Super Bowl LV has been decided, failing to live up to the hype with a rout by one team, an occurrence that has happened more often than not in 55 years of Super Bowl history.
The Super Bowl. The crowning achievement of every NFL season, pitting the NFC champion versus the AFC champion vying for the top prize of them all. It's a celebration for the diehard and casual fans alike, with weeklong festivities and celebrations leading to the big game itself.
The officially sanctioned festivities and Super Bowl crowd itself were much different as COVID-19 regulations continued to be rightfully in place (though 25,000 fans were granted the right to see the game, pandemic be damned). Parties and gatherings were likely still had, alcohol consumed and way too much pizza and wings devoured. And high-budget commercials and extravagant halftime shows were still on full display.
Hype is a key word centered around the Super Bowl and all its events. More often than not, hype is the better result in all of these areas, with the memories of Super Bowl Sunday usually better than they actually were.
Hangovers, disappointment, food comas, and heartache are usually experienced in the moment, with only the heartache over a favorite team's loss hanging in the air for years to come.
This year's big game had all the makings of a classic. Patrick Mahomes vs Tom Brady. Andy Reid vs Bruce Arians. The offensive-minded teams firing on all cylinders.
It's too bad that February 7, 2021 can be added to the yawners of Super Bowl past.
A 31-9 victory by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the Kansas City Chiefs gave head coach Arians his first title and Brady his seventh. The score reveals a blowout and, while the Kansas City hung around, it just never felt like it was going to be their day. There were definitely big plays, some noteworthy moments, and a streaker but unless you're an excited fan of Tampa Bay and/or Brady or a disappointed Kansas City fan, the game was, well, a ho-hum affair.
Turns out, the majority of Super Bowl don't live up to the hype. We're supposed to see the best each conference has to offer and witness classic duels. The fact is, final margins by two scores or more are what we end up with the majority of the time.
2000s
Take Tampa Bay, for example. Their two Super Bowl victories are by a combined 49 points, thanks to a 2003 48-21 victory over the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders.
This revenge game in 2003 for then Tampa Bay head coach Jon Gruden was actually one of the rare occasions between 2000-2009 in which the Super Bowl was a blowout. The other was a defensive masterpiece from the Baltimore Ravens in 34-7 Super Bowl XXXV victory over the New York Giants.
The games were so fantastic during the first decade of the 21st-century that there was a run between '04 and '09 in which every game was decent and three games were decided by three points.
Kings of the three-point victory were the Brady-led New England Patriots, beginning with a 20-17 victory over the St. Louis (now Los Angeles) Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. All told in the 2000's, the Patriots have gone 3-1 in the Super Bowl in three-point games and 1-1 in four-point games. Love them or hate them, the Patriots have provided fans with some of the most exciting Super Bowl games to date.
The Patriots have won six Super Bowls in this span, going 6-3 and their largest point spread, win or lose, was a 10-point victory over the Rams in 2019. (This defensive battle is one that many fans have buried far away from their memories).
Fans of the Super Bowl have been spoiled with great games during the last 20 years. But for every 41-33 Philadelphia Eagles victory or 34-31 Ravens comeback, there is a 43-8 Seattle Seahawks/Denver Broncos affair or Broncos/Carolina Panthers yawner.
1990s: Super Bowl blowouts the norm
Young fans of this current generation can be thankful for a higher percentage of close games in the Super Bowl because the 1990s had a slate of absolute blowouts. Eight of the Super Bowls played between 1990-99 weren't even close, with 18 points being the average margin of victory. The San Francisco 49ers still hold the record for biggest victory, a 55-10 victory over the Broncos in 1990.
It was the era where offense began to really take hold, with the 49ers following up their showing in '90 by dropping 49 points on the San Diego (now Los Angeles) Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX.
The '90's were dominated by the NFC and the likes of the 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Washington, and Giants. It wasn't until the Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls in '98 and '99 that the AFC broke the NFC's stranglehold on the Lombardi Trophy. The Broncos victory over Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXII marked the first time an AFC team had won the Super Bowl since 1984.
Hard luck Buffalo Bills fans suffered the most in the early 1990s as their team lost four straight Super Bowls, something it is hoped Josh Allen will remedy soon for the current Bills.
1980s and prior
The Raiders, then in Los Angeles, were those 1984 champions thanks to a 38-9 victory over Washington. Super Bowl blowouts were a theme in the '80's as well, with only two games being settled by less than two scores. Prior to the '84 game, the AFC and NFC split the four Super Bowls.
The two games settled by less than seven points involved the 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals. San Francisco won by five in the 1982 game and won by four in '89. These were the closest of San Francisco's five Super Bowl victories in the 80s and 90s, where they won by an average margin of nearly 20 points.
Traveling back to the 1970s, there was about a 50/50 split of close games and the not-so-close games. And even the first two Super Bowl games, both Green Bay victories, weren't close, with the Packers winning by an average margin of 22. It wasn't until Super Bowl III that the game was close, a 16-7 win by "Broadway" Joe Namath and New York Jets over Baltimore.
Scoring margin breakdowns (number of games):
- 3 or less: 7
- 4-7: 12
- 8-9: 2
- 10-19: 21
- 20-29: 8
- 30-39: 4
- 40+: 1
Games have certainly been better viewing over the last 20 years. While we have to occasionally deal with games like this year, it's hoped that next year's Super Bowl will be better. There seems to be a trend as of late alternating between good and bad. Even last year's 11-point victory by Kansas City was thanks to the 49ers losing a 10-point lead.
In the end, it's definitely moments of each game that we remember, blowouts or not. It might be a thrilling finish, a classic commercial (Bud Bowl, anyone?), events surrounding the game (a pandemic. Donovan McNabb throwing up in the huddle), or even who you spent the day with.
But it's never too much to at least ask for a good game.
photo credit: Commons Wikimedia
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