Steve Serby ranks the Super Bowls 49-1.
49. XXIV — 49ers 55, Broncos 10: MVP Joe Montana threw five TD passes and it was 41-3 early in the third quarter as George Seifert became the second rookie head coach to win the Super Bowl and John Elway dropped to 0-3 in the Super Bowl.
48. XLVIII — Seahawks 43, Broncos 8: Only 12 seconds into the first quarter, Peyton Manning watched a center snap sail over his shoulder for a safety, and it was all downhill after that against the Legion of Boom in the first outdoor cold-weather Super Bowl … in 49-degree temperatures.
47. XXIX — 49ers 49, Chargers 26: MVP Steve Young, escaping Montana’s giant shadow with a vengeance, threw a record six TD passes, three to Jerry Rice, and Ricky Watters scored three times.
46. XXVII — Cowboys 52, Bills 17: Jim Kelly was knocked out early, but you aren’t going to beat the Triplets (Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin) when you commit nine turnovers. At least Don Beebe stripped a showboating Leon Lett before he could make it 59-17.
45. XXXVII — Buccaneers 48, Raiders 21: Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who at the time became the youngest coach at 39 to win a Super Bowl, apparently knew the offense as well as quarterback Rich Gannon did, as the Bucs returned three of his five interceptions to the end zone.
44. XXXV — Ravens 34, Giants 7: One of the best defenses in history stuffed Tiki Barber and intimidated Kerry Collins into four interceptions and carried Trent Dilfer to the title.
43. VI — Cowboys 24, Dolphins 3: Duane Thomas led a 252-yard ground assault, MVP Roger Staubach threw for two TDs and Bob Lilly spelled Doomsday for Bob Griese.
42. XVIII — Raiders 38, Redskins 9: Derrick Jensen blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone, LB Jack Squirek returned a Joe Theismann interception for a TD and MVP Marcus Allen (a then-record 191 yards rushing) unleashed an epic 74-yard TD run in the third quarter.
41. IX — Steelers 16, Vikings 6: MVP Franco Harris rushed for 158 yards and Mean Joe Greene (interception and fumble recovery) brought the Steel Curtain down on QB Fran Tarkenton, RB Chuck Foreman and WR John Gilliam.
40. XII — Cowboys 27, Broncos 10: Co-MVPs Harvey Martin and Randy White rattled hobbled Craig Morton and led a defense more dominant than Red Miller’s Orange Crush. The Broncos committed eight turnovers — four interceptions and four fumbles.
39. XXVI — Redskins 37, Bills 24: Joe Gibbs won his third Super Bowl with his third different quarterback, MVP Mark Rypien, while Kelly was intercepted four times, sacked five times and had five passes batted down, and Thomas couldn’t find his helmet.
38. IV — Chiefs 23, Vikings 7: MVP Len Dawson matriculated the ball down the field for Hank Stram, and the dominant Kansas City defense, anchored by massive Buck Buchanon, intercepted Joe Kapp twice and knocked him out in the fourth quarter.
37. VIII — Dolphins 24, Vikings 7: Bob Griese threw just seven passes while MVP Larry Csonka rushed for a then-record 145 yards as Don Shula’s boys bludgeoned Alan Page and repeated as Super Bowl champs.
36. XV — Raiders 27, Eagles 10: MVP Jim Plunkett threw three TD passes and LB Rod Martin intercepted three Ron Jaworski passes as Al Davis’ renegades became the first wild-card team to win a Super Bowl, much to NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s chagrin.
35. XI — Raiders 32, Vikings 14: Fred Biletnikoff caught passes from Ken Stabler that set up three touchdowns, and John Madden was carried off the field in Pasadena.
34. II — Packers 33, Raiders 14: MVP Bart Starr hit Boyd Dowler with a 62-yard TD pass, Don Chandler kicked four field goals and Herb Adderley’s 60-yard pick-six of Daryle Lamonica sent Lombardi out of Green Bay in style.
33. XL — Steelers 21, Seahawks 10: An inconclusive 1-yard TD run by Ben Roethlisberger and a phantom holding call that ruined what likely would have been a fourth-quarter TD drive caused sleeplessness in Seattle as Jerome Bettis retired on top.
32. XXVIII — Cowboys 30, Bills 13: The Bills saw a 13-6 halftime lead vanish once Cowboys safety James Washington returned a Thurman Thomas fumble 46 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter, and MVP Emmitt Smith rumbled for 132 yards and two TDs.
31. XX — Bears 46, Patriots 10: Maverick QB and Super Bowl Shuffle star Jim McMahon mooned a helicopter over the practice field. The only mistake Mike Ditka made was letting Refrigerator Perry vulture Walter Payton’s TD. Historic defense.
30. XIX — 49ers 38, Dolphins 16: Montana (331 yards, three TDs) outdueled second-year phenom Dan Marino, who was sacked four times and would never return to a Super Bowl. RB Roger Craig caught two TD passes and rushed for another.
29. XXIII — Broncos 34, Falcons 19: Elway beat former coach Dan Reeves and became the oldest QB to win a Super Bowl at 38. Atlanta safety Eugene Robinson was arrested on the eve of the game, charged with soliciting prostitution from an undercover police officer.
28. V — Colts 16, Cowboys 13: Rookie Jim O’Brien, who had an extra point blocked earlier in the game, booted a 32-yard field goal with five seconds left in a Blooper Bowl low-lighted by 11 turnovers and a rib injury to Johnny Unitas.
27. XXI — Giants 39, Broncos 20: MVP Phil Simms was an unconscious 22-of-25 as The Other Quarterback outshined Elway.
26. XXII — Redskins 42, Broncos 10: MVP Doug Williams threw four second-quarter TD passes to overcome a 10-0 deficit against Elway and became the first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl with help from unheralded RB Timmy Smith (204 rushing yards). Historical significance.
25. I — Packers 35, Chiefs 10: Unlikely hero Max McGee, on an hour’s sleep, came off the bench hungover after Boyd Dowler suffered a shoulder injury and caught a pair of TD passes from MVP Bart Starr as Vince Lombardi’s NFL made its statement to the AFL.
24. VII— Dolphins 14, Redskins 7: The first and only undefeated season, though Garo Yepremian provided a blooper for the ages when he picked up his blocked field goal and threw a panicked interception to Mike Bass with 2:10 remaining. Historical significance.
23. XVII — Redskins 27, Dolphins 17: MVP John Riggins (166 rushing yards) rumbled for a 43-yard TD run in the fourth quarter, and David Woodley couldn’t complete a pass in the second half.
22. XXXI — Packers 35, Patriots 21: Brett Favre passed for two TDs and rushed for another, and MVP Desmond Howard returned a kickoff 99 yards in Bill Parcells’ last game as Patriots coach.
21. XLI — Colts 29, Bears 17: Peyton Manning, slinging in the rain, won his elusive first ring as Tony Dungy became the first black head coach to win one, with Rex Grossman throwing a 56-yard pick-six to Kelvin Hayden in the fourth quarter. Historical significance.
20. XXX — Cowboys 27, Steelers 17: MVP cornerback Larry Brown earned a free-agent windfall from the Raiders when Neil O’Donnell gift-wrapped him two interceptions. O’Donnell, of course, was rewarded with a $25 million free-agent deal by the Jets.
19. XXXIX — Patriots 24, Eagles 21: MVP Deion Branch (11 catches, 133 yards) led Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to their third championship in four years as a gassed Donovan McNabb engineered a late fourth-quarter TD drive in slow-motion.
18. XVI — 49ers 26, Bengals 21: Bill Walsh and Montana built a 20-0 lead by halftime and held on thanks to a fourth-down stop of bruiser RB Pete Johnson at the end of a goal-line stand.
17. X — Steelers 21, Cowboys 17: MVP Lynn Swann stole the show with a juggling, tumbling, acrobatic catch at midfield of a ball tipped by cornerback Mark Washington and 64-yard TD catch from Terry Bradshaw in the fourth quarter.
16. XLV — Packers 31, Steelers 25: Aaron Rodgers’ 3 TD passes enabled the sixth-seeded road warriors to withstand injuries to veteran leaders Charles Woodson and Donald Driver and a Roethlisberger comeback bid.
15. XIV — Steelers 31, Rams 19: Jack Lambert preserved a 24-19 lead by intercepting rookie QB Vince Ferragamo with 5 ¹/₂ minutes left, and Bradshaw and Chuck Noll won their fourth and final Super Bowl together.
14. XLIV — Saints 31, Colts 17: Four years after Hurricane Katrina, a Sean Payton onsides kick to start the second half, a fourth-quarter TD pass by Drew Brees and a 74-yard pick-six of Peyton Manning by Tracy Porter turned Super Sunday into Mardi Gras.
13. XIII — Steelers 35, Cowboys 31: A wide-open Jackie Smith became one of the all-time Super Bowl goats when he dropped what would have been a 10-yard TD pass from Roger Staubach. Tough to beat four Bradshaw TD passes like that.
12. XXXII — Broncos 31, Packers 24: Elway, with major help from MVP Terrell Davis and an inspirational helicopter spin for a first down, captured his first ring at age 37 after three failures.
11. XLVI — Giants 21, Patriots 17: MVP Eli Manning highlighted a dramatic, 88-yard TD drive with a 38-yard sideline completion to Mario Manningham, and Belichick opted to let Ahmad Bradshaw score from the 6 with 57 seconds left. You can’t spell “elite” without an E-L-I.
10. XLVII — Ravens 34, 49ers 31: The Ray Lewis Farewell Tour and MVP Joe Flacco survived a 34-minute second-half Superdome power outage and furious Colin Kaepernick comeback as John Harbaugh got the better of Jim Harbaugh in the first Super Bowl between coaching brothers.
9. XXXVI — Patriots 20, Rams 17: Brady, from his 17-yard line, engineered the drive that led to Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal as time expired for a huge upset in the first Super Bowl after the 9/11 attacks.
8. XXXIV — Rams 23, Titans 16: Against The Greatest Show on Turf, Steve McNair drove from his 8-yard line to the St. Louis 10, where he hit Kevin Dyson and watched a Mike Jones leg tackle leave Dyson reaching desperately for the goal-line a yard short on the game’s final play.
7. XXIII — 49ers 20, Bengals 16: The legend of Joe Cool. Trailing 16-13 and starting at his 8-yard line, Montana looked up into the stands and asked offensive tackle Harris Barton: “Isn’t that John Candy?” With 34 seconds left, his 10-yard TD pass to John Taylor won it.
6. XXXVIII — Patriots 32, Panthers 29: Jake Delhomme hit Ricky Proehl with a 12-yard TD pass to tie the game with 1:08 left, but John Kasay’s kickoff went out of bounds, giving Brady the ball at the 40, and on came Vinatieri.
5. XLIII — Steelers 27, Cardinals 23: James Harrison’s unlikely 100-yard interception return would play second fiddle to Roethlisberger’s game-winning 6-yard TD pass in the right corner of the end zone to toe-tapping MVP Santonio Holmes.
4. III — Jets 16, Colts 7: The Upset Heard ’Round the World that validated the AFL, horrified the Establishment NFL and provided the impetus for one united league. Joe Namath guaranteed it. Historical significance of the game trumps the game itself.
3. XXV — Giants 20, Bills 19: Wide right. Bill Parcells won his second Super Bowl when Scott Norwood’s 47-yard field goal sailed wide right. Jeff Hostetler and MVP Ottis Anderson possessed the ball for 40:33 and frustrated Kelly’s explosive K-Gun offense.
2. XLIX — Patriots 28, Seahawks 24: The Worst Call in Super Bowl history, Russell Wilson not handing off to Marshawn Lynch at the 1-yard line with 25 seconds left, instead trying to squeeze one over the middle to Ricardo Lockette — RICARDO LOCKETTE! — that Malcolm Butler intercepted, giving Brady and Belichick their fourth ring.
1. XLII — Giants 17, Patriots 14: David Tyree’s catch impressed even Odell Beckham Jr., and Michael Strahan & Co. hounded Brady and the Perfect Patriots were no longer perfect.