The Top 10 Super Bowls In History
- Super Bowl XLVII
- Super Bowl LII
- Super Bowl XLII
- Super Bowl XXV
- Super Bowl LI
- Super Bowl XLIII
- Super Bowl LVIII
- Super Bowl XXXIV
- Super Bowl XLIX
- Super Bowl V
“Best Super Bowl” lists are typically… boring. It’s always the same usual suspects because most writers rely on nostalgia instead of watching the tape. To make this list truly accurate, I didn’t just check the box scores or watch highlights. Every play of every single game had to be studied. Yes, this includes an accidental (and highly regrettable) deep dive into decades of
commercials (0/10, do not recommend), because what’s a Super Bowl without its commercials?
View the latest NFL odds at Bovada
The goal was rating each game as if I was experiencing it for the first time; The fatigue, the hype, and the absolute jamming that only happens on Super Bowl Sunday. This isn’t about bias or an agenda; it’s fueled by an unconditional love for the game. (For the record: being a Patriot doesn’t make me a Patriots fan). Mainstream Top 10 lists tend to spit out the same games at the top of the lists, but when you actually check the tape, the receipts don’t match the hype.
Sitting at #1 is a game that never makes the “expert” rankings, yet it’s PEAK for entertainment value.” And that’s truly what makes a Super Bowl fun to watch. An entertaining Super Bowl isn’t always defined by textbook football, big stats, or storylines. I’m looking for the plot twists that actually keeps me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happens next. True fans want the chaos.
Every matchup was judged on five key factors: Chaos, Clutch Moments, Explosiveness, Oddities, and Narrative.
Here is the most accurate list of the top Super Bowls in NFL history. Prepare to get jammed on.
10. Super Bowl XLVII: (Ravens 34, 49ers 31)
The Super Bowl that felt like two games in one. The ravens were blowing the 49ers out of the water… then it happened. The Blackout: A power outage stopped play for 34 minutes in the 3rd quarter.. Sparking a huge 49ers comeback.
4th and Goal from the 5-yard line with 1:50 left for the 49ers to take the lead, and Kaepernick throws to Crabtree instead of Randy Moss. RANDY FREAKING MOSS. Single covered by the way. Oh, and on his last NFL play EVER mind you. Turnover on downs. So, game over, right?
Not necessarily.
Last Second Suspense
With 12 seconds left, the Ravens exploited the rules to win the game. The Ravens punter burned the final few seconds by scrambling around the endzone while every blocker intentionally held their man. A holding call would only result in a safety, so why not let everyone hold to extend the play?
Purposely holding and getting a safety to guarantee a Super Bowl ring? The ultimate ragebait at the end for 49ers fans. However, if none of that convinced you that this Super Bowl should be in the top 10, then I have one last word for you. Beyonce.
9. Super Bowl LII: (Eagles 41, Patriots 33)
If you like high flying offenses in a shootout + a lack of defense, this was the ultimate game for you. Between two of the best quarterbacks of all time; Brady and… backup QB Nick Foles? This game well exceeded expectations as Pats opened as 6.5 point favorites.
The most yards in Super Bowl history. A crazy trick play on 4th down at the end of the first half. And ending with the Eagles defense finally doing something by stripsacking Brady? A plot twist end of the shootout of the century.
I’m not a fan of Tom Brady. But I can’t deny that he’s given us an absolute cinema or two.
8. Super Bowl XLII: The Helmet Catch (Giants 17, Patriots 14)
Back to back Patriot losses in the Top 10? Sign me up.
The Patriots were chasing a perfect 18-0 season, but the Giants were hot and just eliminated Brett Favre at Lambeau, in what was his final game as a Green Bay Packer.
And the Giants were still 12.5 point underdogs? That’s how good the Patriots were. So how do you stop the Patriots and Brady? With the longest drive in Super Bowl history. The Giants opened the game with a soul-crushing 16-play, 63-yard drive that ate up nearly an entire quarter.
For a moment, the Patriots looked like they were going to go 18-0. Eli Manning was being wrapped up for a demoralizing sack on 3rd and 5 with a minute left… And then 5 seconds later, the ball is being caught 30 yards downfield by David Tyree. The helmet catch. That play alone brings this game into the top 10. GGs in the chat.
7. Super Bowl XXV: “Wide Right” (Giants 20, Bills 19)
The game wasn’t a battle of entertaining offensive juggarnauts like in Super Bowl LII, but a strategic chess match led by none other than Giants defensive coordinator… Bill Belichick.
Bill and the Giants let the Bills run all over them. Purposely. Because the bills high powered offense was led by their air attack.
The longest drive in Super Bowl history? Giants vs Tom Brady. The second longest? The Giants in this game. Who knew that the Giants secret to winning multiple Super Bowls was by boring the audience into a 3rd quarter of dinking and dunking up the field. I regret watching the first three quarters of this game.
With eight seconds left on the clock, and the Giants leading 20–19, the Bills’ kicker stepped on for a 47 yard attempt. Wde rght. (censoring this for any Bills fans out there)
6. Super Bowl LI: 28-3 (Patriots 34, Falcons 28 OT)
RIGGED! That’s what I screamed when I was watching this live, and the score was only 9-28.
Why? Because we ALL knew the Patriots were winning this game, even when they were showing no signs of life in the first half.
The infamous 28-3 meme will haunt Falcons fans forever, and as a Packers fan who lost to this very Falcons team in the NFC championship game… Let’s just say I’m glad it wasn’t my team that blew the biggest lead in Super Bowl history.
Why does this game sit at #6 on my list?
The comeback was pure magic, but watching Atlanta play prevent defense for 20 minutes is bad football to watch. Waiting for the inevitable. To make matters worse, the sudden-death OT rules meant Matt Ryan never even touched the ball. He won MVP and ended up losing the Super Bowl because of a coin toss. Classic Roger Goodell football.
Luckily for us, the OT rules are changed for another game further down in the list.
5. Super Bowl XLIII: Steelers 27, Cardinals 23
This Super Bowl didn’t just give us one iconic football moment. It gave us four.
I got chills watching this one play. No, not the most INSANE play in Super Bowl history; the pick-six at the buzzer at halftime. No, not the last-second TD catch by Holmes. The moment when the ref announces a safety occurred due to the holding with 3 minutes left.
We all remember the most memorable moment; the longest defensive TD in Super Bowl history at the buzzer before halftime. That isn’t even the most important play from this game.
The Safety nobody remembers:
The Steelers were facing a 3rd and long from their own 1 yard line. If Big Ben completes a pass here, they likely move the chains and win the game. Instead, the Steelers get flagged for holding in the end zone, resulting in the worst case scenario for the Steelers Safety.
2 points for the Cardinals AND immediately scoring with a Larry Fitz long TD? You couldn’t write a better script. Within 10 minutes of TV time, the game went from Steelers sealing the win to Cardinals winning.
With 35 seconds left, Big Ben (love that name) fired a pass to the back corner of the end zone in the area of Santonio Holmes, who tiptoes in bounds to secure the touchdown. Oh, while surrounded by what seemed like half the defense and with no space to place the ball. Cinema.
The total points over/under was 47.5. Between the safety, the Fitz breakaway, and the Holmes grab, 16 points were scored in the final 4 minutes, barely pushing the over with a total of 50. It totally made up for the lackluster moments earlier in the game.
Oh, and it was John Madden’s last game that he would ever announce. And Kurt Warner’s last NFL game too, who reappears further down on this list.
4. Super Bowl LVIII: (Chiefs 25, 49ers 22 OT)
The most entertaining part of this game wasn’t a play. It was the 49ers’ total confusion over the new OT rules. As soon as they won the toss and chose to receive, even casual fans facepalmed, knowing the 49ers had just handed Mahomes the driver seat to win the game.
This game shouldn’t even have gone to overtime to begin with. A blocked extra point in the 4th made it a 3 point game instead of 4.
8 seconds remaining in overtime. The Chiefs have 2 plays left to either kick a field goal and tie, or go for the TD and win. They ended up scoring a touchdown, but what would have the Chiefs done if they didn’t? Do or die? That added an extra layer of suspense that puts this close to the top of our list.
Fun fact: If OT had ended in a tie, there would’ve been a new quarter with a new coin toss. Maybe the 49ers would’ve chosen to kick this time.
3. Super Bowl XXXIV: One Yard Short (Rams 23, Titans 16)
The magic of Steve McNair AND Kurt Warner in a single game? Any football fan’s dream.
THE most intense play in NFL history alone should put this game in the top 5… but that final 88 yard drive leading up to it was pure, panic-filled jammage. The play right before the infamous final dive towards the end zone took 16 agonizing seconds of McNair scrambling around and breaking tackles. Dare I say it? He looked a little Mahomie. Sorry.
Watching it again, I nearly forgot it was a replay. For a split moment in time, I actually thought the Titans were going to pull off the win.
2. Super Bowl XLIX: The Interception (Patriots 28, Seahawks 24)
The forgotten catch. The interception at the goal line. The Seahawks top receiver was working at a Foot Locker a month prior yet was burning double teams by the Patriots DBs on every play.
This game just passes the vibe check. No major lulls in the middle of the game like some of the others on this list. Just pure entertainment through and through with an exhilarating finish.
Do you remember the forgotten catch in this game? Obviously not. Kearse came down with the BEST juggling catch in Super Bowl history, and it was all erased from history because of one question that has been asked time and time again… Why didn’t the Seahawks run with
Marshawn Lynch from the 2 yard line on 2nd down???
Fun fact: Chris Matthews “Mr. Foot Locker” led the Seahawks with 109 yards and a TD, which was almost more yards than any other game in his career, combined.
Honestly, forget the game. The best thing to come out of this was “left shark” from the halftime show with Katy Perry. And yes, I was left shark for Halloween 3 straight years following this Super Bowl.
1. Super Bowl V: The Blunder Bowl (Colts 16, Cowboys 13)
Wait, what?? Super Bowl 5. Really? Look, I know what you’re thinking. The “Blunder Bowl”, or the “Blooper bowl” as I like to call it. With a 2PM EST kickoff? Whose idea was that, anyways?
This game is every football fan’s dream game. Turnovers. Big plays. Rare moments…. Unless you’re a Cowboys or Colts fan.
Here’s exactly what went down to make the Blooper Bowl the GOAT of Super Bowls: Turnovers, Turnovers, and more turnovers: A combo of 11 turnovers between both teams, a Super Bowl record. 5 of those occurring in the 4th quarter. The back and forth was INSANITY. Not one, but TWO fumbles at the 1 yard line, with one resulting in a touchback.
The Colts had 7 of those turnovers and still won.
The Tipped 75-Yard TD: Johnny Unitas threw a pass that deflected off a receiver and a defender before landing in the WR’s hands for a TD. This play was actually illegal at the time because the ball wasn’t touched by a defender between the two offensive players.
Goal-line Disasters: Not one, but two goal line fumbles created an extra layer of drama to this game. The Cowboys fumbled on the 1 yard line with a chance to put the game away. Then, Colts receiver was stripped of the ball during a failed flea-flicker 30 yard pass from a runningback, fumbled into the endzone resulting in a scramble for the ball… and a touchback. Yes, you read that sentence correctly.
The “Field Goal Punt”: I was in total belief when I watched this ”live” (45 years later). The Colts missed a field goal, and the ball landed dead on the 1 inch line. That’s when I learned that field goals used to be LIVE balls. So the Cowboys were then forced to start the drive 1 inch from their own endzone.
Final minute drama: Tie game, 1 minute left. The Cowboys throw an INT that the Colts then turns into a 33 yard toe kick from a rookie WR with 5 seconds left to break the 13-13 tie. To make things even more entertaining, his celebration remains the funniest, most cringe, toddler style celebration in sports history. Oh, and right before the kick, the kicker told the coach that he
had no confidence in making it.
Rarest MVP ever: The only Super Bowl in history where the MVP was on the losing team. Congrats to linebacker Chuck Howley?
This game was so chaotic, even Colts players don’t like claiming this win.
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