The
Super Bowl is where upsets go to die. If this annual football extravaganza were
a ball, Cinderella wouldn’t make it past the doorman. There have been 41 of
these games played, and only four of them could be considered true upsets (and
two of those were of the mild variety).
What
follows is a reflection on those four upsets, in ascending order of shock value.
Needless to say, should the New York Giants beat the undefeated New England
Patriots this Sunday — the Pats aiming for their fourth championship of the
decade — each of these games will move down a notch in the ranking of Super
Shockers.
4) Super
Bowl XXXII (January 25, 1998): Denver 31, Green Bay 24
It took
John Elway four Super Bowls to get it right, but this was his crowning moment.
Somehow, a quarterback near the top of every passing record in the book will be
remembered for the “helicopter” dive he made near the end zone, the grit of a
37-year-old future Hall of Famer helping make the difference against the favored
defending champs.
Green
Bay had gone 13-3 in 1997, led by their own Hall-bound quarterback, Brett Favre,
who had been named MVP an unprecedented three straight seasons. But this was
Bronco tailback Terrell Davis’s coming-out party. Davis scored a Super
Bowl-record three rushing touchdowns, the last with under two minutes to play
for the winning margin. The disappointment of three losses in the big game for
Elway was as forgotten as those orange jerseys the Broncos once wore.
3) Super
Bowl XXV (January 27, 1991): New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19
Each of
these teams was 13-3, so on the surface it may have appeared to be precisely the
kind of matchup we’d like every winter. But while the Bills — a franchise that
had yet to lose a Super Bowl, remember — sent out a pair of Hall of Famers in
their backfield (quarterback Jim Kelly and tailback Thurman Thomas), the Giants
countered with a backup quarterback (Jeff Hostetler had replaced the injured
Phil Simms in December) and a “washed-up” running back (33-year-old Ottis
Anderson had rushed for 784 yards in the regular season.) The Bills had the
top-scoring team in the NFL, while the Giants defense (led by linebacker
Lawrence Taylor) had given up the fewest points in the league.
New York
coach Bill Parcells squeezed the clock like no Super Bowl audience had ever
seen. Running the ball 39 times (primarily Anderson’s work) and asking Hostetler
for short-to-intermediate pass completions, the Giant offense held the ball for
more than 40 minutes. (If score had been points-per-minute, this was a blowout
for the Bills.) And in the ultimate “bend-but-don’t-break” defensive effort, the
Giants allowed the Bills only enough yardage for placekicker Scott Norwood to
send his game-winning field-goal attempt wide right, dooming the poor Bills to
three more years of unfulfilled Super Bowl dreams.
2) Super
Bowl XXXVI (February 3, 2002): New England 20, St. Louis 17
We tend
to forget that Tom Brady entered the 2001 season as the Patriots’ backup
quarterback, behind Drew Bledsoe. (Not since the Yankees’ Wally Pipp took a seat
in 1925 has a replacement altered the course of a sport’s history so
dramatically.) New England won the AFC East with an 11-5 record, but they hardly
seemed to match up with the Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf,” a 14-2 juggernaut
that had averaged a league-best 31 points per game. This was the pinnacle of St.
Louis quarterback Kurt Warner’s career, as he’d won his second MVP in three
years, even with Hall of Fame-bound tailback Marshall Faulk sharing the
backfield. The Patriots, at this time, were a no-name bunch. (How many of you
remember Troy Brown, the team’s top receiver? What about Antowain Smith, their
top rusher?)
St.
Louis outgained the Patriots by 160 yards and overcame a late 17-3 deficit to
seemingly crush the glass slipper. But Brady carved his name into granite with a
last-minute drive that led to Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard, game-winning field goal
as time expired. This was certainly the most patriotic Super Bowl in history.
Played merely five months after the attacks of September 11, 2001, it was a
brief nationwide celebration as America continued to mourn its losses. And what
could be more American than a team of underdogs — one that took the field as
one, as opposed to the traditional individual introductions — taking down the
glamor boys?
1) Super
Bowl III (January 12, 1969): New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7
If Rocky
Balboa had had the temerity to guarantee victory over Apollo Creed, then
actually beaten the champ, we would have had a Hollywood tale along the lines of
Super Bowl III. What the world actually saw at the Orange Bowl that fateful day
was the legend of Joe Willie Namath come to life.
The
American Football League, having just completed its ninth season, was still
trying to prove it belonged on the same field as the NFL. Its representatives in
the first two Super Bowls had been slapped silly, losing by 25 points in 1967,
then 19 a year later. And the 1968 NFL champion Baltimore Colts were a mighty
bunch. Coached by Don Shula, with Johnny Unitas backing up(!) Earl Morrall at
quarterback, Baltimore had blitzed through a 13-1 regular season in which only
four opponents scored more than 10 points. Coach Weeb Ewbank’s Jets had gone
11-3, edged Oakland, 27-23, for the AFL title, and were certainly thrilled just
to be in Miami for the big event. Right?
Namath
guaranteed victory for his underdog squad. Sometime between poolside photo-ops,
Namath managed to claim his team would not only be competitive with Baltimore,
but would win the game. A quarterback who had thrown more interceptions (17)
than touchdown passes (15) that season attached a target firmly to his bright
white helmet.
The
script held, of course. Namath completed 17 of 28 passes for 206 yards, while
Morrall tossed three interceptions before being relieved by the 35-year-old
Unitas. Three field goals by Jim Turner made the difference in the final score.
And two years later, Namath’s raised index finger is still the image of pro
football’s greatest upset, the NFL and AFL merged.
Top
that, Eli.
