It isn't close. 36 was by far the most disappointing loss because you knew the officials threw the game to the Cheatriots. That was during the game since the non calls were so blatant. What I didn't know until the game ended and I mean right after the game ended was that the Rams players were saying the Cheatriots were calling out the red zone plays of the Rams at the LOS. Even plays that had not been run all season. Years later Tape Gate became known and then the coverup and it made the THEFT of 36 hurt even worse.
Pretty sure I said in October of '01 that even as the "Patriots" were struggling that there was no way in hell any team NOT named the Patriots was gonna win the Super Bowl.
It was marketed like the Patriots were 'Murica and any team that beat them hated 'Murica.
It was a cynical cash grab that made it super easy to cheat because 1) who's gonna be against being for the Patriots after 9/11 and 2) the Rams were an upstart, serendipitous team with the most hated owner (between the owners) and so elevating Kraft over Frontiere was too easy a decision.
Was it fixed? Nah, didn't need to be. Martz played to exploit mismatches within the rules. Ernie Adams and Belichick figured out that they reffed the Super Bowl like the Pro Bowl and exploited the rules. And they cheated with taping signals, so it was possible to win by cheating without it being fixed, per se.
And that loss was devastating because a 2nd win in 3 years would have set up a dynasty, would likely have squashed the Warner/Martz feud about any injuries and maybe stopped out decline into one of the worst teams of all time over a decade in the modern era.
