Sometimes, the game’s more stupor than super: Check out the 10 worst Super Bowls ever
Biggest embarrassments of the 1970s: the Pet Rock and Minnesota on Super Bowl Sunday. The rocks were easier to avoid. So many early Super Bowls managed to combine a lack of scoring with a lack of competitiveness.
As Sports Illustrated’s Dan Jenkins wrote before Pittsburgh and Dallas met in Super Bowl XIII, for excitement, the first 12 Super Bowls rivaled watching Terry Bradshaw battle baldness.
When super blowout Afros went out in the 1980s, super Super Bowl blowouts came into style like flattops. In 1984, as the Apple commercial ignited the era of Super Bowl mega ads, the Raiders began the era of mega blowouts.
What can one say of Denver, a team that’s taken some of the worst Super Bowl batterings while quarterbacked by the same Hall of Fame quarterbacks behind center for its wins? Maybe that winning the biggest game is about more than one great player.
And the worst Super Bowls, like the best, involve more than one team’s performance. They might also involve fans or the absence of them.
Here are 10 Super Bowls memorable mostly for how forgettable they were.
SUPER BOWL XXIV
SAN FRANCISCO 55, DENVER 10
▪ Jan. 28, 1990
▪ Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans
▪ MVP: Joe Montana, QB, San Francisco, 22 of 29, 297 yards, five touchdowns
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Montana.
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 55th. Everybody knew what was going to happen and it did.
Denver was to the 1980s what Minnesota was to the 1970s — the team too good for the weaker conference to keep out of the big party but fodder for the powerhouses from the stronger conference.
In front of Denver loomed the defending Super Bowl champion’s massive arrays of talent on both sides of the ball. The 49ers’ two-year NFC playoff aggregate score: 133-28.
What followed surprised no one. Joe Montana rained five touchdown passes on the Broncos while the defensive penetration disrupted Denver’s offense. Jerry Rice caught touchdown passes of 20, 38 and 28 yards. The 49ers didn’t let up after taking a 27-3 halftime lead, scoring 14 points in each of the final two quarters.
SUPER BOWL VIII
DOLPHINS 24, MINNESOTA 7
▪ Jan.13, 1974
▪ Rice Stadium, Houston
▪ MVP: Dolphins RB Larry Csonka, 145 yards rushing, one touchdown, total physical and psychological devastation of the Vikings.
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Csonka.
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 54th
Sparrows fluttered around Minnesota’s locker room shower Super Bowl week, one of the many complaints the Vikings had about their facilities at a local high school. Dolphins safety Jake Scott, a single man, complained that owner Joe Robbie took care of transportation and lodging for the married players’ wives but wouldn’t do the same for his mother.
By the third quarter, America might’ve complained that the Dolphins clearly had become too good for the rest of the NFL.
Longtime pro football writer Paul Zimmerman wrote in 1988 that this was the one Super Bowl in which the final score was so lopsided and dull, he had to look it up. The Dolphins took the kickoff and drove 62 yards to a touchdown. Minnesota, three plays, punt. The Dolphins marched 56 yards to another touchdown: 14-0, don’t forget your hat as you go.
Larry Csonka’s 145 yards rushing led a ground game so dominant, quarterback Bob Griese threw only seven passes. He completed six. The incompletion was one of his two mistakes on the day — he forgot the snap count before the Csonka touchdown that put the Dolphins up 24-0 in the third.
Being more dominant in the playoffs — they scored on the first drive of each playoff game — is just one reason several Dolphins feel the 1973 squad’s 15-2 record was better than the 1972 Perfect Season team.
SUPER BOWL VI
DALLAS 24, DOLPHINS 3
▪ Jan. 16, 1972
▪ Tulane Stadium, New Orleans
▪ MVP: QB Roger Staubach, Cowboys, 12 of 18, 119 yards, two touchdowns.
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Duane Thomas, the game’s leading rusher (95 yards, 5.0 per carry) and Dallas’ leading receiver (three catches).
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 53rd.
The term “Next Year’s Champions” dogged Dallas. People sneered the title of that book on the 1968 Cowboys yearly as the talented Cowboys failed in the playoffs. A slick, computerized organization of superior athletes coached by innovative Tom Landry, their 1971 team combined the NFL’s No. 1 offense and the fabled Doomsday Defense.
The Dolphins, in their second year under Don Shula, had a nice package, too: a young defense and a ball control offense spiced with deep threat Paul Warfield that helped make quarterback Bob Griese the AFC’s leading passer. President Richard Nixon called Shula after the AFC title win to offer congratulations and a suggestion that he thought the Dolphins could hit Warfield on a down-and-in pattern against Dallas.
Dallas crushed that and everything else. The Dolphins would be the only Super Bowl team kept out of the end zone until the Rams’ futility against the Patriots (see below).
The Dolphins lost two fumbles after losing none previously in the playoffs. With an assist from Larry Cole, Dallas’ Bob Lily hounded Griese into a 29-yard sack. When Dallas literally swept down the field — all but one of the plays were sweeps — to a touchdown on the second half’s first possession, the Cowboys led 17-3 and the Dolphins were done.
Before Super Bowl V, Duane Thomas deflated the idea that the Super Bowl was the ultimate game with, “They’re playing it next year, aren’t they?” Indeed, they did and Thomas was back, but not talking to anybody — the media, coaches, teammates. He spoke by gliding for 95 of Dallas’ 252 rushing yards.
His silence probably cost him the MVP award. Voters went for Staubach after a pedestrian day, instead of going for someone from the defense that held the Dolphins to three points and 185 yards. Someone like linebacker Chuck Howley, whose fumble recovery and interception led to 10 points.
SUPER BOWL LV
TAMPA BAY 31, KANSAS CITY 9
▪ Feb. 7, 2021
▪ Raymond James Stadium, Tampa
▪ MVP: Tampa Bay QB Tom Brady, 21 of 29, 201 yards, three touchdowns.
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Somebody from a defense that doused a Kansas City offense that had been on fire through the three seasons of playoff games.
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 52nd.
To end a strange, pandemic season of games played in front of empty or semi-empty stadiums, sometimes moved to midweek by COVID-19 infections on NFL rosters, Tampa Bay became the first team to play the Super Bowl on its home field ... yet played in front of the smallest ever Super Bowl crowd, 24,835.
Kansas City had been an offside penalty from winning the AFC title two years before, rolled to the Super Bowl the previous season behind a juggernaut offense and had lost one game in 2021 when they weren’t resting starters. Despite this, that No. 1-ranked offense came out of the AFC Championship Game win over Buffalo looking not quite right. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes had a turf toe injury, taking something off his mobility. Left tackle Eric Fisher suffered an Achilles injury.
More strangeness: not Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, but the future Hall of Famer wearing the pewter of the Buccaneers. With Brady making the most of a wonderful group of receivers, led by Mike Evans, and a defense-ranked No. 6 with quality at each level (defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul, defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr.), this looked like a good matchup.
Or it looked like a team that could rush the passer and take away big plays against a damaged offensive line and a quarterback with muffled mobility magic. Much like Seattle vs. Denver (see below), casual bettors made the great offense the favorite, but the smart money didn’t see many matchups on either side of the ball going Kansas City’s way.
And they didn’t. The Chiefs became the third team in Super Bowl history kept out of the end zone. Mahomes got sacked three times, threw two interceptions and completed only 26 of 49 passes.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City defense, which usually played just well enough to give the offense time to get revved, looked helpless, forced into committing penalties that helped Tampa Bay take a 21-6 halftime lead. Each team scored on its first second-half possession, but the Chiefs got a field goal while Tampa Bay got Leonard Fournette’s 27-yard touchdown run. Up 28-9, the Buccaneers cruised home.
SUPER BOWL XLVIII
SEATTLE 43, DENVER 8
▪ Feb. 2, 2014
▪ MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
▪ MVP: Seattle LB Malcolm Smith. Nine tackles, one fumble recovered and a 69-yard interception return for a touchdown.
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Anybody off that defense.
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 51st.
You knew from the first snap.
Denver set an NFL record for points in a season (606) while quarterback Peyton Manning broke single-season records for passing yards (5,477) and touchdown passes (55). The Broncos took the customary fast start of Manning-quarterbacked teams to ritual level, scoring on the first drive in most games.
Seattle’s big, athletic Legion of Boom secondary allowed the fewest yards, fewest points and caused the most turnovers. All that and Marshawn Lynch’s bludgeoning runs provided blanket warmth and security for second-year quarterback Russell Wilson.
The pregame discussion concerned the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold-weather city and whether “thug” was an appropriate term to use for a Stanford graduate without an arrest record or whether it was just code for less socially acceptable words.
The latter conversation started after Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman roared a trash-talking rant on live television after the NFC Championship Game. The former turned out to be, like wariness over Sherman’s rant, much ado about nothing. The game-time temperature was 49. A winter storm arrived overnight after the game.
Too bad — it might’ve made the game more interesting.
Denver was a two-point favorite, a tribute to the Peyton Manning name and the amateur bettor money the Super Bowl draws. Smart bettors know when you’ve got the No. 1 offense vs. the No. 1 defense, bet on the D — expeditiously.
As Manning went through his well-known pre-snap adjustments before the first play, center Manny Ramirez suddenly snapped the ball. Denver running back Knowshon Moreno fell on the ball in the end zone for a Seattle safety: 2-0. When the No. 1 defense scores and hasn’t even hit anybody yet, it’s going to be a long day for the No. 1 offense.
Or, a short day, competitively. The Seahawks’ defense outscored Denver’s offense when Manning got blasted mid-throw by Cliff Avril and Malcolm Smith took the fluttering pass back 69 yards for a 22-0 second-quarter lead. Percy Harvin returned the second-half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown.
A young, mobile, mature quarterback. A young, strong defense. An old coach, Pete Carroll, who acted young. What could keep Seattle from being the Team of the Decade?
SUPER BOWL XII
DALLAS 27, DENVER 10
▪ Jan. 15, 1978
▪ Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans
▪ MVP: Dallas DT Randy White, DE Harvey Martin
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Voters could’ve gone for the Dallas defense en masse.
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 50th
Nobody outside the Metroplex mentions the 1977 Dallas Cowboys in Greatest Team Ever conversations. They’re overshadowed by the late 1970s Pittsburgh teams, against whom the Cowboys went 0-4, including a 28-13 regular season loss in 1977.
But few teams bestrode a season the way these Cowboys did. With rookie running back Tony Dorsett adding breakaway speed to NFC passing leader Roger Staubach, 12-2 Dallas had the NFL’s No. 1 offense to go with the NFL’s No. 1 defense, “Doomsday II.”
The Orange Crush defense and former Dallas quarterback Craig Morton ignited Broncomania among Denver’s long-suffering fans. The never-nimble Morton came into the game with a hip problem. Dallas safety Cliff Harris, recalling Morton’s playoff struggles with Dallas, predicted his former teammate wouldn’t finish the game.
He didn’t. Morton threw four interceptions, half of Denver’s eight turnovers, before being yanked for mobile Norris Weese, who led Denver’s only touchdown drive. Both spent the day wearing Dallas’ defensive line, Randy White, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Harvey Martin, Jethro Pugh and anybody Dallas cared to blitz.
Dallas’ play also had enough flaws for the bargain bin. The Cowboys fumbled six times, but lost only two. Butch Johnson dived, caught, rolled, then dropped a 45-yard bomb that officials inexplicably ruled a touchdown. The day’s best pass for either team might’ve been Robert Newhouse’s halfback option rainbow that ended at Golden Richards for a 29-yard touchdown.
NFL Films cameramen somehow were unprepared for the lack of light at the first indoor Super Bowl, so the official highlight film is the darkest in NFL Films history. Considering the game, some might feel it still had too much light.
SUPER BOWL XL
PITTSBURGH 21, SEATTLE 10
▪ Feb. 5, 2006
▪ Ford Field, Detroit
▪ MVP: Pittsburgh WR Hines Ward, five catches for 123 yards and a touchdown, blocking that helped the Steelers running game.
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Ward.
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 49th
Most fans believe penalty flags are yellow. Since this Super Bowl, Seattle fans believe they’re gold, as in Pittsburgh black and gold. Several questionable calls went against the Seahawks, who always seemed to slip on a zebra’s hankie during an uphill climb.
Hines Ward’s five catches for 123 yards included a 43-yard catch of a flanker reverse pass from wide receiver and former Indiana University quarterback Antwan Randle El. Pittsburgh’s Willie Parker ripped off the longest touchdown run in Super Bowl history, 75 yards.
Those sweet interruptions in a bland game couldn’t overcome the bad taste left by some zebra calls.
Seattle’s Darrell Jackson caught a 16-yard touchdown pass, but got flagged for pass interference for a light push off that’s almost never called if it’s even noticed. Seattle settled for a field goal. An 18-yard catch by tight end Jerramy Stevens at the Steelers 1 got wiped out by a borderline holding call that held up a Steelers player who actually was offside (but not flagged). On and on it went to the disbelief of the Seattle sideline.
“We knew it was going to be tough going against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I didn’t know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well,” quipped losing coach Mike Holmgren.
The Pittsburgh win sent Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, a Detroit native and genuine Nice Guy, into retirement with a championship. So, it had that going for it.
SUPER BOWL XXVI
WASHINGTON 37, BUFFALO 24
▪ Jan. 26, 1992
▪ Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minn.
▪ MVP: Washington QB Mark Rypien, 292 yards passing and two touchdowns.
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Rypien.
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 47th
Familiar uniforms showed up in Minnesota. The Bills weren’t as dominant as the previous year, but still too good for the AFC. Washington, off a 14-2 regular season, made its fourth Super Bowl trip in Joe Gibbs 11 seasons. This year’s starting quarterback was Mark Rypien.
Thurman Thomas missed Buffalo’s first two offensive plays while searching the sideline for his helmet. That seemed to set the tone for the Bills offense. When Buffalo’s wide receivers didn’t make Washington pay for blitzing, the Redskins kept doing it and forced Thomas to be a blocker.
Washington stressed pass protection, even more so with Buffalo sack collecting defensive end Bruce Smith as a threat. Kept upright, Rypien completed 18 of 33 for 292 yards and two touchdowns. Washington’s Kurt Gouveia intercepted a pass on the first play of the third quarter to set up another Gerald Riggs touchdown and a 24-0 lead.
Several Buffalo players believe this Washington team was the best of the four NFC teams that beat the Bills on Super Bowl Sundays. Several Washington players believe this was the best of Joe Gibbs’ Super Bowl teams.
Like the 1977 Cowboys and 1984 49ers, it’s definitely one of the most underrated single-season teams in NFL history.
SUPER BOWL LIII
NEW ENGLAND 13, LOS ANGELES RAMS 3
▪ Feb. 3, 2018
▪ Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
▪ MVP: WR Julian Edelman, Patriots, 10 catches for 141 yards.
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Cornerback Stephon Gilmore, linebacker Dont’a Hightower or somebody off the Patriots defense.
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 46th.
The Throwback Bowl. But, not as in “Rematch of the Dynasty-Sparking Upset.”
Throwback Bowl as in “This is the kind of tug-o-war slog Super Bowl stature rose above in the 1970s with the help of NFL Films.”
Throwback Bowl as in “throw it back, refund into the bowl.”
Defensive struggles aren’t to everyone’s taste. But defensive struggles lacking the spice of any big offensive plays or even spectacular defensive plays aren’t to anyone’s taste.
When your team wins, you eat the gruel and tell yourself you like it. So the Patriots celebrated a game in which Tom Brady’s first pass was picked off; nobody scored a touchdown in the first three quarters; and the Rams joined the Super Bowl VI Dolphins as the only Super participants to be kept without a touchdown.
Salute to the Patriots defense, which sacked Rams quarterback Jared Goff four times (Dont’a Hightower got two), picked him off once (Stephon Gilmore, who also caused a fumble and broke up three passes), held the Rams to 57 yards in the first half and 260 for the game.
Rams coach Sean McVay went from being the new It Coach to just another offensive mind confounded by New England coach Bill Belichick on game day.
SUPER BOWL XXIX
SAN FRANCISCO 49, SAN DIEGO 26
▪ Jan. 29, 1995
▪ Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami
▪ MVP: San Francisco QB Steve Young, 325 yards passing and six touchdowns, a game-high 49 yards rushing.
▪ Should’ve Been MVP: Did you not see six touchdown passes and led the game in rushing?
▪ Super Bowl Rank: 45th
San Francisco fans still wanted Joe Montana. No matter Steve Young’s passing titles. No matter that these weren’t the 1980s 49ers defensively. No matter Dallas’ rise blunting the 49ers. Joe had four Super Bowl titles, Steve had none, they wanted Joe.
But in 1994, the 49ers retooled their defense. They brought in cornerback Deion Sanders, who would win NFL Defensive Player of the Year. They raided Dallas for linebacker Ken Norton Jr. The defense ended the season ranked No. 1 in the NFL.
Meanwhile, Young won another passing title, this time with a 112.8 passer rating that broke Montana’s 1989 record. They outlasted Dallas in the NFC Championship Game hours after San Diego shocked “Blitzburgh” in the AFC Championship Game.
Four weeks after Montana finished his career on the same field with a playoff loss to the Dolphins, Young had possibly the greatest Super Bowl anybody has ever had: 24 of 36 passing, 325 yards, six touchdowns and a game-high 49 yards rushing. The 49ers got up 14-0 after seven plays and won easily. As the game wound down, Young bent over, shouting to teammates, “Somebody take this monkey off my back!”
Sanders would head for Dallas the next season. The 49ers have never won a Super Bowl without a Hall of Fame quarterback or a Hall of Fame defensive back.
This story was originally published February 13, 2022 at 5:53 PM.
