Top 5 Super Bowl Letdowns

We all remember the Super Bowl winners. Most of us do not remember the losers. They are often forgotten over time. We may, however, remember some of these Super Bowl losers only because of the way they lost. Here’s a look at the Top 5 Super Bowl letdowns.

Super Bowl XLVIII: Seattle 43, Denver 8

It was the ultimate battle of the best defense in the NFL against the best offense. Defense prevailed right from the start. On the first play of the game, an errant snap went into the end zone and was recovered by Denver RB Knowshon Moreno. The pain didn’t end there. 

Seattle would score the first 36 points of the game and led 36-0 until three seconds remained in the third quarter. Denver finally scored as the “battle” had long been over. Manning threw two picks and Denver committed four turnovers. Even the game’s MVP, Seattle LB Malcolm Thomas, was a letdown. Thomas had 10 tackles and a pick-six touchdown, which was better than all of the game’s so-called stars. 

Even the halftime show was a letdown. Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers paired up to bring the Super Bowl crowd a great show. But, all the music had been pre-recorded.

The Guarantee: Super Bowl III

The 1968 Baltimore Colts were a juggernaut. They boasted a defense that allowed just over 10 points a game. In 10 of their 14 regular season games, the Colts allowed 10 points or less and had three shutouts. They beat the Cleveland Browns, the only team to beat the Colts that season, 34-0 in the NFL championship game. Baltimore was the dominant team at the time.

Enter the AFL champion New York Jets and their brash, smack-talking quarterback – Joe Namath. The Colts were 18-point favorites to beat the Jets. Namath guaranteed that the Jets would win. New York’s defense held Baltimore scoreless until the fourth quarter and would go on to win 16-7. It was the biggest upset in Super Bowl history and a tremendous letdown for one of the game’s great teams.

The Ultimate Letdown: Patriots Beat Atlanta

The Atlanta Falcons led the New England Patriots 28-3 in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI. The Falcons were in complete control. Somebody forgot to tell Tom Brady. The Patriots scored late in the third quarter but missed a two-point conversion. Then, in the fourth quarter, New England would get a field goal and two touchdowns followed by two successful two-point conversions. That tied the game and sent it to overtime.

Patriots RB James White scored on a two-yard run and New England would win Super Bowl LI 34-28. The game will be remembered as one of the biggest comebacks in the history of the Super Bowl.

Hey Look, It’s John Candy!

It’s one of the all-time great Super Bowl stories and it’s part of a huge letdown by the Cincinnati Bengals that robbed them of a Super Bowl victory. The Bengals kicked the go-ahead field goal with 3:44 left in Super Bowl XXIII. Cincinnati had done a good job of slowing down the 49ers offense.

With 3:04 on the clock, San Francisco took over on its own 8-yard line. That was simply too much time for a guy named Joe Montana. The Niners QB would take San Francisco down the field and legend has it that Montana was so cool that he actually pointed out actor John Candy in the crowd. While in the huddle on what would be the game-winning drive, Montana told his offensive tackle Harris Barton – the 49ers resident people watcher – “Hey, H, look it’s John Candy!” 

Montana would go on to complete a 10-yard scoring pass to WR John Taylor with just 34 seconds left in the game. That would cap a Cincy letdown and, to this day, the Bengals remain one of 12 NFL franchises to never have won a Super Bowl.

Wide Right 

Any discussion of Super Bowl letdowns has to include the Buffalo Bills somewhere. Let’s go back to their first one. The Bills went 13-3 in the regular season and led the league in scoring offense. The K-Gun offense was even better in the postseason when the Bills scored 44 and 51 points in their playoff games.

The Bills offense was virtually unstoppable and oddsmakers made Buffalo a 7-point favorite in Super Bowl XXV. The best rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner was sung by Whitney Houston prior to the game. That was definitely not a letdown. Buffalo’s offense, however, was a letdown. They managed just 19 points when they got the ball back with 2:16 left in the game.

QB Jim Kelly would drive the Bills into field goal range, reaching the New York Giants’ 29-yard line. Scott Norwood lined up for the 47-yard field goal attempt with eight seconds remaining. His kick sailed wide right and the Bills lost the first of four straight Super Bowls.