<P> The Super Bowl curse or Super Bowl hangover is a phrase that refers to one of three phenomena that may occur in the National Football League (NFL). First, that host teams rarely qualify for the Super Bowl during the year their city will host . Second, that teams rarely win consecutive Super Bowls . Third, that a participating team will follow their Super Bowl appearance with sub-par seasons . These interpretations of the Super Bowl curse are not mutually exclusive . </P> <P> The term has been used since at least 1992, when The Washington Post used the term in print . Former NFL General Manager Charley Casserly attributed the curse to such factors as "a shorter offseason, contract problems, (and) more demand for your players' time". Casserly also noted that "once the season starts, you become the biggest game on everybody's schedule," suggesting that pressure from fans and spectators may also have an impact on a team's performance . </P> <P> The home field curse affects the host team of the Super Bowl . So far no team has yet managed to reach the Super Bowl in their home stadium . Four teams with Super Bowls in their home venue have qualified for the divisional playoffs: the 1994 Miami Dolphins, the 1998 Miami Dolphins, the 2016 Houston Texans, and the 2017 Minnesota Vikings, the Vikings being the first to qualify for their conference's title game . From 1966--2011 (excluding the six Super Bowl games held in a stadium without a professional team), the Super Bowl host team has had 11 winning seasons, four split seasons, and 25 losing seasons . Mathematically, the probability of that many losing seasons or more occurring by chance (assuming a 50 percent chance of having a losing season (disregarding . 500 seasons)) is 7.69 percent . It should be noted, however, that the Super Bowl host stadium is selected several years before the game is played, without regard to the teams that qualify . </P> <P> Only two NFL teams have reached the Super Bowl hosted in their home region: the San Francisco 49ers, who played Super Bowl XIX in Stanford Stadium, rather than Candlestick Park, and the Los Angeles Rams, who played Super Bowl XIV in the Rose Bowl, rather than the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . Besides Stanford Stadium and the Rose Bowl, the only other Super Bowl venue that was not the home stadium to an NFL team at the time was Rice Stadium in Houston: the Houston Oilers had played there previously, but moved to the Astrodome several years prior to Super Bowl VIII . The Miami Orange Bowl was the only AFL stadium to host a Super Bowl and the only stadium to host consecutive Super Bowls, hosting Super Bowl II and III . MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which hosted Super Bowl XLVIII, is the home stadium of two NFL teams: the New York Giants and the New York Jets . </P>

Has a nfl team ever played at home for the super bowl