Pick-Six: Top Super Bowls of all time

In honor of the NFL’s biggest prize on its biggest stage, it’s time to celebrate the history of the greatest event in all of sports: the Super Bowl. There have been a lot of great, historic Super Bowls over the span of more than five decades, but who takes the cake for the greatest of them all?

6. Super Bowl XXV: New York Giants, 20 vs. Buffalo Bills 19

It’s weird looking back and seeing the Bills succeed like they did back in the day, and it’s also incredibly sad seeing how often they failed on the biggest stage of them all. I couldn’t imagine losing two or three Super Bowls in a row, let alone four straight, especially by a missed field goal. This one featured just that in a great game, and it’s always nice to see one of the greatest coaches in history, Bill Belichick, winning a ring and working his magic as defensive coordinator.

5. Super Bowl XXXIV: St. Louis Rams, 23 vs. Tennessee Titans, 16

Looking back at the Greatest Show on Turf, it’s crazy to think this team didn’t win more Super Bowls with the talent they had. Featuring Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, and Torey Holt, this was one of the best offenses I’ve ever seen. It’s also weird to see the Titans succeed back when they really just featured Steve McNair and Eddie George, and also almost come back from a 16-point deficit. It was a great game, and that final stretch by Kevin Dyson that came up just short of a clutch touchdown is still haunting Titans fans to this day.

4. Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh Steelers, 27 vs. Arizona Cardinals, 23

Santonio Holmes’ crazy catch in the corner of the endzone is still one of the best endings in Super Bowl history, and the whole game was insane. James Harrison with the huge pick six, the Cardinals scoring 16 straight points after entering the fourth quarter down 13, and Ben Roethlisberger leading his team with a great drive late in the fourth after falling behind. It was a great overall game, and helped the Steelers make history as far as Super Bowl wins.

3. Super Bowl XIII: Pittsburgh Steelers, 35 vs. Dallas Cowboys, 31

I personally never saw this game, but when looking back at the talent in this game and some of the great performances, it’s tough to argue how amazing this game was. Legendary quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw squaring off in an amazing game of two great teams was sure to be a great game. It’s a shame to see a great quarterback like Staubach lose on a big drop in the endzone, but it’s tough to combat an MVP-level performance from Bradshaw on the big stage.

2. Super Bowl XLII: New York Giants, 17 vs. New England Patriots, 14

You simply can’t leave this out of the top games in Super Bowl history. It featured one of, if not the greatest play in Super Bowl history by Eli Manning and David Tyree, and was back and forth the whole way. For Patriots fans, it was one of the worst moments of their lives. For football fans in general, however, this was one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time. Their second match-up was great as well, but nothing can compare to this instant classic.

1. Super Bowl XLIX: New England Patriots, 28 vs. Seattle Seahawks, 24

This game was everything a football fan would want from the sport, and even more. The best two teams in the league facing off on national television in a competitive game with huge plays all around. The storylines were endless, and so was the action. Tom Brady led one of the best Super Bowl comebacks of all time against one of the best defenses in league history, and Malcolm Butler made one of the greatest plays of all time on the goal line to give New England the victory. The game was perfect, and obviously deserving of the title of the greatest Super Bowl of all time.