Top Five Super Bowls of All Time

Its almost here Super Bowl XLII and here we are again enjoying the history of the NFL and what the Super Bowl means to fans. To some it may just mean checkin' out the funniest new commercials wondering what Bud Light is going to drum up next. Others it may be the excitement of seeing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLII Halftime Show, another legend to hit the stage during this event. Then their are approximately 100 million other viewers that will be torn between two teams to root for as they play their Super Bowl Party Games and make some delicious Super Bowl Party Recipes.

How do you narrow down your five favorite Super Bowls? It all starts with your favorite team and well if they've won a Super Bowl since its inception most likely thats your favorite. So I wanted to spice things up a little bit and instead of picking my favorites which would include Denver beating Atlanta 34-19 I wanted to watch all the highlights and back stories of every Super Bowl and then decide which ones I thought deserved to be in the top 5 of all time. Not an easy task to try and accomplish considering each year the Super Bowl is to the decide which team is the best. So basically the pressure is on to decide who is the "best of the best" as they say.

We are talking about a 1972-73 Miami Dolphins team that went undefeated and beat the Washington Redskins 14-7 in Super Bowl VII which was in fact the longest drought for a team in Super Bowl history when the Redskins scored with only 2:07 left in the game. Then there is Super Bowl V between the Baltimore Colts who beat the Dallas Cowboys 16-13 and was the only time a player on the losing team won the Super Bowl MVP Award. One of my personal favorite stats had to come from Super Bowl XVI when it was the first time in Super Bowl history that the winning team in this case the San Francisco 49ers would wind up with less touchdowns then the losing team the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21.

All great and meaningful Super Bowl moments but still not good enough for Woody to put them in the top 5 of all time. Even if you aren't old enough to remember I'm sure you've seen or heard about the New York Jets old "Broadway" Joe Namath's guaranteed victory in Super Bowl III against the Colts in which the Jets won 16-7. Super Bowl XIII has been considered over the years as the greatest talent ever to play in the Super Bowl with two Hall of Fame coaches in Chuck Noll and Tom Landry, but also 14 players who would later go on to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Then of course for you "chowder-heads" Super Bowl XXXIX between New England and Philadelphia which became the first Super Bowl ever to go into the fourth quarter with the score tied. Still however not enough to make the top 5. Even my favorite player of all time John Elway and his win over Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII didn't make Woody's Top 5 Super Bowls of All Time. Time to unveil them........

#5 Super Bowl XXIII: San Francisco 49ers 20, Cincinnati Bengals 16

You have to remember this Super Bowl with the likes of Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana teamed up with Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, and Ronnie Lott against Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason, Anthony Munoz, James Brooks, Ickey Woods, and David Fulcher. It was the year that Nose Tackle Tim Kumrie shattered two bones in his left leg turning his ankle almost backwards. It was the worst display of pain and agony since Joe Theismann's leg was broken with bone sticking out. However it was the game that put it in the top 5.

With 3:20 left to play in the game the Bengals had just taken a 16-13 lead before Joe Montana and company would get one more shot. Only problem is a penalty cost the 49ers field position after the kickoff leaving Joe with 92 yards to get in the endzone. Montana's "Joe Cool" presence ended in Super Bowl XXIII with a touchdown pass to John Taylor for 10 yards after a near perfect drive down the field. He would go on later to say that his team was so pumped and anxious heading into the final drive that while in the huddle he stopped and said, "Hey, isn't that John Candy?" just to calm his teammates down.

#4 Super Bowl XXV: New York Giants 20, Buffalo Bills 19

Its the best case of the infamous LACES OUT Ray Finkle style the NFL has ever seen especially coming in a Super Bowl contest. This was also the first Super Bowl in NFL history that pitted two teams representing the same state. Back then ol' Hoodie (New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick) was the defensive coordinator for the Giants along with now New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin was then the wide receivers coach for the team. Led by the Big Tuna himself it was a collection of top coaches all within a Super Bowl caliber team.

If you missed this game and still have no idea what I'm talking about this is the game that was entertaining, but yet a defensive struggle throughout. No one was picking the Giants to win this game after the Bills had scored 95 points in their two playoff games beating Miami 44-34 and a Bo Jackson-less Oakland Raiders team 51-3. However with only 2:16 left in the game Jim Kelly and Bills were asked to drive down the field to put kicker Scott Norwood in field goal range starting at their own 10 yard line. With :08 seconds left Kelly did just that and left Norwood with a 47 yard field goal attempt. Oddly enough the ball went WIDE RIGHT and the game went down as one of the best of all time.

Norwood just vanished after that. He is heard to be hanging with old Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams somewhere around Aruba.

#3 Super Bowl X: Pittsburgh Steelers 21, Dallas Cowboys 17

Yep, for some of you boys and girls this one will make you feel old when I tell you this is the only Super Bowl I do not remember watching in the flesh without only seeing highlights. I mean it is possible, I could have been ridin' up and down on daddy's leg watchin' the game, but probably not. I was one in 1976 when this Super Bowl took place and if there is a game with intensity all the way to the end it was this game. I really wanted to put this at #1 but I couldn't pull the trigger.

With 3:02 left in the game the Steelers had a 21-10 lead and it looked as though the Super Bowl was in hand. Dallas went down and scored to get within 21-17, but couldn't recover the onside kick. Pittsburgh ran the ball 3 times and on 4th down was trying to get a first down so they could run out the clock but failed. Giving Dallas the ball on their own 39 yard line. Quarterback Roger Staubach took the next 1:22 seconds to engineer a drive that would be halted at the Pittsburgh 38 yard line. With time winding down Staubach had to throw two hail mary passes into the endzone with the second one being intercepted as time expired.

#2 Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England Patriots 32, Carolina Panthers 29

How can you leave out a Super Bowl that shows some skin errrrrr I mean a "wardrobe malfunction" during the halftime show with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. It may be the best game ever to be overshadowed by the halftime show, heck it may be the only one. Many forget how great of a game this turned out to be after a slow start and how it became one of the best ever to watch.

If you fell asleep for the first 3 quarters of this contest you didn't miss much. New England had gone out to a 21-10 lead just 2 plays in the 4th quarter which started the greatest accumulation of points in one quarter in Super Bowl history and made the kids that took the over in this game very happy. For the final 15 minutes the teams would combine for 37 points going back and forth down the field like a tennis match. Finally with 1:08 left to play Carolina tied up the game 29-29 but Tom Brady drove his Patriots down the field for a clutch Adam Vinatieri 41 yard field with :04 seconds left and another Super Bowl victory in three years for the Patriots.

#1 Super Bowl XXXIV: St. Louis Rams 23, Tennessee Titans 16

How can you not make the #1 Super Bowl in Super Bowl history the one that is better known as "The Tackle". It became the first time in Super Bowl history that a team with a dome stadium actually won a Super Bowl. What started out as a blow out ended up a classic.

This was the year that some farm boy grocery bagger from Iowa was called in to take over for Trent Green who had broken his leg in the pre-season. His name; Kurt Warner and he wound up not only the NFL MVP for the year but also the Super Bowl MVP as well. After the Rams had broke out to a 16-0 lead midway through the third quarter most were more interested in the commercials then the game, but a spark led to an Eddie George touchdown run and a 16-6 lead after the Titans missed the two point conversion attempt. They came right back down the next two times and scored on another touchdown and a Al Del Greco field goal that left the game tied at 16-16 with only 2:12 left to play.

Almost as if the Rams simply got bored their very next possession on the first play Kurt Warner bombed a 73 yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce which took about :07 seconds. The Titans got the ball back with 1:54 and drove down the field until a 3rd and 4 looked as though McNair would be sacked but instead completed a pass down to the 10 yard line taking up all but :06 seconds on the clock. With one last play and no timeouts McNair dropped back and threw a short pass over the middle to wide receiver Kevin Dyson who was just about to go in for the tying score when Rams linebacker Mike Jones came out of nowhere to tackle Dyson at the 1 yard line and just after he went down Dyson stretched the ball across the goal line. Explaining how this Super Bowl is remembered by "The Tackle".