Super Bowl 49: Ranking the most dramatic finishes
By Will Osgood
- Super Bowl XXVII: Denver Broncos 31, Green Bay Packers 24
Of the dramatic Super Bowls, this is the first I remember, and it led to me developing a theory in high school which I every other year the Super Bowl was bound to come down to the final few minutes and end in dramatic fashion. From 1998 to 2004, the trend held true, and then we got to watch amazing finishes in back-to-back years—2004 and 2005—before yielding two uninspiring and anti-climactic Super Bowls in 2006 and 2007.
After 2007 we were almost literally bombarded with amazing Super Bowls, and endings, six years in a row. We got spoiled. The universe had to make things right, as it gave us that dud last year, in which the Seahawks scraped the souls of the Denver Broncos.
Maybe that game was retribution from the universe for the Broncos’ escape job against the Green Bay Packers (I was rooting for Denver in this game, so I am truly not bitter or anything).
Two things stand out about this particular Super Bowl—one Terrell Davis left the game with what was likely a concussion, but ultimately returned to help the Broncos win the game, rushing for 157 yards and three touchdowns.
The other was 37-year old John Elway pirouetting through the air for a first down near the goal-line in the game’s crucial moment.
The score was tied at 24 with 3:27 to go when Craig Hentrich returned a Packers punt 39 yards to the Green Bay 49. 15 yards were added to the end of the return due to a personal foul facemask penalty. More penalties would alter the ebb and flow of the penultimate drive, one which finally ended with a one-yard touchdown run from Terrell Davis with 1:45 to play.
Packers legend Brett Favre attempted to usher a comeback drive, but his fourth down pass from the Denver 31-yard line was knocked away by Broncos linebacker John Mobley with 32 seconds remaining on the clock.
The Broncos kneeled on the ball, and captured their first of consecutive Lombardi trophies.
Next: Another of the Steelers-Cowboys Super Bowl rivalry