Losing a Super Bowl is football’s most heartbreaking event. The work, the effort, the sacrifice required to get to the game’s greatest stage, a win away from history. And then to watch the opponent celebrate their glory, knowing your team will become just a footnote.
QB Kurt Warner went to three Super Bowls. He won his first, LB Mike Jones stopping Tennessee Titans WR Kevin Dyson 1-yard short of the end zone. He lost his second, New England Patriots K Adam Vinatieri hitting a game-winning field goal to hoist a Lombardi. And he lost his third, Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger leading a game-winning drive, hitting a toe-tapping Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone.
But for Warner, that loss to Pittsburgh remains a win. In an interview that originally took place years ago but was recently uploaded to the Audiorama YouTube channel, he sat down with Joe Buck on his show entitled Undeniable to discuss the silver lining he still finds in defeat.
“When I look back and when I say I have perspective, sometimes you can win when you lose,” Warner told Buck. “Without question, that game taught me that more than any others. That team and what we accomplished, even if I look at my career, we won that day. Two minutes to go, everybody in the world going, ‘The Arizona Cardinals are good enough to win the Super Bowl’…that was a win for us. It was one of the greatest games I’ve ever played in.”
Finishing the 2008 season 9-7 and losers of three out of their final five games, the Cardinals limped into the playoffs and weren’t given much of a chance to win a game, let alone go on a run. Warner says proving the doubters wrong is why he considers the year a success, even if it didn’t ultimately end with holding a trophy. On their way to meeting Pittsburgh, Warner and company took down the 11-5 Atlanta Falcons and 12-4 Carolina Panthers, upsets that shocked the league. The Panthers came into their game favored by 10 points. They lost by 20.
Warner tipped his hat to the Steelers for making enough plays to come out on top. Roethlisberger’s touchdown squeezed to Holmes, and of course, LB James Harrison picking off Warner at the end of the first half and running it back 100 yards for one of football’s wildest touchdowns and among its greatest plays.
For Warner, there’s no second-guessing what happened. He’s still happy with how things played out.
“To me, I left that stadium winning that game. Whether I got the ring or not.”
Valuable perspective to have. It helps that Warner does have one Super Bowl ring. Had he lost the previous two, keeping that optimistic attitude toward this loss probably would’ve been harder. Warner’s point is well-taken. He led his team on an awesome run, but nothing replaces a Super Bowl win.
Check out the entire clip below.
