There’s a whole lot that goes into making a Super Bowl entertaining. For the most part, it’s all centered around good football, good production, and good TV. From a production side, there can’t be any huge hiccups like in Super Bowl XLVII, where the power went out for more than 30 minutes. From the TV side of things, you want a good halftime show... But we're just going to focus on the football here.
On that side of things, the best way to have a good game is by making it a competitive offensive masterpiece. I’m not dogging on defensive football; I love a defensive game more than I love an offensive game… but I understand that I’m a minority there. Offensive football is more entertaining to more people. And as a man of the people, I’m going to put my personal biases aside (Go Birds) and give a definitive ranking of Super Bowls LV to LIX on their entertainment value.
5. Super Bowl LV: Buccaneers 31, Chiefs 9
This Super Bowl could easily have been ranked at the top spot. Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady were supposed to go blow for blow; this was supposed to be LeBron and Jordan.
Instead, the Buccaneers' defensive line assaulted Patrick Mahomes, and there was nothing the Chiefs' offensive line could do about it. It very quickly turned into a quarterbacking masterclass by Brady while Mahomes sat on the sideline hoping that the pain would end.
In the end, this game was a blowout. Unless you’re a Buccaneers fan (or a Tom Brady fan), you didn’t really have any fun watching this game.
4. Super Bowl LIX: Eagles 40, Chiefs 22
This game wasn’t all that different from Super Bowl LV. The difference is that the defensive plays the Eagles made were significantly more explosive and consistent than what Tampa Bay had.
Where the Buccs had three sacks, the Eagles had six sacks, and one was a strip sack. Where the Buccs had two interceptions that resulted in three points, the Eagles had a pick-six and another interception that turned into a touchdown two plays later.
As far as suffocations go, the Buccaneers knocked the Chiefs out and strangled them while they were unconscious. The Eagles grabbed the Chiefs by the throat and made eye contact with them as life left their eyes.
The offense LIX was more entertaining than the offense in LV. Jalen Hurts broke the Super Bowl rushing record for a quarterback, and it also had The Dagger. An unexpected kill shot like that is objectively sick.
3. Super Bowl LVI: Rams 23, Bengals 20
Super Bowl LVI was different because it was less of a duel between Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow, and it was more of a showcase for the skill guys.
Odell Beckham Jr. was crushing it before he got hurt. Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase had magnet hands. And then of course Cooper Kupp capped off his Triple Crown and Offensive Player of the Year season with a Super Bowl MVP after catching eight of his 10 targets for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
It was one of the best groups of wide receivers we’ve ever seen in a Super Bowl, and every single one of them showed out. It was exciting, until it wasn’t.
There’s nothing that will ruin a game more than the refs throwing ticky-tack defensive pass interference and defensive holding flags late in the fourth quarter, especially when they haven't called those penalties all game. Unfortunately, that’s how the Rams were able to score on their last drive.
The Bengals defense was finally able to step up, make Stafford throw inaccurate balls, and have good coverage… and then Logan Wilson got called for the first non-personal foul defensive penalty of the game. The Rams went from having a fourth and goal from the eight to having a first and goal from the four.
They ended up scoring and winning 23-20. It was a really fun game, but the ending didn’t really do it justice.
2. Super Bowl LVII: Chiefs 38, Eagles 35
Similarly to the Rams and Bengals game, 98% of this game was wildly entertaining, and if it wasn’t for the final 2%, it would probably be ranked at the top spot.
There were explosions for 58 minutes and six seconds… Until the refs had to make the game about themselves and call a defensive holding penalty on James Bradberry, which allowed the Chiefs to salt the game away and kick a game-winning field goal.
But the rest of the game? Buddy… It was magic.
The first half was all about the Eagles, for better or for worse. Jalen Hurts was moving the ball extremely efficiently aside from two hiccups. One was in the second drive when Zach Pascal got called for an offensive pass interference on first down (the Eagles punted). The other was an unforced fumble in the second quarter that was scooped and scored by Nick Bolton.
Other than those two plays, the Eagles were crushing. After the fumble, Hurts went on a 12 play, 75 yard touchdown drive that took seven minutes off the clock. On that drive, Hurts carried the ball five times for 45 yards; it was awesome and the Eagles went into halftime with a 24-14 lead.
The second half was all about Mahomes who had as perfect a second half of football as you’ll ever see. He had one total incompletion and scored on all four of his drives. It was such a good performance from that offense (and bad performance from the Eagles’ defense) that both Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney were able to score… on the same exact play.
It’s hard to top a game where there are 750 total offensive yards and 73 total points scored… but there is one way to do it, and that happened one year later.
1. Super Bowl LVIII: Chiefs 25, 49ers 22
If you give me overtime, I’ll be excited. If you give me overtime in the playoffs, I’ll be elated. If you give me overtime in the Super Bowl, I’ll be euphoric. Super Bowl LVIII ended with a walk-off touchdown to win 25-22 with three seconds left in overtime. You don’t get much better than that.
Now… that doesn’t really represent how this game went. Going into halftime, San Francisco had a 10-3 lead. There were 10 drives in that half: there was one touchdown, two field goals, five punts, and two turnovers (fumbles).
It’s those fumbles that were awesome. Linebackers were punching balls out left and right. When you’re thinking about exciting running plays they either end with a 15+ yard gain or the ball getting slugged out of the running back’s hands. We got plenty of that in the low-scoring first thirty minutes.
Also, Jake Moody kicked a 55-yard field goal, which was the longest field goal in Super Bowl history at that point.
Then came the third quarter… which was slow until it wasn’t. Mahomes threw an interception, then there were three three-and-outs. After that, Harrison Butker came on the field and crushed Jake Moody’s dreams of football immortality by kicking a 57-yard field goal, re-breaking the Super Bowl record. Then all hell broke loose.
The Chiefs punted after another three-and-out, but the 49ers muffed the punt. Kansas City recovered it on the San Francisco 16-yard line. After that, it was all points for the rest of the game.
Both teams traded touchdowns and field goals from there on out; in the last 15:04, there were 22 points. That led to a 19-19 tie at the end of regulation.
Come overtime, the 49ers had a clock-killing 13 play, 66-yard drive that took 7:38 off of the clock… but it only ended in a field goal. The Chiefs answered with their own 13 play drive, except they called game with that three yard touchdown pass in the last seconds.
A lot of football games are offensive explosions off the jump, and then slow down in the fourth quarter. The Chiefs and the 49ers went to the bathroom, took a bump, and went turbo time in the fourth quarter. It was an all-timer.