With both the Philadelphia douchebags Eagles and the Kansas City referees Chiefs. winning their respective conference championships this year, Super Bowl LIX will be a rematch. Two years ago, the Chiefs came out on top in Super Bowl LVII, 38-35. As per usual though, neither team won their conference championships without a little bit of controversy. The Eagles were nearly awarded a touchdown by the refs (literally) due to penalties while the Chiefs again were the beneficiaries of multiple “interesting” calls.
While the Super Bowl will always get good ratings and the NFL is always “king” when it comes to viewership, not all games are created equal. With fans voicing their lack of interest in the upcoming Super Bowl, it left us wondering which Super Bowls were actually the worst to watch. With that in mind, here is our list of the five worst Super Bowls of all time.
5 Worst Super Bowls of All Time
Super Bowl LIII (New England Patriots 13, Los Angeles Rams 3)
Whittling down this list of worst Super Bowl matchups was pretty difficult, but Super Bowl LII stuck out like a sore thumb. Unlike most of the other games on this list, this one was pretty close throughout. While there certainly were discrepancies in yards, first downs, and other statistics, the game felt within reach the entire time. The issue with this game was it was so damn boring.
For whatever reason, Rams head coach Sean McVay refused to give the ball to his best player, running back Todd Gurley. Afterwards, Gurley said he was healthy, McVay said his limited involvement was due to “game flow,” and fans were bewildered when he had just 10 carries for 35 yards in a game the Rams struggled to move the ball.
This game is mostly remembered for the bad records it set. This Super Bowl set the record for the fewest points scored by a winning team (13), most consecutive drives ending in a punt (Rams, 8) and fewest points combined (16). The game was an absolute snoozer. The worst part about it was that since it was close, it was impossible for fans to turn it off due to it being a close game.
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Super Bowl XXXV (Baltimore Ravens 34, New York Giants 7)
While Super Bowl XXXV saw many more points put on the board than in Super Bowl LIII, the offenses were somehow even more inept. Both teams combined for under 400 total yards, and the reult was never really in doubt. Although there was some action in this game, you missed it if you so much as went to take a bathroom break.
After a 49-yard pick-six by Duane Starks, the Ravens took a 17-0 lead. On the subsequent kickoff, Giants returner Ron Dixon returned the kick 97 yards for the Giants’ only score of the game to make it 17-7. Any shred of hope they had to compete was quickly erased when the Ravens responded with an 84-yard kick return touchdown by Jermaine Lewis. In a game that saw 41 points scored, 21 of those were scored within 36 seconds.
Winning quarterback Trent Dilfer was just 12/25 for 153 yards and a touchdown while running back Jamal Lewis barely eclipsed 100 yards on 27 carries. This game saw the Giants set a Super Bowl record for most punts in a game, with 11, in a performance fans soon wished to forget.
Super Bowl XX (Chicago Bears 46, New England Patriots 10)
Super Bowl XX looked like it would get underway with a bang when the New England Patriots took the quickest lead in Super Bowl history, to that point. After recovering a Walter Payton fumble on the second play of the game, the Patriots had three straight incompletions before settling for three points. Unfortunately for New England, they would only score seven points the rest of the game.
Although the Bears only held a 13-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, the game quickly got out of hand. After that fumble, the Bears scored 44 points unanswered on their way to a 44-3 lead with 3:22 left in the third quarter. Although the Patriots did hit double digits in the fourth quarter, a safety with 5:36 left in the game made an already devastating loss even more embarrassing. New England racked up a measly 123 total net yards while the Bears cruised with over 400. The Bears also nearly doubled New England’s time of possession while forcing six turnovers. Although Bears fans may look back at this game fondly, few other NFL fans do.
Super Bowl XLVIII (Seattle Seahawks 43, Denver Broncos 8)
Out of all the Super Bowl matchups on this list, this one has to be the most disappointing for what the game was supposed to be. This matchup brought together the number-one defense of the Seahawks against the number-one offense of the Broncos. While Super Bowl XLVIII was supposed to be a classic, this game was a bloodbath from the beginning.
On the very first snap, the ball sailed over the head of an unsuspecting Peyton Manning and was recovered for a safety. Although Seattle only got field goals in their next two drives, it was clear Denver had no answer for their defense. Seattle’s 8-0 lead at the end of the first quarter quickly grew to 22-0 at halftime. The final nail in the coffin was when Percy Harvin returned the second half kickoff 87 yards to increase the lead to 29-0 before the Broncos even touched the ball again.
Although the Broncos finally hit pay dirt with the last play in the third quarter to make it 36-8, Seattle tacked on another touchdown on their very next drive. Seattle took this one, 43-8, and fans were looking ahead to next year’s Super Bowl before the game was even close to being finished.
Super Bowl XXIV (San Francisco 49ers 55, Denver Broncos 10)
There were many bad Super Bowls around the 1990s, but Super Bowl XXIV was the worst of them all. The 49ers came into this game looking to win their second straight Super Bowl and dismantled the Broncos from the very beginning. Although the 49ers and Broncos both scored on their first possessions, this game got out of hand quickly.
San Francisco scored 34 unanswered points and held a 27-3 lead at the half, then a 41-3 lead with just under 10 minutes to go in the third quarter. The game got so out of hand that 49ers’ quarterback Joe Montana called his wife from one of the phones on the sideline.
This game saw one of the more lopsided yard differentials in Super Bowl history. The 49ers racked up over 460 total net yards while the Broncos could barely get over 160. The Broncos also turned the ball over four times while the 49ers almost doubled Denver’s time of possession.
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