2021 and 2022: The Years That Having the Top Ranking Was Not A Blessing

At the end of the 2020-2021 NFL regular season, the Kansas City Chiefs had the best record at 14-2 . Due to having the best record, they had home-field advantage for their first two games of the NFL Playoffs and won both of those games. They did not have home-field advantage for the third game (the Super Bowl) however. The Super Bowl each year is held at a "neutral" site; for the first time ever, the Super Bowl location happened to be the home stadium of the participants. That participant was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who oblierated the Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl 55 . I wrote more about Super Bowl 55 in this write-up .

The next month, the 2021 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament took place. Like with the Super Bowl, all games for the tournament are played at a neutral site. Gonzaga was the top overall seed as they were undefeated going into the tournament. They were only the twentieth team in college basketball history to enter the tournament undefeated. They won each of the first four games of the Tournament by at least sixteen points and then defeated UCLA in the fifth round in an epic game . Like the Chiefs however, they were soundly beaten in the championship game (the sixth round). They lost 86-70 to the Baylor Bears .

While the Kansas City Chiefs and Gonzaga did not win the championships in their respective sports, they fared better in the postseason than the remaining top sports teams in 2021 and all of the highest-ranking teams in 2022 (nine in total). Not only did those nine teams not make it to the championship games, they didn't even make it to the "Final Four".

2021

Less than three months after Gonzaga's defeat, the Vegas Golden Knights overcame a 2-0 series to defeat Presidents' Trophy winner Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Semifinals of the NHL Playoffs. It was not a considered an upset by some hockey analysts as the Golden Knights ended the regular season with the same number of points as the Avalanche (the Avalanche won the tie-breaker).

The following week, the Los Angeles Clippers upset the NBA-best Utah Jazz in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Like the Golden Knights, the Clippers overcame a 2-0 series deficit to win the series. The Clippers won despite being without injured superstar Kawhi Leonard for the final two games of the series.

Four months later, the MLB-best San Francisco Giants lost in the National League Division Series (NLDS) to the Los Angeles Dodgers . Like with the Avalanche and the Golden Knights, the difference in regular-season records between the Giants and the Dodgers was not significant. The Dodgers (106 wins) won only one fewer game than the Giants (107 wins) did. The Dodgers' victory was not an upset as most ESPN experts predicted that the Dodgers would win the series .

2022

While one San Francisco team (Giants) was on the wrong side of a loss by a "top" team, another San Francisco team (49ers) was on the right side three months later. In January 2022, the 49ers defeated the NFL-best Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs thanks to this unforgettable blocked punt .

In March 2022, Gongaza entered the NCAA Basketball Tournament as the top overall seed for the second year in a row. They did not go as far as they did the previous year: they were upset by Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen.

Gonzaga's upset was not the only surprise loss by a top basketball team in 2022. The Phoenix Suns, owners of the best NBA record at 64-18 , were stunned by the 52-30 Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. For the second year a row, the best team in the NBA let a 2-0 series lead slip away. The Mavericks capped their comeback with a 123-90 Game 7 blowout .

Unlike the previous year (2021), the Colorado Avalanche did not win the Presidents' Trophy in 2022. They (119 points) came in second to the Florida Panthers (122 points). Not winning the Presidents' Trophy may have worked to the Avalanche's advantage as they ended up winning the Stanley Cup! Meanwhile, the Panthers continued the trend of the top teams faring poorly in the playoffs: they were swept by a fellow Floridian team (Tampa Bay Lightning) in the second round of the NHL Playoffs .

Like with the Panthers, the MLB-best Los Angeles Dodgers' season was ended four months later by a team from its own state. In one of the biggest upsets in MLB postseason history, the 89-win San Diego Padres defeated the 111-win Dodgers in the NLDS. Unlike the Dodgers' defeat of the same-state Giants the previous year, the Padres' win was truly a shocker.

Finally, the best sports teams in 2022 suffering early postseason exits were not only limited to teams from the United States. At the 2022 World Cup of Soccer, top-ranked Brazil suffered a surprising defeat. They lost to Croatia in the Quarterfinals . Brazil's population (214 million) is over fifty times that of Croatia's (4 million)!

2021 and 2022: The Years That Having the Top Ranking Was Not A Blessing

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