Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who lost his first playoff game after being named the Associated Press MVP, isn't alone. Eleven of the 54 MVPs went 0-1 in the playoffs. Fourteen have won NFL championships, but none since Kurt Warner did with the St. Louis Rams in 1999.
MVPs, however, have quite an impressive postseason record overall.
If MVPs were their own franchise, they would have the third-best postseason winning percentage in league history. The second-best Packers have a .625 winning percentage (25-15) while the MVPs hold a .651 winning percentage (71-38). Carolina holds the top spot with a 6-3 record (.666), but the 1998 expansion team has a small sample size and will slip if they lose to the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night.
Nota bene:
- Two MVPs did not reach the postseason. Johnny Unitas led the Baltimore Colts to an 11-1-2 regular season record in 1964 but did not receive an automatic bid to the playoffs because of an 0-1-1 head-to-head record against the Los Angeles Rams, who also finished 11-1-2. O.J. Simpson and the Buffalo Bills finished 9-5 in 1973, losing the AFC East crown to the 12-2 Miami Dolphins and the lone wild-card spot to the 10-4 Pittsburgh Steelers.
- Twenty-two MVPs have made it the Super Bowl in the postseason following their award, but more have lost (12) than won (10). Eight have lost in the conference championship, 10 have lost in divisional round, and three have lost in the wild-card round.
- MVP quarterbacks (.662 winning percentage, 49-25 record, eight NFL titles) fare slightly better than MVP running backs (.555, 15-12, 4 titles). Defensive and special team MVPs -- there has been a defensive tackle, kicker and linebacker selected -- have had the highest rate of success. (.875, 7-1, 2 titles).
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