The best competitive Super Bowls Played can be a difficult topic to summarize however this article attempts to do the impossible. Super Bowl 2021 fever is here, let’s get started.
It is Super Bowl 55 week in Tampa, Florida as the NFL prepares for the big game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Super Bowl 55 will be different than the previous 54 Super Bowls that have been played, due to COVID-19 impacts to professional sports in the USA. Both teams will arrive in Tampa Bay less than 48 hours before kickoff on 2/7/21. 22,000 fans will be in attendance due to local social distancing rules, with 7,500 of those fans being vaccinated health care workers invited as guests of the NFL. It’s a big achievement that the 2020 NFL season has reached the Super Bowl week with minimal impacts due to Covid.
All of the football experts are currently analyzing the on-field matchup and storylines tied to the Chiefs vs. Buccaneers. #1 seed in the American Football Conference (AFC) vs. the #5 seed in the National Football Conference (NFC). Best current player in the NFL (Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes) vs. the Greatest of All Time QB in NFL history (Buccaneers QB Tom Brady). First time in 55 years that a team (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) will play the Super Bowl game in their home stadium.
NFL has hosted four previous Super Bowls in Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay has already hosted four Super Bowls (18, 25, 35 and 43) and Super Bowl 55 will be the fifth big game. Hopefully the matchup will live up to the pre-game hype by being competitive and memorable. Will the Chiefs repeat as champions or will the Buccaneers add a second title to their mantle next to the 2002 season?
To get ready for the media and analysis week, here’s the Top 10 Best Competitive Super Bowls played to date in ascending order. Final score, competitiveness, timing, sub-stories and historical NFL impact were taken into account for the game ratings. To get warmed up, here’s the six games classified as Honorable Mention.
Honorable Mention Competitive Super Bowls Played
Super Bowl 1 – played on 1/15/67
- Green Bay Packers defeated Kansas City Chiefs 35-10
- The “big game” concept was born at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The game wasn’t sold out with 61,946 patrons paying $12.00/each to attend and CBS broadcasted the game on television.
Super Bowl 20 – played on 1/26/86
- Chicago Bears defeated New England Patriots 46-10
- Best defense in NFL history dominated the Patriots in New Orleans. Walter Payton was unfortunately a footnote in a game that ended with Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan both being carried off the field by their team.
Super Bowl 34 – played on 1/30/00
- St. Louis Rams defeated Tennessee Titans 23-16
- NFL experts call this one of the greatest football games ever played due to Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson coming up 1-1.5 yards short of tying the game on the final play.
Super Bowl 43 – played on 2/1/09
- Pittsburgh Steelers defeated Arizona Cardinals 27-23
- Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl ring due to James Harrison’s 100 yard interception return right before halftime. Also a sublime game from wide receiver Santonio Holmes, with a 6 yard touchdown reception in the final minute that had no business being completed due to excellent secondary coverage.
Super Bowl 47 played on 2/3/13
- Baltimore Ravens defeated San Francisco 49ers 34-31
- With the Ravens leading 28-6 in the third quarter, a partial power outage at the Superdome in New Orleans caused a 34 minute delay. 49ers got within 34-29, but couldn’t take the lead due to turning the ball over on downs in the red zone. Ed Reed solidified his Hall of Fame resume with this playoff run.
Super Bowl 49 played on 2/1/15
- New England Patriots defeated Seattle Seahawks 28-24
- Seattle was driving for a repeat championship with the best running back in the NFL (Marshawn Lynch), and for some unknown reason, decided to throw the ball on first down from the 1 yard line as a junk play to stop the clock. Malcolm Butler jumped that route, intercepted Russell Wilson’s throw and the second chapter of the Patriots dynasty was started.
Top 10 Best Competitive Super Bowls Played
10. Super Bowl 7 played on 1/14/73
- Miami Dolphins defeated Washington Redskins 14-7
- Dolphins completed the only perfect season in NFL history at 17-0 with this victory. If it wasn’t for Garo Yepremian’s lollipop pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, Dolphins would have pitched a shutout.
9. Super Bowl 42 played on 2/3/08
- New York Giants defeated New England Patriots 17-13
- Patriots were trying to match the 1972 Dolphins team by entering this game at 18-0 and clicking on offense. Giants were on a three game road winning streak and caused this game to be a defensive slugfest. Miracle third down pass to David Tyree against Rodney Harrison. Followed by a slant-and-go route for a touchdown to Plaxico Burgess ended the Patriots chance at a undefeated season.
8. Super Bowl 3 played on 1/12/69
- New York Jets defeated Baltimore Colts 16-7
- AFC champion Jets were 18 point underdogs to the Baltimore Colts with an aging Johnny Unitas at QB. The young QB of the Jets, Joe Namath, guaranteed a victory three days before kickoff at the Miami Touchdown Club. Namath was MVP of the game and definitely walked the talk.
7. Super Bowl 15 played on 1/15/81
- Oakland Raiders defeated Philadelphia Eagles 27-10
- USA tv viewing audience was celebrating the end of the Iran hostage crisis five days earlier.
- Ron Jaworski threw three interceptions to Rod Martin and Jim Plunkett won MVP honors due to throwing three touchdowns.
- This Raiders team was the first Wild Card team to win the Super Bowl.
6. Super Bowl 23 played on 1/22/89
- San Francisco 49ers defeated Cincinnati Bengals 20-16
- Young wide receiver from Mississippi Valley State was the first round draft pick of the 49ers in 1985, Jerry Rice. Rice’s coming out party was this game when he had 11 receptions, 215 yards, and one touchdown.
- The score was close throughout with John Taylor catching the winning 10 yard touchdown pass with 0:34 left.
- Bill Walsh’s retired as an NFL head coach after this victory.
5. Super Bowl 14 played on 1/20/80
- Pittsburgh Steelers defeated Los Angeles Rams 31-19
- The Steelers closed out the first official dynasty in the NFL by winning their fourth Super Bowl in six seasons.
- There isn’t a prettier pass than the 73 yard touchdown from Terry Bradshaw to John Stallworth as darkness descends at the Rose Bowl stadium early in the fourth quarter.
- Franco Harris closed out the victory with a short touchdown run.
4. Super Bowl 36 played on 2/3/02
- New England Patriots defeated St. Louis Rams 20-17
- First half was all Patriots on the scoreboard 14-3 and helped by a Ty Law interception return for a touchdown.
- U2 performed an incredible halftime show that culminated and awesome version of “Where The Streets Have No Name.”
- Second half saw the Rams claw back to tie the score at 17-17 with 1:30 left in the game.
- John Madden famously stated on Fox TV that “the Patriots should run out the clock and attempt to win the game in overtime.”
- The exact opposite happened with a second year quarterback named Tom Brady. Adam Vinatieri kicked a 48 yard field goal as time expired and the Patriots dynasty was born.
3. Super Bowl 32 played on 1/25/98
- Denver Broncos defeated Green Bay Packers 31-24
- AFC was in a 0-13 losing streak in Super Bowls since the 1983 season.
- Broncos were 11.5 point underdogs against the defending champion Packers.
- AFC losing streak looked like it would continue after the Packers easily drove the length of the field for a touchdown on their opening drive.
- The Broncos responded by unleashing a powerful running game behind their zone blocking offensive line and game MVP Terrell Davis.
- John Elway’s key third down scrambe late in the third quarter for a critical red zone first down, motivated the Broncos to finally win after four previous Super Bowl losses.
- I still enjoy watching highlight videos showing Eugene Robinson yelling at his defensive teammates on the Packers sidelines late in the first quarter stating that “We are playing the Indianapolis Colts! This team isn’t any good!” That was filmed before Davis left Robinson holding his jock strap on the next Denver offensive series.
- Broncos victory as a Wild Card team jump-started the AFC to go 8-5 in the next 13 Super Bowls played.
- Going into Super 55, the AFC has won 27 games and the NFC has won 27 games.
2. Super Bowl 25 played on 1/27/91
- New York Giants defeated Buffalo Bills 20-19
- Background and timing of this game was intense on and off the field. Gulf War had started earlier in the month and the new security measures at the stadium were a glaring reminder that the USA was at war.
- Buffalo Bills throttled the Los Angeles Raiders 51-3 in the AFC Championship Game due to their K-Gun offense being unstoppable.
- New York Giants beat the San Francisco 49ers 15-13 in the NFC Championship Game. The 49ers were trying to complete a three-peat as Super Bowl champions, but ran into a stingy and opportunistic defense. Leonard Marshall knocked Joe Montana out cold late in the fourth quarter, which started the Steve Young era.
- Two teams from the same state, both wearing red, white and blue uniforms symbolic of the USA flag during an emotional national anthem sung by Whitney Houston.
- Giants had two game plans up their sleeve that ended up being executed perfectly. Hold onto the ball when on offense with long, time consuming drives that focused on running the ball.
- By bleeding the clock for the entire game on offense, the Giants would cause the Bills offense to be on the sideline and not score many points. Both scenarios played out from the opening kickoff to the end of the game.
- Ottis Anderson ran for 102 yards, Mark Ingram had an incredible catch and run on third down and 14 yards to pick up a critical first down on a long touchdown drive.
- Scott Norwood missed a 47 yard field goal wide right as time expired for the Bills.
- This game introduced the NFL to Bill Belichick due to his defensive game planning.
1. Super Bowl 51 played on 2/5/17
- New England Patriots defeated Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in OT
- Atlanta was cruising with a 28-3 lead mid-way through the third quarter. The game was headed towards a blowout, but the Patriots had Tom Brady and an angry defense.
- Short touchdown pass to James White, 33 yard field goal, short six yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola, James White 1 yard touchdown run with 51 seconds left, 2 point conversion pass from Brady and all of sudden this game is headed to overtime and the Patriots have all of the momentum.
- It was painful to see the Atlanta owner, Arthur Blank, on the Falcons sideline as the momentum shifted to New England.
- During the only overtime in Super Bowl history, Patriots methodically marched 75 yards to a 2 yard touchdown run by game MVP James White, who scored 20 points on his own that night.
- Biggest comeback in Super Bowl history (25 points) and title #5 for Brady and the Patriots.
- The frenetic pace of the second half, scoring points in bunches and the drama of an overtime session deciding the Super Bowl champion makes this the most exciting “big game” in NFL history.
Super Bowl 55 Prediction
As Super Bowl 55 approaches, the Kansas City Chiefs have been a solid three point favorite since betting line opened on 1/24/21. I don’t see the Buccaneers slowing the Chiefs offense down, let alone having the horses to keep up if the game becomes a high scoring affair. I predict the Chiefs will win the game by 14+ points for their second straight Super Bowl title. A new dynasty in the AFC and NFL is rising.
Enjoy the game and keep it classy everyday!
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