Super Bowl XLV: Power Ranking the Worst Super Bowl Matchups in History

As Super Bowl XLV rolls closer, we reflect on what has happened over the last 44 years in Super Bowl history.

Unfortunately, not every Super Bowl brings home the same joy for the fans as it does the winning team.

Whether its a mismatch of teams, poor play, ineffective coaching, or even abysmal officiating; the Super Bowl is not always all its cracked up to be.

While it is hard to say that any Super Bowl was truly horrible, here are the 15 worst Super Bowls matchups as we see them.

15. Super Bowl XXIV (1990): San Francisco 55, Denver 10

The Broncos never belonged in this game.

The year after Bill Walsh retired, his replacement, George Seifert, simply guided the 49ers to a 14-2 record and into their second straight Super Bowl.

The 49ers were absolutely dominant on the year. Joe Montana threw five touchdown passes in the game (three to Jerry Rice), and the Broncos only touchdown was a three-yard run from John Elway.

The Niners were 12 point favorites, they won by 45.

Montana was named the MVP.

14. Super Bowl XXXVII (2003): Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21

The Raiders were in trouble before the game even started, center Barrett Robins went missing for most of the week and wound up in the hospital.

Coach Jon Gruden, who basically built the Raiders, was "traded" to the Buccaneers prior to the season and his former team was favored by four going in.

Tamap Bay was up 34-3 following the first of three INT's thrown by Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon.

The Raiders scored 18 straight points, failing all three two-point conversions, before Gannon tossed the other two interceptions that pushed the score out of control.

13. Super Bowl XXIX (1995): San Francisco 49, San Diego 26

Another game where the 49ers were simply far superior to their opponent.

With Steve Young at the helm, San Francisco was destructive and basically did whatever they wanted to the Chargers.

Young threw six touchdown passes en route to the MVP trophy.

The Chargers did, however, score the first recorded two-point conversions in Super Bowl history.

12. Super Bowl XXII (1988) Washington 42, Denver 10

The Redskins went absolutely insane in the second quarter of this game scoring 35 points, they were outscored 10-7 in the other quarters.

The Broncos were favored by three, but Doug Williams, the game's MVP, and the Redskins set the field on fire in the second quarter.

Williams tossed four touchdowns and the Redskins put up 356 yards in the quarter.

Denver didn't score a point after the first quarter.

11. Super Bowl XVII (1983) Washington 27, Miami 17

This game was not that bad at all, but unfortunately, it was the title game that capped off the strike-shortened season 1982.

Washington running back John Riggins won the MVP as the Redskins ran the football all over the Dolphins.

176 total yards were all that Miami gained in the game.

10. Super Bowl (1994) Dallas 30, Buffalo 13

The Cowboys were 10 point favorites in what was Super Bowl rematch from the blowout the season before.

A halftime lead for the Bills meant little as the Cowboys ripped off 24 second half points on their way to their second straight Bowl over the Bills.

Emmitt Smith was the games MVP and ran for over 100 yards in his second straight Super Bowl.

The Cowboys were simply a mismatch for the Bills.

9. Super Bowl XIX (1985) San Francisco 38, Miami 16

San Francisco, favored only by three, and Miami, should have been one of the better Bowls we should have seen.

Dan Marino led the Dolphins offense, breaking regular season passing records along the way.

Instant of a classic with the 49ers, we got one of the most disappointing Super Bowls of all time.

Joe Montana was named the game's MVP with three touchdown passes.

The scoring ceased in the third quarter and the 22-point victory dragged out.

8. Super Bowl XL (2006) Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10

Coach Bill Cowher got his first Super Bowl title but the game was hardly exciting.

Steelers starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed only nine passes, threw two interceptions, and Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El threw the Steelers' only touchdown pass.

The game was relatively close for the most part, with Randle El's touchdown pass in the fourth quarter pushing the game out of reach.

The Seahawks had a handful of miscues including missed kicks and dropped passes making it actually uglier than it should have been.

7. Super Bowl II (1968) Green Bay 33, Oakland 14

Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, the repeat champion Packers were simply too dominant for the Raiders.

Neither quarterback wowed the world, Starr was named the game's MVP with only a 50 percent completion percentage, 202 yards, and one touchdown.

Packers kicker Don Chandler kicked four field goals.

The Raiders turned the ball over three times.

6. Super Bowl VI (1972) Dallas 24, Miami 3

Before the Dolphins went undefeated and won back-to-back Super Bowls, they played a stinker of a game against Dallas the year before.

Roger Staubach was named the game's MVP completing only 12 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

The Cowboys ran the ball for 252 yards while the Dolphins only mustered 185 total yards.

The Dolphins are the only team to not score a touchdown in the Super Bowl.

5. Super Bowl XVIII (1984) LA Raiders 38, Washington 9

Marcus Allen was the only thing exciting about this Super Bowl.

The game's MVP rushed for 191 yards on 20 carries and set the then-record with a 74-yard touchdown run.

Oakland was up 21-3 at half and just chipped away with the run game before Allen broke it loose.

It was never close for the Redskins who were actually favored by three and a half points.

4. Super Bowl V (1971) Baltimore 16, Dallas 13

The Colts and Cowboys combined for a whopping 11 turnovers in the game.

The Cowboys committed 10 penalties for 133 yards.

With five seconds remaining, rookie kicker Jim O'Brien won the game for the Colts and many players were utterly disappointed with how the whole game went.

Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley was the MVP of the game but refused to accept the trophy because the Cowboys lost.

Game has been dubbed the "Stupor Bowl" or "Blunder Bowl" in the past.

3. Super Bowl XXXV (2001) Baltimore 34, N.Y. Giants 7

The Giants never belonged in this football game.

After knocking off the high-powered Viking offense in a 41-0 blowout in the NFC Conference Championship game, the Giants were doomed against the dominant Ravens defense.

While the Giants won the game to get in, a Vikings-Ravens matchup would have pitted the league's best offense and the league's best defense against one another.

The Giants only score was on a Ron Dixon kickoff return.

Kerry Collins tossed four interceptions and the Giants were out of the game before it even began.

2. Super Bowl XXVII (1993) Dallas 52, Buffalo 17

The first of Dallas' back-to-back titles in the early 1990's, Dallas destroyed Buffalo in 1993.

Troy Aikman was the game's MVP for the six-point favored Cowboys and it was really never close.

The Cowboys returned two fumbles for touchdowns, knocked Jim Kelly out of the game forcing Frank Reich back in for the Bills, and things never looked good for Buffalo.

The pair of quarterbacks threw four interceptions and only one touchdown.

1. Super Bowl VIII (1974): Miami 24, Minnesota 7

This game was just never exciting.

The Dolphins were up 17-0 by halftime and the Vikings never threatened to make it close.

Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese only threw seven passes, completing six of them, as Miami ran Larry Csonka 33 times at the Vikings.

Following the undefeated season and their first championship, Miami was not in the game of looking good, but simply winning football games; Super Bowl VIII suffered because of it.