The past five losers of the Super Bowl did not make the playoffs the following year, including the Philadelphia Eagles this past season. In fact, those five all had losing records in the aftermath of their Super Bowl defeat:

• The Eagles, buffeted by turmoil and injuries, went 6-10 in 2005 after losing Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots, 24-21.

• In 2004, the Carolina Panthers went 7-9 after losing the Super Bowl XXXVIII to the Patriots, 32-29.

• In 2003, the Oakland Raiders went 4-12 after losing Super Bowl XXXVII to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 48-21.

• In 2002, the St. Louis Rams went 7-9 after losing Super Bowl XXXVI to the Patriots, 20-17.

• In 2001, the New York Giants went 7-9 after losing Super Bowl XXXV to the Baltimore Ravens, 34-7.

"When you lose this game, you feel like you've lost an opportunity," said Kurt Warner, the Super Bowl MVP after leading the Rams to victory over Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV and the losing quarterback against New England two years later.

"You feel like you have to go out and do something more to get back and make up for it. I think that pressure you put on yourself to get back, to try to perform at another level, to right the wrong of losing the Super Bowl, is always a detriment, because you're not playing your game."

Warner said he saw those traits in action in 2002, after the Rams' narrow defeat to New England.

"We were a very talented Super Bowl team, but we came back and tried to do too much the next year, and we just went downhill. I think that's what a lot of people think: 'Man, we missed our opportunity; we've got to do something different, or we've got to do something more than what we did to get here last time.' And it causes them to go in the wrong direction."

The last team to make the playoffs after losing the Super Bowl was the Tennessee Titans, who were 13-3 in 2000 after losing to the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Super TV numbers

The Super Bowl was the most-watched show in Seattle television history, drawing a local rating of 54.3 and an 85 share, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That means more than 54 percent of the Seattle-Tacoma market's 1.2 million TV households saw the game. Of those with TV sets turned on, 85 percent were tuned into the game.

Nationally, the game drew the biggest Super Bowl ratings since 1996.

Seattle Times TV critic Kay McFadden contributed to this report

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