Ranking the Top 25 NFL Postseason Games in the Last Decade

Every January, there are exactly 11 postseason games among the best of the best teams in the National Football League. Over the last decade, that's 110 winner-take-all, single-elimination, do-or-die games that have been played. While some have been forgettable, the great majority have been wildly entertaining, more so than your typical regular-season games. 

Now, what exactly makes a game great? I looked at the overall talent level in the games. Super Bowls and conference championship games are more likely to be memorable because the stakes are higher, but they also feature better competition. You're rarely going to see below-average or average quarterbacks playing in either of the final two postseason rounds. What you're going to see is tremendous defenses against great offenses, high-stake last-second drives and dozens of clutch moments by both stars and unsung heroes.

Below I will highlight the best of the best. These are the 25 most memorable postseason games in the last 10 seasons, ranked in reverse order. They are listed by the year in which the regular season took place.

Situation	Play	PIT win probability
0:00 in 2nd quarter	James Harrison INT TD	47.2 to 90.0
2:47 in 4th quarter	Larry Fitzgerald TD	11.9 to 71.8
1:02 in 4th quarter	Santonio Holmes 40 yard catch	37.2 to 94.6
0:42 in 4th quarter	Santonio Holmes touchdown	89.4 to 97.7

25. 2011 AFC Championship: New England 23, Baltimore 20

A relatively uneventful game with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line had not one but two all-time gaffes in the final minute. 

With the Ravens trailing 23-20 in the final minute, Joe Flacco drove the Ravens down the field into field-goal range. Flacco seemingly completed a game-winning touchdown pass to veteran Lee Evans, but little-used Patriots defensive back Sterling Moore managed to knock the ball from Evans' grasp. On fourth down, journeyman kicker Billy Cundiff, fresh off the best season of his career, hooked a 32-yard field goal wide right that would have sent the game into overtime. 

The victory, Brady's 16th in the postseason, tied him with Joe Montana for the most in NFL history. His fifth Super Bowl appearance tied him with John Elway on the all-time list. 

24. 2014 AFC Divisional: New England 35, Baltimore 31

In the fourth postseason battle between Tom Brady and Flacco, Brady led the Patriots back from a pair of 14-point deficits, as they trailed both 14-0 and 28-14. The Patriots' fourth touchdown came on a flea flicker, a 51-yard bomb from former college quarterback Julian Edelman to Danny Amendola. Brady's third touchdown, a 23-yarder to Brandon LaFell with five minutes, 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter, gave the Patriots a 35-31 lead, their first of the game. 

With a final chance to give the sixth-seeded Ravens an improbable victory over the AFC's best team, Flacco led Baltimore down the field but was intercepted in the end zone with just under two minutes to play. He still managed to throw four touchdowns and added another chapter to his postseason legacy that has seen him throw 24 touchdowns against just four picks since the start of the 2010 postseason. 

23. 2014 NFC Wild Card: Dallas 24, Detroit 20

Detroit took a 14-0 first-quarter lead on the road and led 20-7 late in the third quarter, but Dallas fought back, cutting the deficit to 20-17 early in the final period. And that's when the craziness started. 

With the Lions facing 3rd-and-1 on Dallas's 46, Matthew Stafford threw a pass to tight end Brandon Pettigrew, who was covered by Dallas linebacker Anthony Hitchens. Hitchens broke up the pass, but he clearly interfered with Pettigrew on the play, causing the refs to throw a flag for pass interference. Cowboys star receiver Dez Bryant came out onto the field to argue with the refs, and incredibly, the refs picked up the penalty flag without an explanation. They also failed to flag Bryant for running onto the field and challenging the official's call. The play should have been a 17-yard penalty on Hitchens, plus a 15-yard flag tacked on for Bryant's actions, giving the Lions 1st-and-10 on the 14. Instead, they had 4th-and-1 on the 46. 

The Lions took a delay of game and punted on fourth down, but Sam Martin's shanked 10-yard punt gave the Cowboys tremendous field position. Romo led the Cowboys on a game-winning 59-yard drive, which included a 21-yard completion from Romo to Jason Witten on 4th-and-6 from their own 42-yard line. 

Stafford and the Lions had a final chance to win the game, and on the second play, Cowboys rookie defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence strip-sacked Stafford to essentially clinch the victory. But he foolishly tried to run with the fumble instead of falling on it, and he was stripped, giving the Lions the ball back with a fresh set of downs. Stafford took the Lions into Cowboys' territory, but on 4th-and-3, he was strip-sacked, again, by Lawrence. This time, Lawrence recovered and held on to the ball for the victory. 

22. 2011 AFC Wild Card: Denver 29, Pittsburgh 23 (OT)

The Denver Broncos had almost no business even appearing in the postseason, as they won just eight games and were outscored by 81 points during the regular season. Quarterback Tim Tebow completed just 46.5 percent of his passes, but his running ability, a low turnover rate and a string of fourth-quarter comebacks had him as the talk of the NFL heading into the postseason.

Yet Tebow led the Broncos to 20 second-quarter points and a 20-6 halftime lead. Ben Roethlisberger rallied to tie the game late for the Steelers, and the two teams headed into overtime tied at 23. 

For the first time, the NFL postseason would feature the new postseason rules, but it didn't matter. On the first play, Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas, who finished with four catches for 204 yards, for an 80-yard touchdown that sent the Mile High crowd into a state of absolute oblivion. Tebow finished with just 10 completions in 21 pass attempts, but his 316 yards set a postseason record for yards per completion. He completed five balls of more than 30 yards against a defense that allowed just six 30-yard completions all season.

Pittsburgh's defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau was criticized for his game plan, which focused on stopping Denver's wildly successful read-option attack and forcing Tebow to beat the Steelers with his throwing arm. But hindsight is 20-20, and LeBeau's game plan is exactly what you do against a quarterback who struggles to complete simple crossing patterns. It just didn't work this time. 

21. 2011 NFC Championship: NY Giants 20, San Francisco 17 (OT)

One of the biggest surprise teams in years, the San Francisco 49ers won 13 games in Jim Harbaugh's first year as head coach, surviving a shootout with Drew Brees and the Saints in the NFC divisional round. The Giants, who needed to win their final two games just to reach the playoffs with a less than impressive 9-7 record, were the hottest team in the league, having just knocked off the powerful 15-1 Green Bay Packers by 17 points on the road.

Vernon Davis caught an early 73-yard touchdown pass to give the 49ers a 7-0 lead, but Eli Manning tossed a couple of touchdown passes, and the Giants and 49ers eventually headed into overtime tied at 17. 

In the extra session, both teams exchanged punts before 49ers returner Kyle Williams fumbled while fielding a punt deep in his own territory. From there, it took just three Ahmad Bradshaw runs for the Giants to move into easy field-goal range, where Lawrence Tynes' 32-yard field goal sent the Giants to the Super Bowl.

Tynes' field goal was his second overtime field goal in as many conference championship game appearances, and the Giants would once again go on to face Brady and the high-powered New England Patriots. 

20. 2008 NFC Championship: Arizona 32, Philadelphia 25

Never before or since has a conference championship game featured two teams with such low postseason seeds, as the fourth-seeded Arizona Cardinals hosted the sixth-seeded Philadelphia Eagles with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

For Kurt Warner, it was an opportunity to take yet another historically weak franchise to the Super Bowl, which would likely cement his legacy as a future Hall of Famer. For Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid, it marked likely the final opportunity during their decade-long reign to capture the Super Bowl title that had eluded them so many times. 

Even though they were 3.5-point underdogs at home, the Cardinals jumped out to a 24-6 halftime lead behind three touchdown passes from Warner to Larry Fitzgerald, the All-Pro receiver who was turning in a postseason for the ages. 

The Eagles rallied in the second half, taking a 25-24 lead with just 10:56 to play as McNabb hit DeSean Jackson for a 62-yard touchdown bomb, a play that Jackson bobbled four times before securing it for the go-ahead score. 

But Warner answered back with the Cardinals, connecting on five passes, including a touchdown to Tim Hightower, which gave the Cardinals a 32-25 lead with just three minutes remaining. When Kevin Curtis dropped McNabb's fourth-down throw near midfield, the Cardinals had secured their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. 

19. 2007 NFC Championship: NY Giants 23, Green Bay 20

Most considered the New York Giants lucky to even be in the NFC Championship Game. After all, the Giants were just a 10-win team in the regular season that had upset the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round. The Packers, led by MVP candidate Brett Favre, had won 13 games during the regular season and rolled over the Seahawks in the NFC divisional round.

The first quarter featured a 90-yard touchdown pass from Favre to Donald Driver, the longest postseason touchdown in Green Bay history. In all, there were four lead changes, with Green Bay kicker Mason Crosby tying the game at 20 early in the fourth quarter.

Giants kicker Tynes missed a potential go-ahead 43-yard field goal with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. After Manning led the Giants down the field in the final two minutes, Tynes missed another field goal on the final play of regulation, this one a chip shot from 36 yards. 

In overtime, Giants cornerback Corey Webster intercepted Favre on his first pass of the extra session. Three plays later, Tynes connected on his redemption field goal, a 47-yard blast through the uprights to send the Giants to the Super Bowl. 

A game that featured a wind chill of negative-23 resulted in the ninth straight road win for the Giants. For Favre, his overtime interception served as an unfortunate ending to a memorable 16-year career in Green Bay, a tenure that included three regular-season MVP awards and a Super Bowl trophy. 

18. 2013 NFC Championship: Seattle 23, San Francisco 17

The new hottest rivalry in the National Football League featured the best set of defenses in the league led by two of the best young quarterbacks in the game. The game featured one of the most memorable endings in conference championship history.

After an early 10-0 deficit, the Seahawks finally took the lead on a Russell Wilson-to-Jermaine Kearse touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter and led 23-17 in the final minutes. Starting at their own 22 with 3:30 to play, Kaepernick led San Francisco into field-goal range before he was intercepted by Malcolm Smith after a deflection by Richard Sherman. The interception, Kaepernick's third turnover in as many series, led to Sherman's famous "best corner in the game" postgame rant at Erin Andrews.

17. 2012 NFC Divisional: Atlanta 30, Seattle 28

The Atlanta Falcons had grown used to playoff failures. Under Mike Smith and Matt Ryan, they lost their first playoff game in 2008, 2010 and 2011, including a home loss as the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC in 2010. So when the Falcons locked up the NFC's top seed in 2012, they knew they absolutely had to win at least one playoff game for their head coach to keep his job.

Against the Seattle Seahawks, a team that ranked as the NFL's best during the regular season in terms of DVOA, the Falcons jumped out to a 20-0 halftime lead and led 27-7 through three quarters. But the Seahawks fought back, scoring a trio of touchdowns, including a Marshawn Lynch touchdown plunge to give Seattle an improbable 28-27 lead with just 34 seconds remaining.

History appeared to be repeating itself in Atlanta. Only don't tell Matty Ice. The Falcons quarterback guided his offense 41 yards on two quick passes, setting up a Matt Bryant 49-yard field goal that gave Atlanta a 30-28 victory.

From an easy win to a heartbreaking loss to a thrilling victory, the Falcons finally collected their first, and only, playoff victory of the Smith and Ryan era. For Tony Gonzalez, the greatest tight end in league history, it was his first playoff victory after 16 seasons and five previous one-and-dones.

16. 2009 NFC Championship: New Orleans 31, Minnesota 28 (OT)

Favre's final hurrah came in purple instead of green, and it came within a single throw of the Super Bowl. After throwing for 30 touchdowns and a career-low seven interceptions during the regular season, Favre led the Vikings into the NFC Championship Game, where they faced Brees and the New Orleans Saints. 

Each team scored four touchdowns during regulation, but the game came down to one final drive for Favre, who drove the Vikings from their own 21-yard line to the Saints' 38 before he made The Throw. On 3rd-and-16, Favre rolled to his right and threw across his body into the center of the field, where his errant pass was intercepted by Saints cornerback Tracy Porter. It marked yet another postseason game that Favre gave away with a brutal interception.

In overtime, the Saints drove down the field, aided by a number of controversial calls, setting up Garrett Hartley's game-winning 40-yard field goal. The victory erased a dominant performance by Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who carried 25 times for 122 yards and three scores. 

15. 2012 NFC Championship: San Francisco 28, Atlanta 24

The Atlanta Falcons finally exorcised their playoff demons, defeating the Seahawks on a last-second field goal in the divisional round, their first playoff victory in four tries in the Matt Ryan era. But the Falcons, even with their 13-3 regular-season record and No. 1 seed in the postseason, were 4.5-point underdogs to the surging San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.

The game had all the makings of a rout for the Falcons through the first quarter, though, as the Ryan-to-Julio Jones combination gave the Falcons an early 17-0 lead. But the 49ers rallied back, cutting the deficit to 17-14 and eventually taking a 28-24 lead on a Frank Gore run midway through the fourth quarter.

Starting at his own 20 with eight minutes remaining, Ryan and the Falcons needed a touchdown to win. On 3rd-and-2 from midfield, Ryan completed a 22-yard pass to Harry Douglas, who caught the ball while falling. The 49ers challenged the play and lost a timeout, but had Douglas managed to simply stay on his feet while catching the pass, he likely would have scored.

Just after the two-minute warning, Ryan suffered a sprained AC joint in his non-throwing shoulder when he was driven into the ground by linebacker Ahmad Brooks. Ryan stayed in the game, but his next two passes were incomplete, giving the 49ers the ball and a trip to the Super Bowl after the second-largest comeback in conference championship game history. 

14. 2013 AFC Wild Card: Indianapolis 45, Kansas City 44

The Kansas City Chiefs had their first playoff victory after 20 seasons and six disappointing losses, three of them as the top seed in the AFC. This one was over. With a 38-10 lead early in the third quarter, Pro-Football-Reference gave the Indianapolis Colts an 0.1 percent chance of winning. That's one in 1,000.

Things got interesting when Andrew Luck led the Colts to two quick touchdowns, but another Chiefs interception and touchdown gave them a 41-24 lead late in the third quarter. But another touchdown pass by Luck made it a 10-point game before the Colts turned in the play of the game early in the fourth quarter. Donald Brown fumbled on a goal-line carry, but Luck scampered in, picked up the loose football and ran in for a touchdown to cut the deficit to just three points with more than 10 minutes to play. 

The Chiefs took six minutes off the clock and added a field goal to increase their lead to 44-38, but just over a minute later, Luck hit T.Y. Hilton for a 64-yard touchdown to give the Colts an improbable 45-44 lead. When Alex Smith's fourth-down pass fell incomplete with two minutes left in the game, the Colts had the first postseason victory in the Andrew Luck era. Their 28-point comeback stands as the second largest in NFL postseason history.

13. 2010 Super Bowl: Green Bay 31, Pittsburgh 25

When great Super Bowls in the last decade are mentioned, you're not going to hear many mention Green Bay vs. Pittsburgh. That's because a) so many recent Super Bowls have been all-timers and b) the game didn't feature any all-time great play or individual performance. Instead, it was just a really good game between a pair of really good quarterbacks.

Green Bay took a 21-3 lead, staked by a Nick Collins interception return for a touchdown, but Roethlisberger rallied the Steelers back, cutting the deficit to 21-17. The key play came early in the fourth quarter, when All-Pro linebacker Clay Matthews jarred the ball loose from Rashard Mendenhall as the Steelers were entering field-goal range. The Packers increased their lead to 28-17, the Steelers scored to make it 28-25, and the stage was set for one final Roethlisberger comeback attempt.

Only this time, Roethlisberger led the Steelers just 19 of the necessary 86 yards before his fourth-down pass fell incomplete, giving Rodgers and the Packers the Super Bowl title. Roethlisberger and the Steelers were just a single drive away from clinching yet another Pittsburgh dynasty.

12. 2009 Super Bowl: New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17

Just six weeks prior, both the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts had a legitimate chance to finish 16-0. But the Saints dropped their final three games, while the Colts lost their last two.

You still had two all-time greats in Brees and Peyton Manning facing off on the game's biggest stage, which makes it even more surprising that this particular game was won by one of the most costly turnovers in NFL history.

Trailing 24-17 with just over three minutes remaining, Manning's pass for Reggie Wayne was intercepted and returned for a 74-yard touchdown by Porter.

The game also featured a 10-point comeback by the Saints, which tied the longest comeback in Super Bowl history. To start off the second half, Sean Payton called for a surprise onside kick. Colts receiver Hank Baskett couldn't hold on to the ball, and the Saints recovered and drove down the field for a go-ahead touchdown.

In the biggest game of his life, Brees completed 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards and a pair of scores, earning MVP honors. More importantly, he was able to earn that lofty Super Bowl title.

11. 2014 NFC Championship: Seattle 28, Green Bay 22 (OT)

One of the most dominant defenses in NFL history hosted one of the most dominant quarterbacks in NFL history with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. It really doesn't get better if you're a football fan.

Heavy underdogs against the Seahawks, Rodgers led the Packers to a 16-0 lead by halftime. In fact, Wilson didn't even complete his first pass until just before halftime. In all, Wilson would throw four interceptions.

Seattle collected its first points of the day on a gutsy fake-field-goal touchdown pass from punter Jon Ryan to offensive tackle Garry Gilliam. When Seattle got the ball back deep in its own territory, it trailed 19-7 with just four minutes on the clock.

After Wilson led Seattle down the field for a touchdown, the Seahawks tried an onside kick, which was dropped by Packers tight end Brandon Bostick and recovered by Seattle wide receiver Chris Matthews. Just four plays later, Lynch broke a couple of tackles, bounced to the outside and darted 24 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Then came one of the strangest plays in NFL history, as Wilson scrambled to his right and basically threw up a Hail Mary jump ball on the two-point-conversion try. Seahawks tight end Luke Willson outjumped Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and secured the ball, giving Seattle a 22-19 lead with just 1:33 remaining. 

History will forget what happened next, but Rodgers executed one of the best individual drives of the season, leading Green Bay 48 yards in a minute to set up Mason Crosby's 48-yard field goal.

It was in overtime when the legend of Wilson added another chapter, as the former third-round pick drove Seattle down the field after the opening kickoff, eventually hitting Kearse on a walk-off 35-yard touchdown to send Seattle to the Super Bowl for the second straight season. Despite one of the worst quarterback performances of the season, Wilson led Seattle to 28 points, including 21 in the final five-and-a-half minutes of play. 

10. 2011 NFC Divisional: San Francisco 36, New Orleans 32

A game that featured one of the league's most dominant quarterbacks against one of the league's most dominant defenses turned into a shootout in the fourth quarter.

The 49ers built an early 17-0 lead behind a pair of touchdown passes from Alex Smith, but the Saints rallied back, cutting the deficit to 17-14 by halftime. The craziness began in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.

First, Darren Sproles took a screen pass 44 yards for a touchdown with 4:11 remaining, giving the Saints a 24-23 lead. Then Smith drove the 49ers down the field, scoring on a third-down 28-yard keeper down the left sideline. After the missed two-point conversion, the Niners led 29-24 with 2:11 on the clock.

It took Brees exactly 23 seconds to give the Saints the lead back, hitting tight end Jimmy Graham on a 66-yard touchdown bomb near midfield. Brees hit Sproles for the two-point conversion, and the Saints were back in front 32-29 with 1:48 remaining.

Accused of far too often being a game manager, Smith picked the perfect opportunity for the best drive of his life. With 14 seconds remaining, Smith's 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Vernon Davis gave the 49ers an improbable 36-32 victory. Davis, who caught three passes for 98 yards in the final four minutes, essentially gave the 49ers faithful The Catch Part III, joining Dwight Clark's leaping grab in the 1981 NFC Championship Game and Terrell Owens' 25-yard redemption reception in the 1998 Wild Card Round.

The only postseason game in NFL history where each team scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes featured Brees completing 40 passes, including 15 to Sproles, for 466 yards and four touchdowns in a losing effort.

9. 2012 Super Bowl: Baltimore 34, San Francisco 31

The battle between the Harbaugh brothers will stand as the lasting memory from a Super Bowl that deserves to be remembered as one of the most entertaining big games ever played. 

The game began with the Ravens taking an early 21-3 lead behind three Joe Flacco touchdown passes, including a diving 56-yard touchdown by Jacoby Jones, who got up and ran into the end zone untouched. Leading 21-6 at halftime, the Ravens increased their lead to 28-6 when Jones returned the opening kick of the third quarter 108 yards, the longest individual play in Super Bowl history.

That's when the infamous power outage happened, a 34-minute delay that some, including Ray Lewis, believe was a conspiracy theory. Coincidence or not, the Ravens lost their momentum during the break, as the 49ers rallied to cut the deficit to 28-23. But the 49ers never took the lead, and trailing 34-29 in the final minute, three straight end-zone passes from Colin Kaepernick to Michael Crabtree fell incomplete. 

Flacco concluded one of the best postseason stretches any quarterback has ever had with 11 touchdowns to no interceptions, while Lewis ended one of the best careers any defensive player had had with his second Super Bowl title. The Ravens became the first team to win multiple Super Bowl trophies without a loss, while the Niners missed out on their most critical chance to win a championship in the short-lived Jim Harbaugh era. 

8. 2012 AFC Divisional: Baltimore 38, Denver 35 (2OT)

Nobody gave Flacco and the Ravens any chance to win at Mile High Stadium, against a 13-3 Denver Broncos team that was riding an 11-game winning streak with the league's Most Valuable Player at quarterback. And when Trindon Holliday took a punt 90 yards for a score in the game's opening minutes, well, the Ravens might as well have walked off the field.

Only don't tell the Ravens. Three minutes later, the Ravens were winning, following a 59-yard touchdown pass from Flacco to Torrey Smith and a Corey Graham interception returned for a touchdown. Tied 14-14 after one quarter and 21-21 at halftime, Holliday's 104-yard kick return touchdown to open the third quarter gave the Broncos a 28-21 lead and made Holliday the only player in postseason history to return both a kick and a punt for a score in the same game.

In the final minute of regulation, Flacco turned in the signature play of his career, hitting receiver Jacoby Jones for a 70-yard touchdown over the outstretched arms of Broncos safety Rahim Moore to tie the game at 35. With 31 seconds on the clock, Broncos head coach John Fox strangely called for the game's best quarterback to take a knee and send the game into overtime.

After almost a full quarter of neither offense doing anything with the ball, Manning was intercepted for the second time by Graham, this time near midfield. A couple of Ray Rice runs set up rookie kicker Justin Tucker's walk-off 47-yard field goal, which added to Manning's record of eight one-and-dones in the postseason.

7. 2011 Super Bowl: NY Giants 21, New England 17

In the history of the NFL, there's never been a more deja vu moment than Super Bowl XLVI, the rematch between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, and a game that had an almost identical ending. This time, the Patriots weren't taking the Giants lightly, even as the Giants became the first team in NFL history to reach—and win—a Super Bowl with a negative point differential. 

The Giants took an early 9-0 lead, highlighted by a safety on a Brady intentional grounding, but Brady and coach Bill Belichick rallied to take a 10-9 lead by halftime. With just 3:53 on the clock, the stage was set for yet another Eli Manning comeback attempt. This time, he needed to lead the Giants to just a field goal, as the Patriots led 17-15.

On Manning's first play, he hit Mario Manningham on a perfectly thrown 38-yard pass that carried the receiver out of bounds. Belichick challenged the play, but the call stood, giving the Giants the ball at midfield with 3:46 to go. From that point on, it was a cakewalk for the Giants, as Eli completed four more passes before Ahmad Bradshaw eventually ran in from the 6-yard line to give the Giants a 21-17 lead. It was the strangest game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl history, as Bradshaw attempted to stop on the 1-yard line when he realized what the Patriots were doing. But his momentum carried him into the end zone anyway.

Although Brady and the Patriots had almost a minute to score the game-winning touchdown, they never really had a chance. Brady converted a 19-yard completion to Deion Branch on 4th-and-16, eventually giving the Patriots an opportunity for a Hail Mary on the game's final play. Brady's desperation heave, intended for Aaron Hernandez, was almost caught by a diving Rob Gronkowski, who had played the game with a high ankle sprain that severely limited his mobility.

It was essentially deja vu in the craziest way, as the Giants once again stopped Brady and Belichick from securing their record-tying fourth Super Bowl title. The game's MVP trophy yet again went to Eli Manning, as he completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown.

Compare Manning's two individual game-winning drives. In 2007, it took a couple of lucky breaks, notably a dropped interception by Asante Samuel and a once-in-a-lifetime catch by David Tyree, for the Giants to win. But in 2011, the drive was all skill, no luck. The question of whether the Giants could collect at least a field goal to take the lead was basically answered on the first play, which should stand as the best individual throw of Manning's career. Essentially, he showed his maturation and improvement as a quarterback from his fourth year to his eighth year.

6. 2005 AFC Divisional: Pittsburgh 21, Indianapolis 18

The Pittsburgh Steelers, who needed to win their final four regular-season games to even reach the postseason, became the first No. 6 seed to defeat a No. 1 overall seed. Their 21-18 victory came against an Indianapolis Colts team that began the season with 13 straight victories but ultimately fell short of a Super Bowl appearance for the eighth straight season under Peyton Manning's reign.

After the Steelers jumped out to a 21-3 lead, shocking the crowd at the RCA Dome, Manning led the Colts on a late comeback attempt. Trailing 21-10 midway through the fourth quarter, Manning was intercepted by All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu, but the play was incorrectly overturned by a replay reversal.

Another Colts touchdown cut the deficit to 21-18, but when Manning was sacked on 4th-and-16 at his own 2-yard line with just over a minute to play, the game appeared to be all but over.

The Steelers gave running back Jerome Bettis, in the final month of his career, an opportunity to close out the game on a goal-line touchdown plunge. But Bettis, somehow, inexplicably fumbled the ball, when linebacker Gary Brackett's helmet dislodged the football. Colts safety Nick Harper picked up the bouncing football and headed upfield, but Roethlisberger managed to bring down Harper with an arm tackle at the Colts' own 42-yard line. Had Harper cut to the outside instead of the inside, he probably would have scored. Had Harper not been limited by a knife wound to the knee the previous night in a domestic altercation with his wife, he might have scored. 

In just two plays, Manning drove the Colts into field-goal range, but the drive stalled, setting up Mike Vanderjagt for a 46-yard game-tying field-goal attempt. The most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL at that point, Vanderjagt missed wide right by at least 15 yards.

Vanderjagt's shank allowed the Steelers to kneel the ball and run out the clock. It was a game where the Colts appeared to improbably snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, only to give it back in just as heartbreaking of a fashion.

The Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl, a first by a No. 6 seed, after defeating the Denver Broncos by 17 points on the road in the AFC Championship Game. For Manning and the Colts, now 3-6 in the postseason since 1999, it would take just one more season to finally capture that elusive Super Bowl title. 

5. 2006 AFC Championship: Indianapolis 38, New England 34

Finally. After losing to Brady in both 2003 and 2004 in the postseason and suffering perhaps the most heartbreaking defeat of his postseason career in the 2005 divisional round, Peyton Manning was headed to the Super Bowl. And it really couldn't have been a sweeter victory.

The Patriots jumped all over the Colts early, taking a 21-3 lead after Asante Samuel returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown. It looked like this would be a repeat of the 2003 and 2004 Brady-Manning postseason battles where Manning's Colts managed to score just 17 combined points. But Manning staged a comeback, and late in the third quarter, the game was tied.

The Colts and Patriots traded scores throughout the fourth quarter, setting the stage for one final drive by Manning. With the ball on his own 20, just 2:17 to go and the Colts trailing 34-31, Manning was facing easily the most important 137 seconds of his career. He needed just 19 seconds to move the Colts within 11 yards of the end zone. Three straight Joseph Addai carries resulted in a go-ahead touchdown, and the Colts' 38-34 lead was their first of the game. 

Brady had a full minute to answer back, and although he took the Patriots past midfield, he was intercepted by safety Marlin Jackson with just 16 seconds remaining. The Colts' improbable victory concluded a memorable playoff game that featured two offensive linemen recovering a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown (Logan Mankins for the Patriots and Jeff Saturday for the Colts), plus a third catching a touchdown on a tackle-eligible play (Dan Klecko for the Colts). 

For the Patriots, the loss highlighted the team's weaknesses on offense, notably at wide receiver. As a result, Belichick traded a mid-round pick for deep threat Randy Moss before the season, and the rest is history for an offense that broke the single-season record for points scored the next year. For the Colts, the victory ended years of frustration, as Indianapolis handled the Chicago Bears two weeks later to collect their only Super Bowl title during the Manning era. 

4. 2009 NFC Wild Card: Arizona 51, Green Bay 45 (OT)

The Cardinals spent the 2009 season showing that their Super Bowl appearance the previous year was far from a fluke, while the Green Bay Packers, led by second-year starter Rodgers, looked like they might be the hottest team in the league entering the postseason, having won seven of their last eight.

Many expected a shootout. Nobody expected 96 combined points scored. The game had all the makings of a rout after the first quarter, as Warner and the Cardinals led 17-0 behind a pair of Packers turnovers. The Packers fought back, cutting the deficit to 24-10 by halftime, and in the second half, both quarterbacks were unstoppable. At one point trailing 31-10, Rodgers led the Packers to four touchdowns in a 12-minute span overlapping the third and fourth quarters. Incredibly, the Packers were tied at 38 with 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Warner led the Cardinals 80 yards in a little under six minutes, with his 17-yard touchdown pass to Steve Breaston giving Arizona a 45-38 lead. So, naturally, Rodgers responded, driving Green Bay 70 yards before little-used tight end Spencer Havner's 11-yard touchdown tied the game at 45.

With two minutes remaining, Warner yet again drove Arizona down the field, but the usually reliable Neil Rackers missed a potential walk-off 34-yard field goal, sending the game into sudden-death overtime.

Green Bay won the toss, and Rodgers dialed up a deep pass on the first play. He had Greg Jennings wide open for a game-winning 80-yard touchdown, but he missed high, a throw that would prove to be costly. Just two plays later, Rodgers was strip-sacked. Linebacker Karlos Dansby snagged the ball on a bounce and raced untouched for a 17-yard touchdown.

The highest-scoring postseason game in NFL history ended on a walk-off touchdown in overtime...by a defensive player. For Rodgers, it was a memorable postseason debut. Despite a turnover on his first and last play of the game, Rodgers threw for 422 yards and four scores, while leading the Packers back from a 21-point second-half deficit.

But it was Warner who turned in perhaps the best game by any quarterback in postseason history. The future Hall of Famer completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards and five touchdowns, despite playing without his No. 2 receiver, Anquan Boldin. The Cardinals failed to score on exactly three drives, which included a Fitzgerald red-zone fumble in the second quarter and Rackers' chip-shot miss at the end of regulation.

3. 2014 Super Bowl: New England 28, Seattle 24

The old dynasty against the new dynasty. The old Patriots head coach against the current Patriots head coach. The game's old best quarterback against one of the best young quarterbacks. The storylines for the 49th Super Bowl were countless and on paper. This was regarded as the one of the best Super Bowls in history.

The Seahawks elected to go for a touchdown instead of a field goal in the final seconds of the first half, and Wilson hit Chris Matthews for an 11-yard score to tie the game at 14 heading into halftime. In the third quarter, it was the Seahawks who scored 10 to pull ahead 24-14. At that point, the game should have been over. The Seahawks had played 11 games against Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks in the previous three seasons, and none of them had scored more than 23 points in a game. 

On the game's biggest stage, in arguably the defining quarter of his storied NFL career, Brady would become the first. Before Brady connected with Julian Edelman on a 21-yard gain on 3rd-and-14 from the Patriots' own 28-yard line, the Patriots had just a 3.5 percent chance of winning, per Pro-Football-Reference. But Brady hit Amendola for a four-yard touchdown and, after a three-and-out by New England's defense, led the Patriots 64 yards in 10 plays. The game-winning touchdown came on a three-yard pass from Brady to Edelman, who would finish with nine catches for 109 yards. 

For the seventh time in the last eight Super Bowls, a quarterback had an opportunity to lead his team on a last-minute game-winning touchdown drive. This time, it was Wilson who started at his own 20-yard line with 2:02 on the clock. Wilson immediately completed a 33-yard pass to Lynch and later added a third-down conversion to Ricardo Lockette. 

What happened next is one of the most deja vu plays in NFL history. On 1st-and-10 from New England's 38-yard line, Wilson heaved a deep pass downfield to Kearse, who was covered by little-used cornerback Malcolm Butler (remember that name). Butler and Kearse both jumped for the ball, which was tipped into the air. As Kearse fell to the ground, the ball bounced off his lower body and ricocheted into the air, where Kearse tapped it with his right hand before securing it against his body as he twisted from his back to a sitting position. Kearse popped up and was pushed out of bounds at the 5-yard line. 

Lynch ran for four yards down to the 1-yard line on the next play, and a go-ahead touchdown seemed like a virtual guarantee. Belichick, perhaps engaging Pete Carroll in a game of chicken, refused to call a timeout, and the clock ticked down under 30 seconds.

With one timeout remaining, the Seahawks elected, incredibly, to pass the ball on second down. Even more incredibly, they threw a slant in the middle of the field instead of rolling out the mobile Wilson, where he could throw a fade in the corner of the end zone, throw the ball away or tuck and run. But Wilson's slant to Lockette was intercepted by Butler, on one of the most athletic, instinctive plays you'll ever see. 

Butler's Super Bowl-winning interception increased the Patriots' chances of winning from 15 percent to 99.8 percent, making it, easily, the most important play in the history of the NFL, in terms of win probability added. It was a shocking ending that came within one yard of snatching yet another Patriots' Super Bowl away in the game's final minute. 

2. 2007 Super Bowl: NY Giants 17, New England 14

The New England Patriots were the first 16-0 team in the history of the NFL, scoring a league-record 589 points behind the record-setting passing attack of Brady and Peyton Manning. The New York Giants, winners of just 10 games, needed two big upsets just to reach the Super Bowl, where they were listed as 12.5-point underdogs. Then again, the Giants had won 10 straight road games, and in the season finale, they held their own against the dominant Patriots, eventually losing 38-35.

So, while there was reason for the Giants to feel optimistic about keeping the game close, nobody expected the Giants to play so well. They completely shut down New England's high-powered offensive attack, holding Brady's bunch to just one touchdown through the first three quarters. A touchdown reception by little-used Giants receiver Tyree actually gave New York a 10-7 lead, but Brady answered back, hitting Moss for a six-yard touchdown with 2:45 remaining.

That's when Eli Manning led the greatest drive in the history of the NFL. Starting at his own 17-yard line, Manning took the Giants 83 yards in two minutes to give New York an improbable 17-14 lead. The 13-yard touchdown reception by Plaxico Burress on a fade was the play that won the game, but it's the Manning-to-Tyree hookup that should go down as the most memorable play in NFL history.

Here's what happened. The Giants faced a 3rd-and-5 from their own 44-yard line, when Manning took the snap and was immediately pressured by a trio of Patriots defenders, one grabbing him by the shoulder and another clinging to the back of his jersey. But Manning broke free of the defenders and scrambled backward into space. He heaved the ball to the middle of the field, where Tyree made a leaping reception by catching the ball against the side of his helmet, despite Patriots All-Pro safety Rodney Harrison desperately trying to knock the ball away. The catch was good for 32 yards, and made Tyree, who had caught just four passes during the regular season, an instant hero.

Less than a minute away from joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins on the list of undefeated teams since the merger, the 2007 Patriots will be remembered not for the first 1,139 minutes of their season but for the 1,140th.

1. 2008 Super Bowl: Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23

Super Bowl XLIII deserves to stand the test of time as the most entertaining Super Bowl ever played, as it featured everything you'd want in a big game: a memorable defensive play, a double-digit point comeback, a last-minute game-winning drive and a last-second turnover. 

The Steelers took an early 10-0 lead and led 10-7 right before halftime with the Cardinals just a yard away from taking the lead. That's when linebacker James Harrison, the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year, stepped in front of an errant Warner pass and returned the ball 100 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half.

Trailing 20-7 midway through the fourth quarter, Warner began the Cardinals' comeback, hitting Larry Fitzgerald for a one-yard jump-ball touchdown. With less than four minutes remaining, Roethlisberger completed a 19-yard pass to Santonio Holmes with the Steelers backed up on their own 1-yard line. But a holding call on center Justin Hartwig gave the Cardinals a safety and the ball back, trailing 20-16.

In just 17 seconds, Warner gave the Cardinals the lead, hitting a streaking Fitzgerald for a go-ahead 64-yard touchdown. Fitzgerald outran All-Pro safety Polamalu to the end zone, giving the Cardinals an improbable 23-20 lead just five minutes after trailing 20-7. 

Roethlisberger led one of the most famous drives in Super Bowl history, starting at his own 12 and leading the Steelers 88 yards in just under two minutes. The big play came when Roethlisberger completed a 40-yard pass to Holmes to get the Steelers down to the 6-yard line. Two plays later, Roethlisberger made the throw that will define his career. His six-yard touchdown strike to Holmes in the right corner of the end zone came, incredibly, with three Cardinals defenders in coverage. 

The Cardinals still had one final chance, and although Warner brought Arizona past midfield on two quick completions, a sack fumble by LaMarr Woodley effectively clinched the record-setting sixth Super Bowl championship for the Steelers​