Until its recent acquisition by AT&T, Bell South was the only one of the seven original "Baby Bells" that hadn't merged with one of the others to form a company of a different name. Of the other six, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX merged to form Verizon; Southwestern Bell and Pacific Telesis merged to form SBC (which later acquired AT&T and took on that company's name); and Ameritech and U.S. West merged to form Qwest.
Since Super Bowl play began, only two teams with less than two losses in a full regular season have failed to make it to the Super Bowl in their corresponding post-seasons. Those two teams were the Minnesota Vikings in the 1998 season and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2004 season. Each had a record of 15-1 during their respective regular seasons. Minnesota lost to the Atlanta Falcons in the 1999 NFC Championship game; Pittsburgh lost to the New England Patriots is the 2005 AFC Championship game.
Here's a curious coincidence about the 1979 NFL post-season. Going into the Divisional playoffs, the four NFC contenders included one team from Pennsylvania (Philadelphia Eagles), one team from Florida (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), one team from Texas (Dallas Cowboys), and one team from California (Los Angeles Rams). Strangely enough, the final four contenders from the AFC also consisted of one team from each of those states: Pittsburgh Steelers, Miami Dolphins, Houston Oilers, and San Diego Chargers. Going into the conference championship games, there was one team left from each of the represented states as Tampa Bay and Los Angeles were victorious in the NFC Divisional playoffs while Pittsburgh and Houston were victorious in the AFC Divisional playoffs.
In 1981, the two National League teams with the best records failed to make the post-season. That year, a mid-season strike resulted in a split season in which the teams that won their divisions in the first half and second half of the season squared off against each in the playoffs. The Cincinnati Reds had the best overall record in the West division but the Los Angeles Dodgers won the first half and the Houston Astros won the second half. The St. Louis Cardinals had the best overall record in the East division but the Philadelphia Phillies won the first half and the Montreal Expos won the second half. Cincinnati had the best overall record in the NL and St. Louis had the the second best overall record.
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