Ranking the 15 most dramatic finishes in Super Bowl history
By Randy Gurzi
15. Super Bowl XXXII
Qualcomm Stadium in beautiful San Diego, California played host to the Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers. The battle featured two of the most fascinating quarterbacks at opposite ends of their respective careers.
The gun-slinging risk taker, Brett Favre was in his prime for the Packers and fresh off his first (and what proved to be only) Super Bowl win the season before. His team was favored over the Broncos, despite the latter being led by the veteran and improvisational master, John Elway.
The Broncos weren’t just the underdog because the Packers were defending champs and featured the younger quarterback. They also were a wild card entry to the playoffs and only once before had a wild card entrant found a way to win it all.
The teams were evenly matched, and despite falling behind 17-7 after two first-half turnovers, Green Bay managed to pull within three as the score was 17-14 at halftime. Finally, about a minute and a half into the fourth quarter, Green Bay caught Denver and tied the score at 24.
With both defenses trading stops for nearly the rest of the game, the Broncos finally broke through. After missing almost all of the second quarter with migraine headaches, running back Terrell Davis finished the game with a vengeance, and showed no signs of being slowed down by the headaches.
The San Diego native set a Super Bowl record when he crossed the goal line from one yard out for his third score of the game. He also put Denver up 31-24 with just 1:45 seconds left.
The stage was set for the defending champs and their heroic quarterback to make an epic comeback. Favre moved the ball to the Broncos’ 35-yard line in just 41 seconds, and then the Broncos tightened up. From there Favre was only able to complete one more pass, for just four yards, and saw his final attempt knocked to the ground by linebacker John Mobley.
The Broncos were able to sit on the ball and kill the final 32 seconds as they took the title away from the defending champions. John Elway had finally claimed that elusive Super Bowl title.
Next: No. 14