The Whole Nine Yards

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Staff Sgt/Kristi Machado

Photo via Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons license

This February marks the NFL’s 51st Super Bowl, nearly every American’s favorite sports showdown. Football has come a long way since its start in 1967, and there have been plenty of rivalries, upsets, and full-on battles that amaze fans each year. When a football team wins the Super Bowl, the glory is not just for the players and coaches. Millions of fans relish in pride and achievement when their team takes home the win, especially when that team is the Broncos. Below is a list of America’s top Super Bowls:

5. Super Bowl XXXII- Denver Broncos 31, Green Bay Packers 24

Who doesn’t like hearing about the Broncos winning the Super Bowl? This was Denver’s first league championship after suffering four previous super bowl losses and a thirteen game losing streak. The game was close throughout much of the contest. The Broncos converted two turnovers to take a 17–7 lead in the second quarter before the Packers cut the score to 17–14 at halftime. Green Bay kept pace with Denver in the second half, before tying the game with a little over 13 minutes remaining. Both defenses stiffened until Broncos running back Terrell Davis scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:45 left. Davis was named Super Bowl MVP. He ran for 157 yards, caught two passes for 8 yards, and scored a Super Bowl record of three rushing touchdowns.

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

With this victory, the Steelers became the first team ever to win six Super Bowls. Pittsburgh jumped to a 17–7 halftime lead, aided by linebacker James Harrison’s Super Bowl-record 100-yard interception return for a touchdown. Trailing 20–7 at the start of the fourth quarter, Arizona scored 16 consecutive points to take the lead with 2:37 remaining in the game. But the Steelers marched 78 yards to score on wide receiver Santonio Holmes’ 6-yard game-winning touchdown catch with 35 seconds left. Holmes, who caught nine passes for 131 yards and a touchdown, including four receptions for 73 yards on that final game-winning drive, was named Super Bowl MVP.

3. Super Bowl XXIII- San Francisco 49ers 20, Cincinnati Bengals 16

The 49ers defeated the Bengals and achieved their third Super Bowl win. The game is best remembered for the 49ers’ fourth-quarter game-winning drive. They scored the winning touchdown with a pass thrown by Joe Montana to John Taylor with just 34 seconds left in the game. The teams combined for 5 field goals and battled to a 3–3 score by the end of the second quarter, the first halftime tie in Super Bowl history. Cincinnati’s only touchdown, a 93-yard kickoff return by Stanford Jennings in the third quarter, was quickly answered by a four play, 85-yard drive that ended with San Francisco wide receiver Jerry Rice’s 14-yard touchdown reception. Rice, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, caught 11 passes for a Super Bowl-record 215 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing once for 5 yards.

2. Super Bowl XXXIV- St. Louis Rams 23, Tennessee Titans 16

This was the Rams’ first Super Bowl Victory ever. The first two-quarters of Super Bowl XXXIV were largely a defensive battle. Despite out gaining the Titans in total offensive yards in the first half, the Rams held only a 9–0 halftime lead on three field goals. St. Louis later scored their first touchdown midway through the 3rd quarter to go up 16–0. Tennessee then responded by scoring 16 consecutive points to tie the game with 2:12 left in regulation. This was the largest deficit to be erased in a Super Bowl and the first deficit that was greater than 10 points. On the Rams’ ensuing drive, quarterback Kurt Warner completed a 73-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Isaac Bruce to regain the lead. The Titans then drove to the St. Louis 10-yard line with six seconds remaining, but on the final play of the game, Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled Tennessee wide receiver Kevin Dyson one yard short of the goal line to prevent a potential game-tying touchdown. Warner completed 24 out of 45 passes for 414 yards and 2 touchdowns and was named the Most Valuable Player. His 414 passing yards and 45 pass attempts without an interception both set Super Bowl records.

1. Super Bowl XXV- Giants 20, Bills 19

The Bills and their explosive no-huddle offense were making their first-ever Super Bowl appearance. The game is best remembered for Bills placekicker Scott Norwood’s last-second field goal attempt which went wide right of the uprights, leading to a Giants victory, and starting a four-game losing streak in the Super Bowl for the Bills. The Giants set a Super Bowl record holding possession of the ball for 40 minutes and 33 seconds. New York also overcame a 12–3 second-quarter deficit and made a 75-yard touchdown drive that consumed a Super Bowl-record 9:29 off the clock. Giants running back Ottis Anderson, who carried the ball 21 times for 102 yards and one touchdown, was named Super Bowl MVP. He was the first awardee to receive the newly named “Pete Rozelle Trophy.” This is the first Super Bowl to feature two teams representing the same state. It was also the first Super Bowl in which neither team committed a turnover.

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