Steelers Throwback Thursday: Pittsburgh makes Top 5 Super Bowl games list
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As Super Bowl LVII approaches, we thought it’d be fun to go back this week and look at the top 5 Super Bowl games of all time as voted by FanDuel. Super Bowl season is one of drama, emotion, and plenty of memorable moments. Every now and then, a game will come up as a dud, but in others, NFL fans witness some of the greatest plays in football history.
As the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles ready themselves to square off against each other on Sunday, Feb. 12, the possibility of a spectacular show is a real possibility. The Chiefs’ odds predictions have them as the underdogs in this NFL Championship game, but they’ve fought back this season to get into the position they currently sit in. As anticipation ramps up, let’s look at the five most amazing Super Bowl games listed by the sportsbook.
New England Patriots vs Atlanta Falcons (Super Bowl 51)
One of the most historic Super Bowl games in recent history, Super Bowl 51 featured almost everything NFL fans could ever want: tension, defeat, a shocking underdog triumph, and an unexpected twist. At the end of the first half, Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons had an unprecedented 21-0 lead over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The Patriots rallied in an attempt to turn the game around, and by the end of the third quarter, the scoring gap had increased to 28-3, and not in their favor. It looked like the Falcons were going to cruise to an easy victory.
As the final quarter began, however, the Patriots found a new gear. Running back James White, wide receiver Julian Edelman, and Brady got hot and became a collective unstoppable force. New England was able to run the field with very little resistance from the Atlanta defense. As the Falcons tried to adjust, they couldn’t find the answer to stop the momentum, though.
In that final quarter, the Patriots were able to score an amazing 31 points to grab an unbelievable comeback win. It was a “blink and you’ll miss it” type of game that left NFL fans in shocked disbelief. Fans can only hope that Super Bowl LVII picks will create as much drama pre-game as Super Bowl 51 ended up handing the world on that famous day.
New York Giants vs New England Patriots (Super Bowl 42)
Known as a Super Bowl king, Tom Brady figured to be the main factor in the Patriots grabbing another world championship in Super Bowl 51. His reputation as the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) at the quarterback position stemmed mainly from his incredible reputation for Super Bowl strategies and championships; helping New England become the first team in the NFL to catch up to the Pittsburgh Steelers with six Lombardi Trophies.
In the game itself, though, New York game-planned specifically around Brady and his reputation. A win wouldn’t be just balancing out the game on offense; it required them to take Brady out of the equation with defense and then find a way to keep up on the scoreboard offensively. With the knowledge that the Patriots hadn’t lost a single game during the regular season, the pressure was all on the shoulders of the Giants to play as the spoilers.
Enter the “helmet catch” – a play that was so shocking at the time that there are NFL fans that are still talking about it and/or upset about it today. Eli Manning threw the ball to David Tyree on the famous play and that was the deciding factor in a game the Giants had promoted as their opportunity to show they “wanted it more,” by upsetting the Patriots in the final seconds of the game for the win.
New York Giants vs Buffalo Bills (Super Bowl 25)
This Super Bowl game was historic for NFL fans for several reasons. Yes, it involved the famous Whitney Houston singing of the National Anthem and a ton of fanfare, including a military flyover. Who can forget that moment in time (no pun intended)? This was an extremely tight game between New York and Buffalo, and no one knew for sure who would win until the last kick of the game broke the two teams out of a tie.
There was a longstanding idea in the 1990s that the Bills were a cursed team. They’d seen opportunities slip away from them time and time again. Super Bowl 25 is often the first thing fans of the team will reference when asked about those years because the back-and-forth battle on the national stage between these two teams, creating extreme tension for those watching, made them believe the curse would finally be lifted.
Buffalo’s explosive no-huddle offense had propelled them to the game following a 13-3 regular season record in which they scored 428 points to lead the league in that category. New York also carried a 13-3 regular season record, but their offense was one that focused on ball control and allowing the defense, which allowed the league-low 211 points, to do the rest.
As the first Super Bowl to feature two teams representing the same state (even though the Giants played in New Jersey), the game is most widely known as the Super Bowl that placekicker Scott Norwood “shanked.” In the final seconds, Norwood attempted what would have been the game-winning field goal for the Bills that went wide right of the uprights. The miss gave the Giants, who’d overcome a 12-3 second-quarter deficit, the win. The game was the only Super Bowl decided by a single point and the first in which neither team committed a turnover.
Incidentally, this would be Giants’ head coach Bill Parcells final Super Bowl victory, despite coaching for three other teams and 11 more seasons.
San Francisco 49ers vs Cincinnati Bengals (Super Bowl 23)
Great games are usually defined by their endings, and Super Bowl 23 was a near-perfect example. A dramatic ending keeps fans engaged years after the actual event occurred. This game is best remembered for a fourth-quarter game-winning drive that was led by Joe Montana. Down 16-13, San Francisco received the ball at their own eight-yard line with just 3:10 left on the game clock. Montana led the ‘Niners offense 92 yards down the field and threw the winning touchdown to John Taylor with just 34 seconds left in the game.
In a tight game, the Bengals and Forty-Niners combined for five field goals in the match and set the record for the first tie at the halftime period in Super Bowl history. The only touchdown Cincinnati scored was a 93-yard kickoff return by Stanford Jennings in the third quarter that was answered by a 14-yard touchdown reception by San Francisco receiver Jerry Rice just one play after Bengals cornerback Lewis Billups dropped a drive-ending interception in the end zone that could have been a deciding factor in Cincinnati’s favor.
Pittsburgh Steelers vs Dallas Cowboys (Super Bowl 13)
The oldest top Super Bowl game on the list was one of the closest Super Bowl contests fans had ever seen. It was the first NFL Super Bowl that featured a rematch of a previous one (Super Bowl 10) and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys were both looking to become the first organization in league history to win a third Super Bowl championship.
The Cowboys were the defending Super Bowl 12 champions and, after being the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams in the 1978 playoffs, they were determined to eliminate Pittsburgh’s hopes for victory. The Steelers had eliminated the Denver Broncos and Houston Oilers on their way to the first Super Bowl to date that featured two teams’ quarterbacks that had previously won two Super Bowls in the same decade in Roger Staubach (Super Bowl 6 and Super Bowl 12) and Terry Bradshaw (Super Bowl 9 and Super Bowl 10).
Dallas kept the game interesting and close by trailing just 21-17 at the end of the third quarter. However, in just 19 seconds in the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh scored an unprecedented two touchdowns. The Cowboys endured turnovers, dropped passes, and a controversial penalty in the second half on their way to scoring just two touchdowns very late in the game and losing, 35-31. Dallas became the first team, as defending champions, to lose in the Super Bowl and the first losing Super Bowl team in league history at that time to score 30 points or more.
Conversely, Bradshaw – the game’s MVP – completed an NFL Super Bowl record 17-of-30 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns to one interception and became the first quarterback since Stauback (Super Bowl 6) to win the award. Bradshaw also passed Bart Starr‘s Super Bowl record in passing yards in the first half by throwing for 253 in the first half; his 75-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter tied Johnny Unitas‘ (Super Bowl 5) record for the longest pass in Super Bowl history.
Remarkably, the game featured 26 combined players who would later enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame (15 from the Steelers, 11 from the Cowboys).
Final thoughts
Each of these five amazing Super Bowl performances had one thing in common: amazing endings. All five were either a battle from start to finish or had a surprise ending that completely caught NFL fans off-guard. Could the same thing happen in Super Bowl 57?
The potential is there. Both the Chiefs and Eagles are skilled teams. The Eagles worked their way relatively easily through their competition during the 2022 NFL season while the Chiefs had ups and downs that required them to fight for their opportunity. Yes, both teams had adversity when it came to injuries to their starting quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts.
Who will come out on top? This weekend should give us the answer in a fun matchup.
