Five Worst Super Bowl Games Of All-Time

As a child of the 1980’s, I can recall with great memory Super Bowls starting with the game in the Silverdome in Michigan between the 49’ers and Bengals – Super Bowl XLVI.

From then every year we all wait with great anticipation for the biggest game on Earth, and while some years it lives up to the hype, more years than not it fails.

There’s been some snoozers over the years, games that you could easily shut off at halftime and you know the outcome.

Today we take a stab at ranking those games, a little feature we call the “Five Worst Super Bowl Games Of All-Time.”

As always we love to hear from our fans on if they agree or not, or even to add in their own opinion on what games should be on the list.

Away we go!

5. Super Bowl XXXIII Denver 34 Atlanta 19

The swan song for John Elway, and he went out on top, as the Broncos ran all over the ‘Dirty Bird’ Falcons, who upset the Vikings to get to the Super Bowl. Atlanta had no answers for Elway, who put the game away in the second quarter with an 80-yard TD pass to Rod Smith to break the game open at 17-3.

Elway was 18-for-29 for 336 yards and a score, and he ran in another score to secure the game MVP. It also was a measure of revenge for Elway, who beat his former coach Dan Reeves, who he seemed to have an issue with late in Reeves coaching tenure.

A real ‘blah’ of a Super Bowl that was dominated by the Broncos, who won their second straight title on this evening in Miami.

4. Super Bowl XXXV Baltimore 34 New York Giants 7

The Ravens defense, led by Ray Lewis who was the games MVP, pounded the Giants all day, making Kerry Collins and Tiki Barber with no answers. The Baltimore offense did enough with Trent Dilfer, who was dumped in the following offseason, scoring with a Dilfer to Brandon Stokley score to get the early lead.

Those seven points were followed by 3 more to take a 10-0 lead at the half, and it might as well have been 100-0. The Giants only points were on a kick return, as their offense managed just 152 yards and 11 first downs. Baltimore outscored the Giants 24-7 in the second half for the easy win, while most of America gave up on the game well before Brian Billick got his Gatorade shower.

3. Super Bowl XX Chicago 46 New England 10

The Pats actually held a 3-0 lead in this game, but that was about it, as Mike Ditka, Buddy Ryan and the Bears defense lowered the boom on Tony Eason, Steve Grogan, and the Patriots. Many thought this would be a rematch of the Bears only loss in the 1985 season, as the Dolphins were at home for the Pats in the AFC Title game, but they lost which set up New England as the sacrifice for the Bears.

Chicago outgained the Pats 408 to 123, and held a 13-3 lead after one quarter, and 23-3 lead at the half. The only real suspense was to see how many points the Bears could run up on the Pats, who had just 7 yards rushing in this day that belonged to the Bears and their famed “46” defense that earned Ryan a job as head coach the following year with the Eagles.

2. Super Bowl XXVII Dallas 52 Buffalo 17

It was the start of the Dallas dynasty, as they pounded the Bills, who were in the midst of their four straight Super Bowl losses. The Bills led 7-0, but a serious rash of turnovers in the second quarter turned it into a 28-10 Cowboys lead at half, and it was game over.

The inept Bills turned the ball over nine times in the game, and the Cowboys turned it into a 52-point effort, still the most in Super Bowl history. Emmit Smith ran for 108 yards, and Troy Akiman took home the MVP for the Cowboys, who would win another ring the following season topping….yes, the Bills again.

1. Super Bowl XXIX San Francisco 49 San Diego 26

A blowout from the word go, and Vegas knew it, establishing the 49’ers as still to this day a record 18.5 point favorites. It was done for good reason, as the Niners scored two touchdowns in the first five minutes of the game. Steve Young earned the MVP, and for good reason, throwing a NFL record six touchdowns, going 24-for-36 for 325 yards and the six scores.

The Niners had it clinched by half, leading 28-10, and then two more scores made it 42-18 at the end of the third quarter. The Chargers had no answers for anything the Niners did, and the 23-point loss could have been worse had the Niners not treated the second half as a preseason game.

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