Over the past seasons, the famous myth in the NFL “defense wins championships” has been proven year by year.
There are three main reasons why I believe this statement is true:
- Defense gives consistency:
To be in the Super Bowl, first, you must win three or four Playoff games in a row depending on your spot, and against the best teams of the season. There is a stat, that approximately, just 33% of the teams that have won the Super Bowl from 2000 to 2020 were the 1st seed from their division. This shows that defenses give strength to low seeded teams, and that is a big help, and big work to win the Super Bowl. Defenses are consistent in playoffs.
- The best offensive weapon for playoffs teams is their defense:
Playing good defense will provide a better field position to the offense. This allows the teams to start their drives in a good position and allows a short time scoring to play defense again and recover the ball quickly. Good defenses force turnovers, which puts the offense in a good scoring situation.
- The defense is a huge part of the game’s nature:
It does not matter if you have the highest point productive offense when you face a defense with an elite coach, those defenses are most of the time impossible to beat. A good defensive strategy can easily change the game and produce a big impact on the opponent’s offense. The pressure is a big weapon to avoid the best quarterbacks a good production.
Key defensive plays from last Super Bowls:
- Super Bowl XLIX: 26 seconds remaining, Seahawks in the goal line, down by four. Malcolm Butler picks off Russell Wilson.
- Super Bowl L: Fourth Quarter, 4:51 minutes remaining. Panthers had the ball in their own 25-yard line. Down 16-10. Third Down. Von Miller swiped the ball out from Cam Newton, a ball recovered by the Broncos on the Panthers 4-yard line, and then scored with a 2-point conversion included 24-10.
- Super Bowl LI: Blitz on Matt Ryan since the starting of the third quarter, did not let him feel comfortable in the pocket, which produced many three and out situations.
- Super Bowl LII: 2:09 minutes to play, Patriots down. Strip sack on Tom Brady, the ball is free and recovered by Eagles’ Derek Barnett.
- Super Bowl LIII: Rams down, four minutes left. Stephon Gilmore picks off Jared Goff in the Patriots 4-yard line.
- Super Bowl LIV: With less than two minutes on the clock, the Chiefs up by four, 4th down 49ers on the Chiefs 49-yard line. Frank Clark put pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo, and the Chiefs go a 10-yard loss sack, then Damien Williams scored to get an eleven-point lead.
The defense is clearly one of the most important key pieces for a team to get into the Super Bowl and winning it.
