Super Bowl Winners: Six of the Best This Century
For many, the Super Bowl is the sporting highlight of the year. Over 100 million people watch the game live in the United States. This figure makes the event the nation’s most-watched television broadcast. Another 50 million people will tune in from around the globe to see the action unfold.
Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady makes two appearances in our list of the most exciting Super Bowls of the century. ©GettyImages
There have been many memorable matchups since the Denver Broncos justified favouritism, beating the Atlanta Falcons 34-19 in the 1999 Super Bowl. Trawling through the Super Bowl winner’s list, here we highlight six of the most entertaining finals of the current century.
2023: Kansas City Chiefs 38, Philadelphia Eagles 35
A clash that is fresh in the memory, the 2023 Super Bowl, played in Arizona’s State Farm Stadium, deserves a place in any top-six Super Bowl winners list. There was little between the teams on paper, and American football betting sites made the Eagles only marginal favourites to lift the famous Vince Lombardi Trophy.
It was the third Super Bowl appearance in four years for the American Football Conference champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles were making their first appearance since beating the New England Patriots in 2018. And the game was a thriller from the first kick of the match until the very last play.
The Eagles were the first in possession, and a steady drive up-field culminated with a first and goal at the Chiefs’ one-yard line. Unsurprisingly, the Eagle’s star quarterback, Jalen Hurts, forced the ball over the line for a touchdown.
The Chiefs were back level three minutes later. Travis Kelce broke the line for an 18-yard rush score. The first play of the second quarter saw Hurts complete a pinpoint pass to wide receiver AJ Brown for a 45-yard touchdown. A fumble from Hurts soon after saw the scores levelled at 14-14.
Come the halftime show, the Eagles held a healthy 10-point advantage. However, in the second half, it was the Chiefs who set the pace. Three straight touchdowns saw them forge eight points ahead with nine minutes left on the clock.
Hurts forced a touchdown and levelled the scores with a successful two-point conversion. But the Chiefs cleverly ran the clock down on their final drive and scored a game-winning field goal with eight seconds left on the clock.
2018: Philadelphia Eagles 41, New England Patriots 33
A remarkable tenth Super Bowl appearance for the New England Patriots – who made it 11 when winning in 2019 – and the first Super Bowl visit for the Eagles since beaten by the Patriots in 2004.
The Patriots, led by Super Bowl quarterback legend Tom Brady, were pre-match favourites to land back-to-back wins for the second time in their history. The Eagles, +4.5 on the spread, got the better of the early exchanges, but there was little between the teams as the end of the first half loomed.
On the fourth down with seconds remaining in the first half, the Eagles got to within field goal range. However, the team produced an outrageous trick play rather than settling for the three-point field goal.
Subsequently called “one of the gutsiest play-calls in Super Bowl history”, the Philly Special touchdown was a bold call. It was executed superbly, sending the Eagles into the dressing room with a 22-12 halftime advantage.
Tom Brady worked his magic after the break, and the Patriots took 14 points in the third quarter. An early fourth-quarter Tom Brady-inspired touchdown saw the Patriots take the lead – by a single point – for the first time in the match.
Another historic Super Bowl success for Brady and the Patriots looked on. However, Eagles’ backup quarterback Nick Foles had other ideas. He manufactured a time-sapping seven-minute drive that culminated with a Zach Ertz touchdown.
A failed 2-point conversion attempt left the game on a knife edge. There was enough time on the clock for the Patriots to score a match-winning touchdown. Brady was sacked two plays into the drive, and the Eagles recovered the fumbled ball. A subsequent field goal secured the victory.
2003: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48, Oakland Raiders 21
The Oakland Raiders (now the Las Vegas Raiders) were making their first Super Bowl appearance since winning in 1981. Tampa Bay were Super Bowl virgins stepping into unknown territory. The Floridian side began the game as the underdogs.
Tampa Bay came into the contest with the best defence – the Raiders with the best offence. The Buccaneers’ defence came out comfortably on top, snatching five interceptions and returning three for a touchdown.
A 17-6 deficit at halftime became a nightmare for the Raiders by the end of the third quarter as they slumped to a 34-9 deficit. There was simply no coming back from that. The final result was a fair reflection of how the match went. The Tampa Bay defence held the Raiders to 19 yards rushing and only 269 yards in total.
It was an astonishing performance from a team that was once the laughingstock of the NFL. When they started playing in 1976, they lost their first 26 games! Tampa were Super Bowl winners once again in 2021 when they became the first team to take the title at their home stadium.
2015: New England Patriots 28, Seattle Seahawks 24
The Seattle Seahawks were looking for back-to-back Super Bowl wins. The New England Patriots were at the peak of their powers. The NFL betting sites could not split the teams, and there was little to separate them on the field.
Neither team could make any impression in the first 15-minute session. The Seahawks defence was the best, but the brilliant Tom Brady picked his way through for the opening touchdown early in the second quarter.
The Seahawks were back on terms shortly afterwards, and the seesaw battle continued until the end of the half, with the teams going into their respective locker rooms all square on 14-14.
An early second-half field goal saw the Seahawks take the lead. They looked to have the game well within their grasp after a Brady interception resulted in a touchdown on Seatle’s return drive. But Brady made amends for the interception and threw two touchdowns to take the Patriots back into the lead after a lengthy catch-up period.
The match was far from over, though, and the Seahawks had a chance to take a last-gasp victory. They were a yard from the touchdown zone when, rather than use their power players to force the ball over the line, Seattle chose to play the pass.
Malcolm Butler quickly picked it off, and the game was over. It was a bitter blow for the Seahawks but another glorious chapter for the Patriots and the amazing Tom Brady. During the past ten years, Super Bowl winners, the New England Patriots, have been outstanding.
2010: New Orleans Saints 31, Indianapolis Colts 17
It was a long time coming for the Saints, but their first and still only Super Bowl visit was a winning one. Two-time Super Bowl winners, the Indianapolis Colts, came into this game as warm favourites to add to their past successes.
The Colts, led by one of the all-time great quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, looked the worthy favourites as they raced to a ten-point unanswered first quarter. They had the composure of a winning team. But things changed quickly as the Saints grew in stature and confidence as the game progressed.
Shutting out the Colts for the rest of the first half was some achievement. Putting six points on the board was a bonus, and a lively start to the second half saw quarterback Drew Brees take the Saints into the lead within minutes.
The Colts managed to strike back, and they went into the last period of the game with a one-point advantage. A Colts missed field goal handed the momentum to the Saints. Brees once again drove his team up the field for another touchdown. A two-point conversion followed. With the score standing at 24-17, they had five minutes to hold the Manning and the Colts at bay.
An on-fire Manning moved the ball quickly to get to the Saints 31-yard line. But that was where the Super Bowl dream ended for the Colts. A slightly loose Manning pass was expertly picked off by Tracy Porter, who ran 74 yards for a dramatic touchdown interception.
2013: Baltimore Ravens 34, San Francisco 49ers 31
The 49ers were unbeaten in five Super Bowl finals. However, it had been 18 years since their last success in 1995 when they beat the San Diego Chargers. The Baltimore Ravens were past Super Bowl winners, taking the title in 2001. They came into this game as the +4.5 underdogs.
What the American football betting sites thought of the Ravens soon looked ridiculous. They quickly turned the Super Bowl into a rout with great passing plays by Joe Flacco. Baltimore headed in at halftime with a substantial 21-6 advantage.
A bizarre turn of events then happened. A power outage in the New Orleans Superdome saw the stadium plunged into darkness shortly after the Ravens stretched their lead to an unbreachable-looking 22 points.
When the game resumed 34 minutes later, it was as though two different teams returned to the pitch. The 49ers were on fire almost immediately. Touchdown, field goal and another touchdown went unanswered, and the Ravens’ lead was down to just three points.
A field goal did little to ease the pressure on the Ravens, but they somehow held off another charge by the 49ers that would have snatched the game from them. One of the more remarkable Super Bowl finals had come to an end, 34-31.
The Super Bowl Is No Favourite Fest
The Super Bowl winners list confirms backing the underdogs is a winning formula. This century, more favourites have been beaten than have won. The Rams, beaten 20-17 when -14 favourites against the Patriots in 2022, was an outstanding shock. The Patriots, -12 on the spread, were surprise losers in 2008, when beaten 17-14 by the Giants.
Ignoring the 2015 Super Bowl – when the bookmakers could not split the two sides – the underdogs have won ten of the last 15 Super Bowls. In the same period, the overs in the total points market have been a winner eight times. The scores have been under the line on seven occasions.
