The difference between success and failure

It's playoff time in the NFL, and the time to study a phenomenon which is elusive, but vital.  That is this: what makes some teams victorious and others not?  It is not necessarily so easy to determine.

Look at the Atlanta Falcons, who were the number one seed.  But this didn't guarantee success as they got eliminated in their first game.  Now compare that to the Seattle Seahawks, who didn't even have a winning record this year.  They won their first playoff game and may be able to win again.  If they do, they will be a first.  In fact, they are already a first, if I am not mistaken.  I don't recall any team with a losing record that has won a division.  Nor, is it likely that a losing team ever won a playoff game.  Yet win they did.  The point is prior success does not guarantee future success.  The opposite situation appears to be true as well.

The difference must be small indeed to allow for such an outcome.  If there is a moral to the story, it could be that you can't rest on your laurels.  Success is fragile.  But failure is too, come to think of it.

Could that be why some people believe in luck?  If the difference between success and failure is so slight, maybe its just a matter of luck.  I think luck can play a part in it.  But not all of it.  Some people can be lucky and still not be able to take advantage of it.  Some other people can have nothing but bad luck, but somehow they overcome it anyway.  Maybe the Seahawks just got lucky this one time.  Or perhaps there is some other explanation.  But whatever the explanation is, they have to play the games in order to find out who will be the champions.  The record up to now doesn't seem to matter.