This article covers the Top 10 Greatest Super Bowl MVP Performances. This listing is based on statistics combined with spectacular plays that resulted in these players.
Super Bowl 55 will kickoff later today in Tampa, Florida. The defending champion Kansas City Chiefs will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Most football analysts are expecting a high scoring shootout between Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City QB) and Tom Brady (Tampa Bay QB). Mahomes won the MVP trophy last year in Super Bowl 54. Brady has four MVPs in his trophy case (Super Bowl 36, 38, 49 and 51).
Most bettors are picking either QB to win the MVP trophy this evening. I’ve got a gut feeling that a no name player may elevate his game performance to an MVP level. Here’s the Top 10 Greatest Super Bowl MVP performances in ascending order.
Greatest Super Bowl MVP Performances
10. Steve Young – QB San Francisco 49ers
- Super Bowl 29 – played on 1/29/95
- San Francisco 49ers defeated San Diego Chargers 49-26
Steve Young was drafted #1 overall in the 1984 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Young played two seasons in the USFL with the Los Angeles Express, before playing for the Buccaneers in 1985-1986. He had bad statistics during back to back 2-14 seasons, was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in 1987, with the role of Joe Montana’s backup.
Young had an incredible 49 yard touchdown run in a 1988 regular season game victory against the Minnesota Vikings, that enabled the 49ers to make the playoffs and a subsequent run to winning Super Bowl 23. Became the starting QB in 1991, lost back to back NFC Championship games to the Dallas Cowboys in 1992 and 1993, before getting over the hump in 1994. Young had a statistically dominant night against the Chargers by completing 24 out of 36 passes, 325 yards and 6 touchdowns.
He jokingly told his teammates on the sideline during the fourth quarter, “get that monkey off my back!” Young entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
9. Santonio Holmes – WR Pittsburgh Steelers
- Super Bowl 43 – played on 2/1/09
- Pittsburgh Steelers defeated Arizona Cardinals 27-23
- https://youtu.be/3mWHZKYFD9A
Prior to his breakout performance in this game, Santonio Holmes honed his receiving skills at Ohio State University. He was in his third professional season with the Steelers in 2008, had average WR statistics, and was disciplined several times for team issues. Holmes performed best when it mattered most, by catching 4 passes for 73 yards during the game winning drive, culminating with a 6 yard touchdown catch. Holmes ended the game with 9 catches for 131 yard and 1 touchdown. Traded to the New York Jets prior to the 2010 NFL season and his career ended after the 2014 season.
8. Nick Foles – QB Philadelphia Eagles
- Super Bowl 52 – played on 2/4/18
- Philadelphia Eagles defeated New England Patriots 41-33
- https://youtu.be/_XmhBaUdges
Backup QB who took over the starting position due to Carson Wentz suffering a season ending knee injury in week 14. This game had no defense from either team with the Eagles winning 41-33. Nick Foles and Tom Brady were involved in a shootout with 1151 total yards of offense for both teams. Foles had 28 completions on 43 pass attempts, 373 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception. More importantly, Foles caught a touchdown pass on a play called “Philly Special.” Foles will never have to buy a drink again when he’s visiting downtown Philadelphia.
7. Desmond Howard – WR Green Bay Packers
- Super Bowl 31 – played on 1/26/97
- Green Bay Packers defeated New England Patriots 35-21
- https://youtu.be/8BIAEn5BEM0
There are three phases to winning a football game: offense, defense and special teams. Special teams have a tendency to be forgotten unless something good or bad happens to change the momentum of a game. There have been kickoff returns for touchdowns in Super Bowls (23, 33 and 41), but all three of those teams lost. Consequently Desmond Howard was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1991. Unfortunately he had been a bust production wise until landing with the Packers in 1996.
Howard warmed up in the 1996 NFL divisional playoffs round with a 71 yard punt return for a touchdown. Topped that with a 99 yard kickoff return for a touchdown in Super Bowl 31 to seal the final score of 35-21. Howard is the only special teams players to win the Super Bowl MVP trophy. Currently one of the hosts on ESPN College GameDay and he always picks the Big Ten teams to win.
6. John Elway – QB Denver Broncos
- Super Bowl 33 – played on 1/31/99
- Denver Broncos defeated Atlanta Falcons 34-19
There’s no better way to cap a 16 year NFL career than to win a Super Bowl and be MVP of that game. That’s exactly what John Elway did in his final game against Atlanta. The Falcons focused on NFL MVP Terrell Davis, since he had eclipsed 2000+ rushing yards during the regular season and was the focal point of the Broncos offense. Elway was able to take advantage of the run-stopping defense to have 18 completions in 29 pass attempts for 336 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
More importantly, Elway ran for the last Broncos touchdown to put the game out of reach at 31-6 late in the third quarter. It was sweet karma that Elway turned in this performance against his ex-head coach Dan Reeves to repeat as champions. Elway entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
5. Tom Brady – QB New England Patriots
- Super Bowl 36 – played on 2/3/02
- New England Patriots defeated St. Louis Rams 20-17
- https://youtu.be/0WNBQmcPh24
Super Bowl MVP Performances seem fairly straight forward for Tom Brady, but which one to pick is the question. Patriots had been built around franchise QB Drew Bledsoe in 1993 and head coach Bill Parcells. Parcells left to be head coach of the New York Jets in 1997, which elevated Bill Belichick and he continued to use Bledsoe at QB. Bledsoe was injured in week 2 and a second round draft pick from 2000 stepped into play QB, Tom Brady.
Patriots decided to be introduced as a team instead of by individual players in Super Bowl 36. This symbol of team unity carried onto the playing field and a 17-3 lead at halftime over the favored Rams. With the score tied 17-17 and 1:30 left in the game, Brady didn’t take a knee and play for overtime. Brady drove the offense to the Rams 30 yard line. Adam Vinatieri kicked a 48 yard field goal as time expired to win. Brady’s stats were somewhat pedestrian for a Super Bowl MVP with 16 pass completions in 27 attempts, 145 yards, 1 touchdown, but he showed amazing calm when the stakes were highest and elevated the play of this teammates. That’s one reason why Brady is getting ready to play in his tenth Super Bowl game.
4. Marcus Allen – RB Los Angeles Raiders
- Super Bowl 18 – played on 1/22/84
- Los Angeles Raiders defeated Washington Redskins 38-9
- https://youtu.be/j3wTe-zqhlI
Marcus Allen was the latest RB to enter the NFL from Tailback U, USC Trojans. Allen won the Heisman Trophy in 1981 and was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1982. Had a solid 1983 regular season with 1759 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Followed that up with a scintillating Super Bowl performance of 191 yards rushing, 18 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns. Allen’s cutback 74 yard touchdown run early in the third quarter is simply a beautiful play on the biggest stage and he makes it look incredibly easy. His Jersey (#33) is retired at USC and he is a Pro Football Hall of Famer since 2003.
3. Joe Montana – QB San Francisco 49ers
- Super Bowl 16 – played on 1/24/82
- San Francisco 49ers defeated Cincinnati Bengals 26-21
- https://youtu.be/gGxfW7SMgJY
Joe Montana engineered a famous comeback during his final game at Notre Dame in the 1979 Cotton Bowl against Houston. Montana drank chicken soup in the locker room to combat a bad cold/flu bug, returning to the game late in the third quarter and the Fighting Irish trailing 34-12. Montana led four consecutive scoring drives (FG,TD,TD,TD) to win the bowl game 35-34 and earned the nickname “The Comeback Kid.”
In his first Super Bowl, Montana led the 49ers to a 20-0 halftime lead, and then defense held up for a 26-21 victory. Montana had average statistics of 14 pass completions in 22 attempts, 157 yards, 1 passing TD, 18 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD to win the MVP trophy. This was the beginning of a great post-season career that would end with four Super Bowl titles. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000. There are countless debates on who is the greatest QB to ever play in the NFL, with Joe Montana and Tom Brady leading that conversation.
2. Emmitt Smith – RB Dallas Cowboys
- Super Bowl 28 – played on 1/30/94
- Dallas Cowboys defeated Buffalo Bills 30-13
- https://youtu.be/KWGCxNOkHPM
Cowboys entered the 1993 season trying to repeat as Super Bowl champions and had one significant issue to address. Their star running back, Emmitt Smith, was holding out for a bigger monetary contract. Smith held out the first two regular season games and the Cowboys lost both. Cowboys locker room was not happy with the owner, Jerry Jones, playing hardball with contract negotiations. Smith was back in week 3 with a new contract making him the highest paid player in the NFL and the Cowboys went on a seven game winning streak. Cowboys stumbled to the regular season finish line highlighted by a snowy loss to the Dolphins on Thanksgiving day.
Smith was saving his best rushing games when they mattered most. In the final week of the season, with the NFC East title on the line, Smith turned in an epic performance against the Giants with 168 yards rushing, catching 10 passes for 61 yards and scoring the Cowboys only touchdown. Smith did all of that work after suffering a first-degree separation of his right shoulder in the first half.
Super Bowl 28 ended up being a game of two halves, with the Bills leading at halftime, and the Cowboys dominating the second half. Smith rushed for 132 yards, 2 touchdowns, and caught 4 passes for 26 yards. Smith proved in the second half that he was the best player in the NFL and was being paid accordingly. The all-time lead rusher in yardage in the NFL and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
1. Jerry Rice – WR San Francisco 49ers
- Super Bowl 23 – played on 1/22/89
- San Francisco 49ers defeated Cincinnati Bengals 20-16
- https://youtu.be/pXZoQBehY08
I remember reading a two page article in Sports Illustrated in 1984 about a young WR at Mississippi Valley State, who had worked on his receiving skills by catching bricks his father would toss to him. His father was a brick layer and catching bricks helped complete the work faster.
I watched this WR on Christmas Day 1984 in the NCAA Blue-Gray game on CBS. He was a man among boys catching two touchdowns and literally caught any ball thrown near him. This WR was quietly picked by the San Francisco 49ers in middle of the first round of the 1985 NFL Draft.
Fast forward to the Super Bowl 23 and this WR was gaining a lot of national attention due to always catching touchdowns and showing the entire NFL how yards after catch was going to be a new statistic due to the West Coast Offense being run by the 49ers. After catching two touchdowns early in the 1988 NFC Championship Game, everyone knew this WR as Jerry Rice.
Rice had a sublime game against the Bengals with 11 catches for 215 yards and 1 touchdown. Besides stuffing the stat sheet, Rice’s performance looked effortless with all of his catches due to his athleticism and hard work. That game caused most NFL teams to modify their playbooks to have “one big time” WR like Rice. Rice won three Super Bowl titles, is the best WR to ever play in the NFL and was enshrined at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
Super Bowl 55 MVP Prediction
Super Bowl 55 kickoff is about four hours away and here’s my MVP predictions based on minimal research and just a gut feeling:
Kansas City Chiefs – Tyreek Hill or Clyde Edwards-Helaire due to their pure speed and ability to get in space for big plays.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Rob Gronkowski or Mike Evans – Chiefs have some coverage holes in their secondary that can be exploited by two crafty route runners.
Enjoy the big game and keep it classy everyday!
Read this post about the the Top 10 Competitive Super Bowls.
