Super Bowl Countdown

Today is my first installment in a week long countdown of the "Best Super Bowls" of All Time. It should be noted that many of the Super Bowls in the beginning were not great games at all. If you look at it, with the exception of Super Bowl III's epic upset, Super Bowls I-IX were all crappy games or blowouts. People think that Super Bowl V (Colts-Cowboys) was a classic because of the 16-13 score, but it was a sloppy, cruddy game. Super Bowl X finally provided a good game-Steelers over the Cowboys 21-17. After that game, Super Bowls XI (Raiders over Vikings) and XII (Dallas over Denver) were blowouts. Super Bowls XIII and XIV (Steelers over Cowboys and Rams) were both very competitive games to round out the 7os. The 8os provided us with NFC dominance and non-competitive debacles. Super Bowls XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, and XIX were all blowout games. Super Bowl XXX finally provided the NFC with a challange because Dallas escaped with a 27-17 win over Pittsburgh (Thanks for showing up, Neil O'Donnell). From Super Bowl XXXI to last year's game, we have seen the Super Bowl become more competitive and riveting. Without further ado, here is the list starting in reverse order:

10) Super Bowl XXXIV: Rams-23 Titans-16. This Super Bowl gets a lot of praise because of the final play. Mike Jones tackled Kevin Dyson on the one yard line with no time left to preserve the victory for the Rams. People forget how boring and uninspiring this game was well into the third quarter. The game was 9-0 Rams at the half, and at one point, St. Louis led 16-0. Now, the game got really good in the fourth quarter, and the Titans came back to tie it at 16. Kurt Warner's bomb to Isaac Bruce made it 23-16 late in the fourth, which set up the epic drive by the Titans. This was one of the most exciting fourth quarters in Super Bowl lore, but it wasn't enough to save this game overall and make it the best ever. Good game, great ending but just like Kevin Dyson, this one falls short.

9) Super Bowl XXIII: 49ers-20 Bengals-16. This game is remembered for Joe Montana's drive and touchdown to John Taylor. Was this a great, all time classic? The answer is no. The game itself was a field goal contest for the first half. The Bengals didn't even score an offensive touchdown, and the 49ers didn't really play that well at all. If you think about it, the Bengals should have won the game because they outplayed the 49ers. The drive at the end of the game was classic Montana. It was a great ending, but people were so sick and tired of the blowouts that preceded this game, that many people think this game was epic. It wasn't an epic, and it didn't have enough exciement throughout the game to be considered the best Super Bowl. Another game were the body of work is just not great enough to consider it the best.