The Diamondbacks being in the World Series had me thinking…
What if in the NFC you had a team like the Falcons go 9-8 with a -10 point differential to win the NFC south. They shock the world and make their way through the NFC playoffs by beating the Cowboys at home, somehow shocking the Eagles on the road and then getting matched up with a wild card Seahawks team that upset division rival 49ers in the divisional round. They beat Seattle in a close game in Atlanta to punch a ticket to the SB.
They go and face a 15-2 Chiefs team that is top 5 on offense and defense and has a +200 point differential. Patrick Mahomes looks as unstoppable as ever down the stretch of the regular season and postseason and KC blows their way through the Bills/Bengals to reach the SB.
What is the point spread in that Super Bowl?
Found some stats here of NFL conference champions with the lowest point differential: https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-conference-champion-team-with-lowest-point-differential
Those famous 2011 Giants are the only conference winning team with a negative differential (-6) and went on to beat the Patriots (+171).
But it’s actually the third lowest point differential conference winner, the 2007 Giants (+22), that probably have the biggest spread entering their Super Bowl against those 16-0 Patriots (+315).
That might stand alone as the biggest spread possible for a long time. Especially considering how scoring has changed and defensive isn’t deciding games the same way it used to.