pretty entertaining.

Good news, this.

For the second season of Missing Rings, how about:
- 1990s Chiefs (take your pick)
- 1980s Dolphins (82-85 inclusive)
- Marty's Browns
- 1978 Pats
- 1960s Cowboys (Ice Bowl etc)

Man, this show sounds like a real nut-punch for the teams involved and their fans. I don't particularly want to relive watching those superhuman Eagles defenses lose because Buddy Ryan cared little and knew less about offensive football. I'm afraid watching Esiason and Wyche talk about those Super Bowls could send my brother on another killing spree.

Depending on how you define the concept, you could in theory include teams like the '83 Redskins (who scored more points than any team in history before losing to the Raiders in the Super Bowl) or the late 80's Bears (who consistantly won the division title but couldn't keep a quaterback healthy for the playoffs). You could even argue last year's Patriots team or the 2005 Colts that lost to the Steelers on Vanderjagt's miss could be included.

Re 10:

Right, but it looks like they didn't want teams that won a Superbowl around the same time as the same team that didn't.

Re:11

Actually, it looks like they're only doing episodes on franchises that have never won a Super Bowl at all. However, Mike Tainer says in his post that he has it on good authority that they're doing an ep. on one of the '70s Rams teams, so who knows.

IIRC, in interviews leading up to the premier of 'America's Game', Sabol had said that he wanted to do shows on ALL the Super Bowl losing teams. I would've loved to have seen that, but it doesn't surprise that those plans fell through (for various reasons).

Whenever/wherever NFL Films airs, I just hope it does so at a reliable time so my TiVo can pick it up. I don't know how many times over the past few years that my TiVo got only part of NFL Films (or none at all) due to a live game running long (or short) before the NFL Films airtime.

It's always hard for a TV show to do well when people can't find it.

Having rewatched my old VHS collection of the 1988 season, gotta say how great the Bengals were that year. Sam Wyche was a great coach with great character.

Whatever they choose, it will be high-quality.

I'm convinced that they could come in and make my boring-a$$ed job sound like the most important thing on the planet.

I thought they listed at least 5 of the missing rings teams in the article ('69 Vikes, '90 Bills, '88 Bengals, '82 Chargers and '98 Vikes).

I'm ecstatic to see this blurb:
Sabol also is developing an NFL's Greatest Games episode for ESPN on the "Sea of Hands" playoff game between the Raiders and Dolphins in 1974...

In my mind this is still the greatest NFL game ever played. Even better than this past superbowl, the Kellen Winslow playoff game, etc. Two absolutely stellar franchises in their prime slugging it out, epic back and forth contest.... The Dolphins really had that untouhable, unbeatable aura to them at the time, and to go toe-to-toe with them and then win it in that fashion is something that deserves special treatment. I know the raiders lost to the Steelers the following week, that still takes nothing away from this...

I've got a missing rings suggestion: Buddy Ryans Eagles. Best defense to not win a championship?

Re 16:

I'm also excited that they're going to do a "Greatest Games" episode on the "Sea of Hands". I'm surprised it's taken them as long as it has to do one on that game.

Some others I'd like to see:

-"The Longest Game Ever Played" (Chiefs/Dolphins playoff game from Christmas day, 1971) Another one I'm surprised they have done an episode on

-1990 NFC Championship (49ers/Giants)

Some candidates from this decade:

-2001 AFC divisional playoff (Patriots/Raiders)
-2002 AFC & NFC Wild Card game comebacks (49ers/Giants , Steelers/Browns)
-2005 AFC divisional playoff (Steelers/Colts)
-2006 AFC Championship
-Super Bowl XLII

I'd like to see the 2004 NFC Divisional Playoff Game. This was the 4th-and-26 game, so I want to see it for selfish reasons, yes, but that was still a great game.

#17 - best defense to never win a championship?

That sounds like something for an article suggestion... I'm assuming you mean teams of a certain time period (e.g., 1976 Steelers wouldn't qualify, as that great offense was sandwhiched between championships)

Offhand other candidates I can think of:

Purple People Eater era Vikings. That 1969 squad which is going to be featured in particular. They had the second lowest points per game allowed in the modern era (133 in 14 games, less than 10 per, far better than the Ravens which was the lowest in a 16 game season). They also managed to--despite having a plodding workmanlike offense lead by a QB who couldn't throw the ball well--make the vikings the highest scoring team in the league by repeatedly giving them the ball in great field position (when they didn't score themselves).

1977 Atlanta Falcons. I said the Vikings were the second lowest PPG allowed. The Falcons (129 in 14 games) were tops. They went 7-7. How they pulled that off is amazing. One year wonder.

1970s Rams. They had a good run, probably the 1975 defense (135 pts in 14 games) was the best.

A lot of this is going by points, which we all know is now the best way to analyze a defense...

Re 19 - I had that one in my TiVo for a really, really long time; every so often I'd watch again just for 4th and 26, and then the Favre interception to Dawkins in OT:

"FAVRE JUST HEAVES IT! ONLY EAGLES ARE THERE! AND IT'S PICKED OFF BY DAWKINS!"

Then a few months back, I discovered that soon-to-be-ex Mr. PhillyCWC had deleted it. AAAIIIIEEEEE!

I won't say that was the only catalyst for the subsequent divorce proceedings, but it was definitely in the back of my mind as I drove to my lawyer's office.

this is all well and good, but can NFL Films please STOP reairing the worst moments of my life. The last three weeks, i turn on NFL replay and its the jets losing because of the fake spike, the jets losing the 98 opener to San Fran, and the jets losing to Cleveland in 86. C'mon isnt there another fan base you can beat up?!?

RE 20 Buddy Ryan put together a defense that sent 10 out of 11 starters to the probowl, had a superstar QB and yet couldnt even get to a conference championship game. In 1991 the finished first against the pass and the run. Ridiculously good defense.

Missing rings? Why, that'd be the 2005 Seattle "One for the Middle Finger" Seahawks, Bus.