Ranking the previous 10 Super Bowls played in New Orleans

The Superdome will be hosting its eighth Super Bowl on Sunday (extending a record) when the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles clash for the NFL title for the second time in three years. It’s also the 11th time that the city of New Orleans is hosting the league’s “Big Game.”

For some time, a Super Bowl in the Big Easy meant an easy win for one team. That’s changed a bit on the last two occasions. A look at Super Sunday in the Crescent City.

Ranking the 10 Super Bowls in the Big Easy

10. Bears 46, Patriots 10 (Super Bowl XX)

It’s almost forgotten, but this lopsided victory by the talented Chicago Bears saw Mike Ditka’s team down 3-0 early. Earlier in the season, the New England Patriots fell to the Bears at Soldier Field. Raymond Berry’s squad arrived at this game by becoming the team to win three road playoff games while reaching the Super Bowl. In this rematch, Chicago’s defense was clinical.

Defensive end Richard Dent dominate early and earned game Most Valuabe Player accolades. The Bears would outgain New England, 408-123, and owned a 23-3 halftime edge. New England was limited to a Super Bowl record-low seven yards rushing (on 11 carries).

9. Cowboys 27, Broncos 10 (Super Bowl XII)

It was not only the first Super Bowl played at the Superdome, but it was the first time the “Big Game” was played indoors. The country was taken in by “Broncomania,” as the Denver Broncos defense featured Hall of Famer Randy Gradishar, Tom Jackson, and Lyle Alzado.

However, this was a Dallas Cowboys’ team in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in eight years, and featured their own “Doomsday Defense” with Hall of Famer Randy White, “Too Tall” Jones, and Harvey Martin. It was a mistake-filled game, most of that by Broncos’ quarterback Craig Morton. Denver gave up the ball eight times, seven of those miscues in the first half.

8. Steelers 16, Vikings 6 (Super Bowl IX)

The “Team of the ‘70s” would not only win its first NFL title in its 42nd year of existence, it would begin a run of four Super Bowl championships in a six-year span. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense was loaded from stem to stern, and the “Steel Curtain” harassed scrambling Fran Tarkenton all afternoon—although they did not sack him.

They did limit Bud Grant’ club to a Super Bowl-record low 119 total yards on 47 plays, a stunning 2.7 average. Franco Harris rumbled for 158 yards and a touchdown on the way to earning MVP honors. Even with Chuck Foreman in the backfield, the Minnesota Vikings gained mere 17 yards rushing on 21 attempts.

7. Cowboys 24, Dolphins 3 (Super Bowl VI)

It’s not something that happens on a regular basis, but this was the first occasion in which a team fell short on Super Bowl Sunday, and then a year later won a Lombardi Trophy. Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys lost a heartbreaker to the Colts at the Orange Bowl in a mistake-plagued Super Bowl V.

They were back and faced the up-and-coming Miami Dolphins, who were just in their sixth year of instance. The game’s most memorable moment came when Cowboys’ defensive tackle Bob Lilly dropping Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese for a 29-yard loss. Don Shula’s stymied team was limited to a field goal and 185 total yards.

6. Raiders 27, Eagles 10 (Super Bowl XV)

Jim Plunkett was the first overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft by the Patriots. In his 10th season, he was in the midst of his second year with the Raiders when Dan Pastorini broke his leg in a Week 5 loss to the Chiefs. Plunkett came off the bench and Tom Flores’ team slowly but surely found itself. They wound up grabbing a wild card berth behind the AFC West champion Chargers.

Wins over the Oilers, Browns, and Chargers led the Raiders to a rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles, who they had lost to in Philadelphia earlier in the year, 10-7. Plunkett was the game’s MVP, but Rod Martin picked off Ron Jaworski three times in a 27-10 win.

5. Chiefs 23, Vikings 7 (Super Bowl IV)

It was the first Super Bowl played in the Crescent City, and it was the last game played before the merger of the NFL and AFL actually took place on the field.

The Kansas City Chiefs were back on Super Sunday for the second time in four years, and when it was all said and done, their talented defense (featuring six future Hall of Famers) made life miserable for Vikings’ quarterback Joe Kapp at Tulane Stadium. Chiefs’ field general Len Dawson was the game’s MVP, and miked up Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram became an NFL Films legend.

4. 49ers 55, Broncos 10 (Super Bowl XXIV)

It proved to be a crowning achievement for one of the greatest teams in NFL annals. In what proved to be head coach Bill Walsh’s final NFL season, the 1988 San Francisco 49ers got hot when it counted most and rallied to beat the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII. In 1989, under George Seifert, there was little suspense. The team finished 14-2, and the two losses came by a total of five points.

In the playoffs, Joe Montana, Roger Craig, Jerry Rice and the defense thrived. The 35-point win over Denver capped off a postseason in which the 49ers won three games by a combined 126-26 score. Montana threw five TD passes, three to Rice.

3. Packers 35, Patriots 21 (Super Bowl XXXI)

Since the organization would no longer let the head “chef” shop for the groceries, Bill Parcells’s final game as the Patriots’ head coach would be on Super Bowl Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay jumped out to a 10-0 lead, then fell behind as Patriots’ quarterback Drew Bledsoe threw two TD passes and his team took a 14-10 first-quarter lead.

Late in the third quarter, New England narrowed Green Bay’s edge to 27-21 via a Curtis Martin TD run. Game MVP Desmond Howard returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a score, and a two-point conversion pass from Brett Favre to tight end Mark Chmura closed out the scoring.

2. Ravens 34, 49ers 31 (Super Bowl XLVII)

It’s the last time the NFL’s biggest game took place in the Big Easy. That will obviously change on Sunday afternoon, and with any luck Super Bowl LIX will have the same excitement as this “lights out” affair. In this family affair, the Harbaugh brothers clashed at the Superdome and John’s Baltimore Ravens wound up racing out to a 28-6 third-quarter lead after Jacoby Jones returned the second-half kickoff a Super Bowl record 109 yards for a score.

After a brief power outage, the Jim's 49ers responded with 17 straight points and later, narrowed the deficit to 31-29. Baltimore held on, and Joe Flacco capped off an amazing postseason run.

1. Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Super Bowl XXXVI)

The Patriots’ first Super Bowl title came in the same building where the team made its Super Bowl debut 16 years earlier. In 2001, Drew Bledsoe went down in Week 2 vs. the Jets. Enter second-year quarterback Tom Brady. Bill Belichick’s team gathered itself after a 0-2 start, and wound up in the playoffs.

The club relied on its defense and special teams, and that was good enough to reach Super Bowl XXXVI against the heavily-favored Rams. The Pats owned a 17-3 lead with less than 10 minutes to play, but the Rams rallied and managed to tie the score. Brady set up Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning 48-yard boot as time expired.