Biggest blowout in Super Bowl history
There is a lot of anticipation for Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday as the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are set to square off for all the marbles in Las Vegas. Football fans are expecting a close contest with Patrick Mahomes looking to add to his legacy with a third Lombardi Trophy in his sixth season, but a tight spread doesn't mean that this game is guaranteed to be close.
The idea of a thrilling Super Bowl is a more recent construct as many title games prior to 2000 weren't particularly close. Let's take a look back at the five biggest blowouts in Super Bowl history.
Biggest blowouts in Super Bowl history
Super Bowl | Winning Team | Losing Team | Final Score | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
XXIV | San Francisco 49ers | Denver Broncos | 55-10 | 45 Points |
XX | Chicago Bears | New England Patriots | 46-10 | 36 Points |
XXVII | Dallas Cowboys | Buffalo Bills | 52-17 | 35 Points |
XLVIII | Seattle Seahawks | Denver Broncos | 43-8 | 35 Points |
XXII | Washington Redskins | Denver Broncos | 42-10 | 32 Points |
It certainly hasn't been fun to be a Broncos fan in the Super Bowl as they have been on the losing end of three of the top five blowouts in Super Bowl history. The largest blowout came in Super Bowl XXIV when Denver was decimated by the San Francisco 49ers 55-10, a whopping 45 point margin that hasn't come close to being surpassed in the years since.
Another notorious blowout came four years earlier in Super Bowl XX as the 1985 Chicago Bears defense earned their place in the history books with an incredible 46-10 decimation of the New England Patriots. Most casual fans remember that Super Bowl as the one where the Fridge, William Perry, pounded in a one-yard touchdown to essentially ice the game.
There were a pair of blowouts with 35 point margins, including Dallas' domination of Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVII while the Broncos got destroyed by the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium. That Seahawks-Broncos contest is the most uncompetitive Super Bowl in recent memory and fans are hoping that we don't get a repeat of that contest on Sunday in Las Vegas.