Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Said it before - with me it doesn't at all have to be very lopsided. Many of those brought "excitement" just by asking yourself if the team putting on the romp will score yet again?? Or, if its thus far a shutout, the 'goose-egg' can be preserved? Or will the team getting destroyed at least cover-the-spread? Just a simple not too high scoring a game but no suspense or drama of any kind whatsoever.

Quite a few to consider. Super Bowl XII between Dallas and Denver has been criticized in this vein already. SBXXXIII, Denver/Atlanta, can almost be its 'twin'! The big thing both have in common is each had an intriguing story-line the two weeks leading up, but it still not as good if it was another team partaking instead. 'Staubach vs Morton' not as exciting as if, Oakland, or Pittsburgh were in. Nothing against Denver, but that was their first rodeo. They were just beginning to build their rep as a marquee franchise nationally. And also the 'Elway (& Shanny) vs Dan Reeves' - not as hyped as...15-1 Minnesota playing the defending-Champs instead!

Washington/Buffalo I look back upon as being a real undramatic snoozer. It threw the last non-superstar-studded halftime show. A simple Dorothy Hamill ice show which prompted 'In Living Color', on Fox, to have everyone tune into their halftime show instead! Enter Michael Jackson next year for Super Bowl XXVII which, no, I don't see as a top candidate! Will Dallas score 59? 66? And Tasker drawing first blood and his team down by 'just' 14-10 well enough in the 2nd; and then an ever-so-fleeting can Reich bring Buffalo back in the 2nd half??

There are others to mention, but I'll just give my personal pick...the first one I watched (or went in trying to)...Super Bowl XV!

We were at friends of the family. My sister, I, and the other kids were sledding across the road from their home all afternoon. And then it was time to get inside. I had butterflies seeing Bill Bergey during the National Anthem! And then came kickoff...and then 14-0, Oakland. And then I went upstairs with all us other kids as the adults somehow stuck it out for the entirety. Don't know how they did it. I can't even watch the entire NFL Films highlight of it! I would run downstairs every now and then throughout just to check, or ask someone who just went upstairs if the Eagles were coming back. Yes, that very beginning was enough for this, here, first-time NFL-follower. And turned out I didn’t miss a thing!

Yes, I'd have to put that in 'first'! More-so than its '27-10' Superdome 'clone', Dal/Den. Hey, at least it was 20-10 beginning of the 4th in that one!

Yeah, a shame. The regular season game was an outstanding, old-school, defensive slugfest on the cold, green Veterans Stadium concrete!

EDIT - actually, and I don’t know why I didn’t bring this up originally, Ravens/Giants could be right there with Oak/Phi! If not more ‘boring’ than XV, then at least more-so than those others I mentioned!

Definitely XXXV. I actually fell asleep watching the game. Not joking. I remember I was sick with the flu or something so I didn't go anywhere to watch the game with anyone. So yeah I being sick combined with a blowout of a team I didn't care about BY a team I didn't care about, I just zonked out mid 3rd quarter or so.

It's easy to list blowouts but most had big/exciting plays by one particular team that fans will always watch or remember.

Other than Riggins and Fulton Walker for Miami, the 1982/83 SB was pretty boring despite being a close game. The Dolphins couldn't do anything in the second half and we're only in it because of big plays from Cefalo and Walker. The defenses were good but without an offense, the Dolphins defenders got worn down by the Hogs ...

ChrisBabcock wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 9:57 pm Definitely XXXV. I actually fell asleep watching the game. Not joking. I remember I was sick with the flu or something so I didn't go anywhere to watch the game with anyone. So yeah I being sick combined with a blowout of a team I didn't care about BY a team I didn't care about, I just zonked out mid 3rd quarter or so.

Interesting selection.

Not that XXXV should be considered very high, but I typically don’t see that one ranked the most boring or worst. Frankly I don’t see anyone talk about that one much at all.

The ones that in my experience people have labeled the worst Super Bowl ever are the following:

LIII: Rams-Patriots:

People cite that this was a low scoring game, and many people are low on this one because the 2018 Rams benefited from the no-call and to an extent the 2018 Patriots benefited from the Dee Ford offside.

Personally, I find those two teams oddly a touch underrated because of said bad calls (in particular I have lost count of how many times I’ve seen people unironically call the 2018 Rams the worst team to ever appear in a Super Bowl all because of the no call; for the record, they’d likely be on the lower end of Super Bowl losers for me but certainly not last).

Those who factor in halftime shows into their selection also criticize this one in particular because the NFL had said that the performer Maroon 5 would do a tribute to the then recently deceased SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg; something that was not done and led to the NFL’s upload of the halftime show being one of the most disliked YouTube uploads when dislike totals were publicly available. A tribute to Hillenburg showed up in a Super Bowl ad three years later I believe, but not at the halftime show where it was hyped up to appear.

XXXVIII: Falcons-Broncos:

While this game had a substantial amount of scoring, I’ve seen people mention that it featured a bit of a slog in the third quarter (weren’t there three or four consecutive drives that ended in missed field goals?).

I think people also are low on this one because they wish the 1998 Vikings had beaten the 98 Falcons and many tend to think that would have made for a better Super Bowl.

Either way, this game was more one sided than the score would indicate at face value and it was a 15 point margin to begin with.

V: Cowboys-Colts:

This game is labeled the “blunder” bowl for the large quantity of turnovers and mistakes that occurred. In particular the fact that Chuck Howley, a player from the losing team, won the Super Bowl MVP is cited as a reason for this being one of the worst.

Ok, it may not be the most boring if you are into goofs and mistakes, but it’s typically considered the sloppiest played Super Bowl game.

In a 2008 episode of NFL Top 10, Norm Hitzges commented “that looked like the kind of game we’d send to London for an exhibition, it was just dreadful.”

I’ve also seen people mention the blowouts as bad Super Bowls, in particular XXIX (49ers-Chargers), and XLVIII (Seahawks-Broncos), and those two are pretty self explanatory.

I think there’s a lot of ways you could go with this question.

Brian wolf wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 3:20 am It's easy to list blowouts but most had big/exciting plays by one particular team that fans will always watch or remember.

Other than Riggins and Fulton Walker for Miami, the 1982/83 SB was pretty boring despite being a close game. The Dolphins couldn't do anything in the second half and we're only in it because of big plays from Cephalo and Walker. The defenses were good but without an offense, the Dolphins defenders got worn down by the Hogs ...

Theismann breaking up his own interception was a pretty cool play too, but point taken.

Broncos-Seahawks for me. Literally from the first snap, it was clear that one team came to play and one absolutely did not. Dumb mistakes throughout, not a single minute of drama or suspense...an unfortunate throwback to when lopsided Super Bowls were the rule, rather than the exception they've been recently.

The only sparks came on the two return TDs and Kearse's scoring play -- which was more due to the Broncos tackling like mutts than anything he did. A sloppy, dull, completely forgettable game. At least Bruno Mars was pretty fun.

Citizen wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:23 am Broncos-Seahawks for me. Literally from the first snap, it was clear that one team came to play and one absolutely did not. Dumb mistakes throughout, not a single minute of drama or suspense...an unfortunate throwback to when lopsided Super Bowls were the rule, rather than the exception they've been recently.

That's a good description.

Citizen wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:23 am Broncos-Seahawks for me. Literally from the first snap, it was clear that one team came to play and one absolutely did not. Dumb mistakes throughout, not a single minute of drama or suspense...an unfortunate throwback to when lopsided Super Bowls were the rule, rather than the exception they've been recently.

The only sparks came on the two return TDs and Kearse's scoring play -- which was more due to the Broncos tackling like mutts than anything he did. A sloppy, dull, completely forgettable game. At least Bruno Mars was pretty fun.

Seahawks fan, and as a game it’s certainly one of the worst Super Bowls there is.

Especially for one that occurred from the mid 90’s on.

Super Bowl XXIX was the blowout dud everyone was expecting and I just felt almost no juice or anticipation for the game going into it. Just basically a Steve Young coronation as the 49ers finally loaded up on enough mercenaries to buy their way past Dallas. And I have absolutely nothing against Young but with the collection of talent they had during his main years as a starter there (1991-1998) you better win at least one.

sheajets wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 2:37 pm Super Bowl XXIX was the blowout dud everyone was expecting and I just felt almost no juice or anticipation for the game going into it. Just basically a Steve Young coronation as the 49ers finally loaded up on enough mercenaries to buy their way past Dallas. And I have absolutely nothing against Young but with the collection of talent they had during his main years as a starter there (1991-1998) you better win at least one.

That Super Bowl is certainly a good candidate for the worst and from the sounds of it was just as bland a game as it sounds on paper.

Also sounds like both conference championship games were better games than Super Bowl 29.

As for the 90’s Niners, pretty darn good team.

They were the winningest regular season team of the 1990’s, and they had a good number of free agent signings in between 93 and 94 that helped.

They made five conference championship games, won one Super Bowl in 1994, and as I said on another thread, if Steve Young doesn’t get injured in 1995, I think there’s a world where they could’ve repeated.