1) Super Bowl I, the first AFL-NFL championship game The first AFL-NFL championship game later became known as the Super Bowl. Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers defeated Hank Stram and the Kansas City Chiefs. The championship trophy is named after Lombardi, and Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt coined the term “Super Bowl” after seeing his sons play with a “Super Ball.”
2) Super Bowl III, the guarantee The third AFL-NFL championship game was the first to officially use the term “Super Bowl”. The Packers won the first two games by a combined score of 68-24 and the NFL was widely regarded as the top league. NY Jets quarterback Joe Namath secured a victory against the 18-point favorites, the Baltimore Colts. The Jets won 16-7. The AFL/AFC won 11 of the next 13 games.
3) Super Bowl VII, perfection The 1972 Dolphins went undefeated in the regular season and playoffs, but nearly collapsed with two minutes to go in SB VII. After being dominated all day, the Redskins scored on an interception by the Dolphins kicker and cut the lead to 14-7, however, they decided against the onside kick and Miami won the game, ending the season 17-0.
4) Super Bowl XIII, a new holiday is born By SB XIII, the game had already become the largest one-day sporting event in the country, but many of the previous games were decided by a few TDs or more. SB XIII marks the beginning of Super Bowl Sunday as an unofficial holiday. The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 35-31. 14 players in this game are in the professional football HOF, as well as head coaches Chuck Noll and Tom Laundry.
5) Super Bowl XVI, half the country watches the Super Bowl 81,270 people packed the Silverdome to watch the San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21. This game followed in the footsteps of Dwight Clark’s “The Catch” who beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship game and started the 49ers dynasty. It still has the highest TV rating for a Superbowl @ 49.1, meaning half of all households in the US watched this game.
6) Super Bowl XXII, Doug Williams At the end of the first quarter, the Denver Broncos had a 10-0 lead over the Washington Redskins and their second quarterback, Doug Williams. All of a sudden, Williams exploded for four touchdown passes in the second quarter! The Redskins dominated the rest of the way to a 42-10 victory. Williams was named MVP and was the first African-American quarterback to not only start in an NFL championship game, but also lead his team to victory.
7) Super Bowl XXIII, Joe Montana A rematch of Super Bowl XVI, the final push of this game is the defining moment of the best player in the NFL, Joe Montana. Down 16-13 at his own 8-yard line, with 3:10 on the clock, Montana spotted comedian John Candy along the sideline. “Hey, that’s not John Candy,” he said. He did this to help keep his teammates cool and collected, and it worked. The 49ers moved down the field and Montana connected with John Taylor on a 10-yard touchdown pass down the middle of the field. This is highly regarded as one of the most exciting Super Bowls in history.
8) Super Bowl XXV, The Country is at War This was the first SB to be played while the United States was at war. Both the Buffalo Bills and the NY Giants have red, white, and blue as their team colors. The game began with one of the most memorable signing performances in history, with Whitney Houston signing the Star-Spangled Banner. It was one of the most exciting games ever played and was decided by just one point when Scott Norwood’s 47-yard field goal attempt came less than a yard from the right post. Giants won 20-19.
9) Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII, Redemption From 1982 to 1997, the NFC dominated the AFC, winning 15 of 16, including 13 in a row. Many games, including three in which the Denver Broncos played, weren’t even closed. John Elway, who was the quarterback for those previous Broncos teams, was near the end of his career and was considering retiring. He was one of the best fourth-quarter quarterbacks in NFL history, but he hadn’t won a championship. All that changed on January 25, 1998, when the Broncos beat the defending champion Green Bay Packers 31-24. This victory ended the NFC’s dominance over the AFC and propelled Elway into the QB elite. Probably the most famous play of his career came in the third quarter, when he ran on third down and had 8 yards for first down. He was hit simultaneously by two Packers defenders, causing him to spin in the air. The work is known as the “Helicopter Dive”. The Broncos ended up scoring the go-ahead TD a few plays later.
During the post-game trophy presentation, the Broncos’ owner raised the championship trophy, saying, “This one’s for John.” Elway followed up his masterful performance by announcing that he would be back for another year, which led to another victory against the Atlanta Falcons, securing his place as an NFL legend.
10) Super Bowl XLII, The Great Escape The New England Patriots have won 3 of the previous 6 championships and were the first NFL team to finish the regular season 16-0. On the other side of the ball, the NY Giants hadn’t won a Super Bowl in 17 years and just barely made the playoffs with a 10-6 record. They won three road games in the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl. The Patriots were big favorites, hardly anyone gave the Giants many chances, however, these two teams met in the last week of the regular season, in which the Patriots won 38-35. With that game, the Giants were able to find some cracks in the Patriots’ armor, which came in handy during the Super Bowl. The Giants kept the powerful Patriots offense in check all day and got the ball at their own 17-yard line with only 2:39 left in the game, trailing 14-10. They met at a hole on fourth-and-one, when Brandon Jacobs raced 2 yards, recovered the first down and kept the game alive. Three plays later, on third and five, from his own 44-yard line, Giants quarterback Eli Manning was swamped by Patriots pressure. He first eluded Adalius Thomas, only to end up at the hands of Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour. The TV analyst announced that Eli was fired, however the play was not over. Suddenly, Manning emerges from what seemed like a sure mess and throws the ball to WR David Tyree. Tyree makes a spectacular, leaping, one-handed catch with the ball pressed against his helmet against DB Rodney Harrison, keeping the momentum alive. Four plays later, with 35 seconds remaining, Eli finds Plaxico Burgess in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown, completing one of the biggest upsets in American sports history.
So there they are, the 10 biggest moments in Super Bowl history. Of course, we can include them all, but we believe that these are the most significant moments that have made the game the way it is today.
