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Top 5 Most Memorable Super Bowls in History 

by Scott Kacsmar
written by Scott Kacsmar
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The Super Bowl is the most-watched event each year, accounting for millions of bets at the top NFL betting sites. Super Bowl 57 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles was watched by over 115 million in the United States, a new record.

The game could have had a truly memorable ending without a certain penalty on a 3rd down, but it was still a record-setting Super Bowl as the 35 points scored by the Eagles were the most ever scored by a losing team..

However, for many years, the Super Bowl was rarely a memorable game. The early decades were filled with blowouts and games decided well before the 4th quarter. It was not until the late 1990s that the games started to consistently deliver a competitive contest worth watching through to the end, especially for the many casual viewers tuning into perhaps their first NFL game since they were stuck watching it on Thanksgiving too.

You could say we live in a golden age of Super Bowls with 18 of the last 20 games being within a single possession in the 4th quarter.

That is why the considerations for our list of the 5 most memorable Super Bowls in history were dominated by recent decades. It was tough leaving some classic games off like Super Bowl 25 between the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills. But these games will stand the test of time for their unforgettable highlights, incredible momentum swings, and their important place in NFL history.

5. Super Bowl XIII (1978) – Pittsburgh Steelers Defeated Dallas Cowboys 35-31

While the first dozen Super Bowls had some memorable moments like Joe Namath’s guarantee of an upset win and the 1972 Dolphins completing their undefeated season, the games rarely lived up to the hype. Even those games we just mentioned are lousy to watch to this day.

But Super Bowl XIII was a heavyweight matchup that managed to exceed the hype. This was the first time the Super Bowl had a rematch as these teams met to end the 1975 season, and Pittsburgh won that game 21-17. The winner here was going to be the first team to win 3 Super Bowls, and bragging rights as the team of the decade were on the line.

The Steelers and Cowboys were loaded too with 26 Hall of Famers between them, including both coaches (Chuck Noll and Tom Landry), both quarterbacks (Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach), both running backs (Franco Harris and Tony Dorsett), several wide receivers (John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, and Drew Pearson), and some of the best defensive players in NFL history (Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, Randy White, Cliff Harris, and Harvey Martin).

The game featured 6 players who would win a Super Bowl MVP in their career, including Terry Bradshaw for this game. Bradshaw was the 1978 regular season MVP, but Dallas linebacker Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson made some buzz before the game saying that “Bradshaw couldn’t spell cat if you spotted him the ‘c’ and the ‘a’.”

Bradshaw got the last laugh as he threw for 318 yards and 4 touchdowns. Staubach played well against the No. 1 defense of Pittsburgh, but a big dropped pass late in the 3rd quarter lives in infamy. Jackie Smith, a Hall of Fame tight end in his final game at age 38, was alone in the end zone but was unable to haul in the catch. The Cowboys had to settle for a field goal to cut the deficit to 21-17 instead of making that tying touchdown. The famous call by Verne Lundquist of “Bless his heart, he’s got to be the sickest man in America” for Smith’s drop is an all-time Super Bowl moment.

After a Pittsburgh touchdown, Randy White fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting up another touchdown on a short field for the Steelers, who led 35-17 with 6:51 left. The game was surprisingly high scoring as the betting total was just 37 points. The previous high in scoring for a team in a losing Super Bowl was just 17 points, so the Cowboys blew that away with 31 in this game after a furious rally by Staubach just came up short. He led Dallas to 2 straight touchdowns, but they were unable to recover another onside kick in the final seconds.

The game also has its own legacy for betting as the spread opened Pittsburgh at -3.5 before going up to -4.5 to attract Dallas bettors. With the Steelers winning by 4 points, the books took a hammering from both sides in what is known as “Black Sunday.”

But it was a defining win for Pittsburgh, which completed its dynasty run with a 4th Super Bowl the following year against the Rams. The teams would not meet again in a Super Bowl until Super Bowl XXX in the 1995 season. Dallas finally got the Steelers in a big game and won 27-17, beating the Steelers to 5 Super Bowl wins.

4. Super Bowl XXIII (1988) – San Francisco 49ers Defeated Cincinnati Bengals 20-16

While the San Francisco 49ers are known as the team of the 1980s with their 4 Super Bowl wins, things were dicey going into that 1988 season. The 49ers had just lost their 3rd playoff game in a row, Joe Montana was having health issues, and fans were starting to wonder if Steve Young would take over at quarterback.

The 49ers were only 6-5 to start the season and 10-6 going into the playoffs, but they caught fire at the right time. The defense was lights out against the Vikings and Bears, and Montana was back to playing at a high level. The 49ers went into the Super Bowl as a 6-point favorite despite Cincinnati’s 12-4 record, No. 1 scoring offense, and the MVP season quarterback Boomer Esiason had.

But the NFC ruled the league during this time, the 49ers were expected to have a big night. The game turned out to be lower scoring than most predicted with the teams exchanging field goals into a 6-6 score in the 3rd quarter. But that’s when the Bengals started feeling the upset vibe once Stanford Jennings returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown to take a 13-6 lead.

Jerry Rice ended up catching a touchdown from Montana to tie the game early in the 4th quarter, but that was not before one of the most memorable dropped interceptions in NFL history. Cincinnati corner Lewis Billups had a great shot to pick off Montana, who retired with no picks in 4 Super Bowl starts, but he dropped the ball. Rice caught a 14-yard touchdown on the next snap.

Who knows what could have happened if Billups made the pick with the Bengals still up 13-6. Despite an MVP season, Esiason struggled mightily in the big game. In fact, he was worse than Ken Anderson when he was MVP in 1981 and lost a Super Bowl to Montana and the 49ers that year. But Esiason was able to get a drive going and helped the Bengals to a go-ahead field goal with 3:20 left.

Montana had to start at his 8-yard line, but he was cool as a cucumber before the drive, spotting actor John Candy in the crowd. The ensuing drive turned into the shining moment of Montana’s Hall of Fame career, and also a highlight for life for Rice on his 27-yard catch at midfield that was vintage Rice and made the ending feel inevitable.

John Taylor caught a 10-yard touchdown from Montana with 34 seconds left to put the 49ers back on top 20-16, and they held on for the win. Rice was the Super Bowl MVP with 11 catches for 215 yards and a touchdown. Montana passed for 357 yards in the game.

That drive was really the first time in Super bowl history a trailing team marched down in the final minutes for the game-winning touchdown. It was San Francisco’s 3rd Super Bowl win in the decade, and it was the swansong for Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh, who retired after the game. The 49ers came back stronger to win another Super Bowl in 1989 too, wrapping up the team of the decade talk.

3. Super Bowl XLIX (2014) – New England Patriots Defeated Seattle Seahawks 28-24

Do fans of the Atlanta Falcons need a trigger warning? We are only going to briefly mention 28-3 and the reason why that game is not on the list is because it probably never happens if not for Super Bowl XLIX a couple of seasons earlier.

This epic battle between the Patriots and Seahawks was the most important NFL game in the 2010s. Both teams were No. 1 seeds and the betting line was a pick ‘em because of how tight and contested this figured to be.

The Seahawks had just destroyed Denver in the Super Bowl a year ago to win a championship under Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, and that Legion of Boom defense. Seattle was trying to become the 1st team since the 2003-04 Patriots to repeat.

The Patriots were still searching for that 4th ring for Bill Belichick and Tom Brady after countless big-game losses and flops from 2005-13, a 9-year drought without a ring. After losing 41-14 in Kansas City in Week 4 that season, some questioned if the New England dynasty was dead. But the Patriots improved and reached another Super Bowl.

The game was like a heavyweight bout with the teams trading blows. Brady threw a red-zone interception, ensuring a scoreless 1st quarter. After Brady threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski with 36 seconds left in the half to take a 14-7 lead, Wilson and his offense answered in a hurry with an 80-yard touchdown drive to tie the game. Unknown receiver Chris Matthews was a Super Bowl hero with 4 catches for 109 yards and his touchdown to end the half.

The Seahawks started the game with Marshawn Lynch getting stuffed on a 3rd-and-2. They started the 3rd quarter with Lynch getting stuffed on a 3rd-and-1, so they settled for a field goal. Keep those plays in mind for later. But another Brady interception led to a Seattle touchdown drive and 24-14 lead.

But on both of Brady’s interceptions, the Seahawks lost a defender to injury for the game. Cliff Avril proved to be a huge loss as his pressure was sorely missed late in the game. Corner Jeremy Lane was another big loss as Brady picked on his replacement, Tharold Simon. The famed Legion of Boom was also playing this game heavily injured as corner Richard Sherman had a serious elbow injury, safety Kam Chancellor played on a torn MCL, and safety Earl Thomas gutted it out with a fully torn labrum.

The Seahawks did not build on their lead as little-known corner Malcolm Butler stopped them on a 3rd-and-2 pass defense. There’s a name to keep in mind for later.

The game-changing play in the 4th quarter came on a 3rd-and-14 when Brady stepped up and found Julian Edelman for a 21-yard gain. Edelman took a huge shot on the play from Chancellor, and he almost certainly suffered a concussion. But he was allowed to continue to play as protocol was not in place back then, and he had a huge quarter for the Patriots.

Brady, the game MVP, went back to Edelman for his 2nd touchdown pass of the quarter and 4th of the night with 2:06 left. Edelman beat Simon, the injury replacement for Lane.

Still, the Seahawks had plenty of time to drive for the winning touchdown, something they were good at doing under Wilson. Jermaine Kearse ended up catching a deflected 33-yard pass that should go down as one of the wildest catches in Super Bowl history. But that catch also proved to be a bit of a curse as it put the Seahawks at the 5-yard line, they burned a timeout, and it led to the final sequence that they badly botched.

Trying to use time and score a touchdown very late in the game is a smart idea, but it is a lot easier on paper than in execution. You basically have to take a touchdown when it presents itself, and the Seahawks getting down to the 5 so quickly got them thinking crazy thoughts on how to manage the clock against Brady.

After Lynch went full steam ahead for 4 yards to get to the 1-yard line and just 2nd down, the Seahawks let the clock tick under 30 seconds. This is where blowing the 2nd timeout early did not help. But instead of sticking with Beast Mode and going back to Lynch, the Seahawks tried throwing a slant in tight coverage to Ricardo Lockette of all people, and Malcolm Butler made a name for himself with the game-saving interception. There is footage from practice that week of Belichick teaching Butler how to defend that exact route in that spot.

You could debate if it’s the best goal-line stand in NFL history, but it is certainly the most impactful interception in NFL history. No other game has seen a team denied a championship after it was 1 yard away from the late lead. There were 108 passes thrown from the 1-yard line in the 2014 season and none were intercepted until Wilson’s in the Super Bowl.

Teams who have a 1st-and-goal from inside the 5-yard line scored a touchdown 75% of the time, but Seattle’s failure is the stuff of legends. Were they worried about the earlier run stuffs in the game? They shouldn’t have been. The Patriots were statistically the worst short-yardage run defense in the 2014 season, and on 6 runs from the 1-yard line that year, they allowed 5 touchdowns. But this is also an area where Wilson’s inability to perform the quarterback sneak was a big problem. If that’s Jalen Hurts or Josh Allen, that’s a game-winning touchdown.

Seattle got way too concerned with the clock and should have committed to running Lynch repeatedly from the 1 to get it in. Instead, we are left with the costliest interception in NFL history, and it became the 4th Super Bowl win for Brady and Belichick. It also was the 1st time a team came back from 10 points down in the 4th quarter of a Super Bowl.

However, it was not the last time. Just 2 years later in Super Bowl 51, the Falcons blew a 19-point lead in the 4th quarter to Brady’s Patriots. They led 28-3 in the 3rd quarter as well. Who was the coach of the Falcons? Dan Quinn. Who was the defensive coordinator of the Seahawks who watched Brady carve his injured defense up for back-to-back touchdown drives in this game? Dan Quinn.

The Seahawks had a golden chance to repeat and claim the New England dynasty was over now that 3 teams (Seahawks, Steelers, and Giants) all won multiple Super Bowls since the last win for the Patriots.

Instead, the Patriots used this renewed championship confidence to appear in 3 more Super Bowls, winning in 2016 and 2018 to extend the dynasty into a 2nd decade.

2. Super Bowl XLIII (2008) – Pittsburgh Steelers Defeated Arizona Cardinals 27-23

Expectations may not have been super high for Super Bowl XLIII given the poor offensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the poor defense of the Arizona Cardinals, a team that only scored 1 more point than it allowed in the regular season.

But for pure entertainment purposes, this may have been the best Super Bowl ever played. It certainly is a major contender for the best highlight reel.

James Harrison’s 100-yard interception return touchdown to end the half is arguably the best pick-6 in NFL history. It was an incredible read of Kurt Warner in the red zone, and it was an unbelievable return by Harrison, who was absolutely gassed by the end of the play.

But Larry Fitzgerald put on one of the greatest performances in Super Bowl history against the No. 1 defense. He had 7 catches for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns as Kurt Warner was again prolific in a Super Bowl with 377 passing yards.

The Cardinals trailed 20-7 in the 4th quarter, but Fitzgerald caught a touchdown, then the Steelers were penalized for holding in the end zone for a rare Super Bowl safety to make it 20-16 with 2:58 left. The safety negated a dagger throw from Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes on 3rd-and-10 from the 1-yard line.

It was starting to look like maybe you can’t win a Super Bowl with an offensive line as bad as Pittsburgh’s. Just 2 plays later, Fitzgerald caught a short pass and was off to the races for a 64-yard touchdown. The Cardinals led 23-20 with 2:47 left, and Pittsburgh had blown a 13-point lead in the 4th quarter, which would have been a Super Bowl record.

But the Steelers had a lot of games that year where Roethlisberger was able to go down the field for the game-winning points. It happened again with Holmes having a dominant drive. He had catches of 14, 13, and then 40 yards after Arizona’s Aaron Francisco fell down on a play. That set the Steelers up in the red zone where Holmes let a touchdown go through his hands.

On the next snap, Roethlisberger threw to the back corner of the end zone over a couple of Arizona defenders and Holmes pulled down the go-ahead touchdown, getting both feet in bounds with 42 seconds left to take a 27-23 lead. You could argue that is still the greatest game-winning touchdown pass in Super Bowl history, and it is still one of the best game-winning drives in Super Bowl history.

The Pittsburgh defense was able to force Warner into a strip-sack to end the game. The only thing the game was missing was an exciting Hail Mary attempt, and just imagine if Fitzgerald was involved on that with the way he was playing like a man possessed that night. But for an underdog, the Cardinals gave the Steelers all they could.

It was an incredible way for commentator John Madden’s career to end as this was his final game. He got to see an all-time interception return by Harrison, an all-time receiving performance by Fitzgerald, and a game-winning drive for the ages orchestrated by Roethlisberger and Holmes.

Madden probably didn’t like seeing the Steelers, his old rival, become the 1st franchise to win 6 Super Bowls, but it was an all-time memorable Super Bowl.

1. Super Bowl XLII (2007) – New York Giants Defeated New England Patriots 17-14

In many ways, it was only fitting that the New York Giants ended the 2007 Patriots’ attempt at a perfect 19-0 season in Super Bowl XLII. The Giants have a nice history of ending historic runs:

  • The 1934 Giants defeated the 13-0 Chicago Bears 30-13 in the NFL Championship Game.
  • The 1990 Giants won the NFC Championship Game in San Fransico, preventing the 49ers from possibly becoming the 1st team to win 3 straight Super Bowls.
  • The 1998 Giants were able to knock off the 13-0 Denver Broncos, ending their undefeated bid.

Even before the Giants won as a 12.5-point underdog, they were a critical part of New England’s story that season. In Week 17, the Patriots were 15-0 and aiming to become the 1st team to go 16-0 in a regular season. Their last opponent was the Giants, who were 10-5 and already in the playoffs with no room to improve on their Wild Card status.

The game was played as a special Saturday night event, and the Giants could have rested starters if they wanted to. But coach Tom Coughlin made one of the best decisions ever by playing Eli Manning and the starters. Might as well see how the Giants stack up to the best team.

The Giants played a very spirited game. They scored a touchdown on the opening drive, they scored a kick return touchdown, and they handed the Patriots their largest deficit of the season at 12 points. But the Patriots soon clawed their way back and Tom Brady threw his 50th touchdown of the season to Randy Moss, who caught his 23rd score of the year as both set single-season records.

But the Giants did a lot of good things in the 38-35 loss, the only team to score more than 28 points on New England that year. They also showed they could pressure Brady with their pass rush, though he did a good job of handling that night as New England finished 16-0.

But the Giants took the confidence gained from that performance into the playoffs and were able to win on the road in Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay. The last 2 wins were huge upsets as the Giants lost convincingly to both teams in the regular season.

The Patriots were also in the Super Bowl at 18-0, but the offense was not clicking on all cylinders like it did earlier in the season. Brady threw 3 interceptions in the AFC title game, and the Patriots were fortunate they got to play San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers on a torn ACL.

But not many were giving the Giants a chance in Super Bowl XLII despite how well they played them in Week 17 and how well Eli and the defense looked in the playoff run.

Leading up to the game, Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress made a buzz when he predicted the Giants were going to win 23-17. Brady scoffed to the media about that prediction with the regrettable line “we’re only going to score 17 points?”

In a true David vs. Goliath matchup, the Giants came out hot on 3rd down early to kick a field goal on a long drive. A key underdog strategy is to run effectively, protect the ball, and convert 3rd downs for long drives that shrink the number of possessions in the game, making every mistake magnified.

While the Patriots answered New York’s field goal with a touchdown to take a 7-3 lead, the game stayed that way until the 4th quarter in a shockingly low-scoring affair not long after their 38-35 showdown.

But unlike in Week 17 when Brady handled the pass rush so well, he was not getting the job done this time. The Giants sacked him 3 times in the 2nd quarter, including a strip-sack in New York territory in the final minute of the half.

It always felt like the Patriots were trying to put together highlights with home-run balls to Moss to punctuate their 19-0 record, drawing comparisons to how the 49ers won the 4th ring for Joe Montana in a 55-10 rout of the Broncos in 1989. All those big plays to Jerry Rice that day.

But the Giants were in Brady’s face, and he was not handling it well. Patriots coach Bill Belichick also did not have his best game as he had the offense go for a 4th-and-13 instead of attempting a 49-yard field goal indoors. Brady threw incomplete and the Patriots wasted more than 8 minutes on a drive that came up empty.

It was just fascinating to watch the underdog stifle the highest-scoring team in NFL history to that point, but the Giants were not going to win unless Eli and the offense stepped up. That set the stage for a thrilling 4th quarter, which began with Manning finding tight end Kevin Boss for a 45-yard gain. The drive ended with David Tyree, who reportedly dropped everything in practice that week, catching a 5-yard touchdown to put the Giants back up 10-7.

A few drives later, the Patriots looked more like the team we saw on the opening drive where they were throwing short, quick passes to slot receiver Wes Welker and running back Kevin Faulk. It worked to get the ball down the field, and on 3rd-and-goal from the 6, Brady threw a touchdown to a wide-open Moss after New York corner Corey Webster fell down on the play.

The Patriots led 14-10, and if we were stuck for eternity watching Webster fall down as the “highlight” play from this game to produce a 19-0 season, that would have been a huge disappointment for all football fans outside of New England.

But the Giants had 2:39 and 83 yards to go to change the course of history. Given everything at stake and New England’s incredible record of stopping teams in close games in the 4th quarter, you could argue the younger Manning brother led the greatest drive in history for New York.

Was it a drive as pretty as the ones earlier on our list engineered by Joe Montana and Ben Roethlisberger? No. In fact, there were some ugly moments as the Giants had to convert a 4th-and-1 run to keep it alive, and they had to overcome a few near-interceptions after Manning had some miscommunications with his receivers. There is a famed Asante Samuel dropped interception that corner vehemently denies was a drop as he wouldn’t have been able to get his feet in bounds near the sideline. But there were opportunities for the Patriots to put it away.

None were bigger than a fateful 3rd-and-5 at the New York 44. Manning looked like he was going to be sacked, then somehow escaped, fired a pass downfield, which was caught by Tyree, who pinned the ball to his helmet with hard-hitter Rodney Harrison in coverage. “The Helmet Catch” ranks up there with the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, and somehow Fox commentator Joe Buck barely raised his voice to call the 32-yard gain that gave the Giants major hope.

But don’t forget the underrated 12-yard completion to Steve Smith (the New York one, not the Carolina one) on 3rd-and-11 shortly after the Helmet Catch. That was another huge play in this drive.

With 39 seconds left, Manning saw Burress in single coverage and threw a 13-yard touchdown to the receiver who predicted a New York win all along. The Giants led 17-14 with 35 seconds left.

The game was not over as the Patriots still had 3 timeouts and only needed a field goal. That was Brady’s thing his whole career. But the lack of establishing anything intermediate in the passing game killed the Patriots on this drive. Brady threw deep, then he took a sack, and just like that, it was 3rd-and-20.

After a timeout and likely feeling the most adrenaline in his career from the frustration of losing this game, Brady uncorked one of the most impressive incompletions you’ll ever see. The ball had to travel a solid 70 yards, if not more, in the air. But it was just out of reach for Moss, who had a step on the defender.

Brady’s throw on 4th-and-20 was less impressive, and it also wasn’t caught, guaranteeing the Giants one of the greatest upsets in sports history. The Patriots finished 18-1 with no ring to show for it.

The teams would meet again in another classic Super Bowl 4 years later, and the Giants came back to win that one too by a 21-17 final. But that was less of a surprise given what we saw in this game. Those Giants under Coughlin just had a great read on New England. The Patriots did not win another Super Bowl until 2014 when the No. 3 game on our list happened.

And to think this may not have happened if the Giants blew off Week 17, rested starters, and never found out they could in fact hang with the best team in the league that year.

That’s why they play the game.

scotty kacsmar author todays lines

Scott Kacsmar's bread and butter is NFL football picks. He has published work at many sports websites and blogs including NBC Sports, ESPN Insider, FiveThirtyEight, Bookmakers Review and of course Today's Lines. Scott hails from Pittsburgh and has a love-hate relationship with the Pirates.

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