The Updates Continue with the first half of the 40 Winners 21-40 with Roman Numeral Rankings.
XXI. 1999 St. Louis Rams Winner Super Bowl XXXIV-Before the season began the Rams were in a decade long funk not having made the playoffs in since 1989. However, with a one time grocery bagger at QB the Rams came out of nowhere with a high flying offense that could not be stopped.
XXII. 1997 Denver Broncos Winner Super Bowl XXXII-The AFC had not won a Super Bowl in 13 years, John Elway was 0 for 3 and the Broncos were 0-4 when John Elway erased the ghost of Super Bowls past with one head first dive as the Broncos stunned the defending Champion Packers.
XXIII. 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Winner Super Bowl XXXVII-The pirate battle was more of a mismatch as the Bucs had all the Raiders battle plans thanks to Coach Jon Gruden as the Bucs ran back 3 picks for TDS and sacked Rich Gannon 5 times, as Al Davis watched in horror.
XXIV. 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers Winner Super Bowl XIV-The end of the Steelers dynasty came on a team that was still quite strong as they beat the Rams in the Super Bowl, but getting there they almost were tripped up by the Oilers, as the Steel Curtain began to show its age.
XXV. 1968 New York Jets Winner Super Bowl III-The most important team is in the middle of the pack, the Jets historic upset can not be over rated. However, the team can be they only made the playoffs once more with Joe Namath and played a Colts team that though strong was not very sharp.
XXVI. 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers Winner Super Bowl XL-The Bus rode into the sunset as Coach Bill Cowher made a good case for Hall of Fame Induction as the Steelers became the first ever 6th Seed to win two playoff games, reach the Super Bowl and of course winning the Lombardi Trophy.
XXVII. 1981 San Francisco 49ers Winner Super Bowl XVI-Dwight Clark made the catch and Joe Montana made the Super Bowl his very own showcase as he won the first of three Super Bowl MVP awards as the 49ers held off the Bengals in the Pontiac Silverdome.
XXVIII. 1982 Washington Redskins Winner Super Bowl XVII-Maybe it’s unfair to hold the strike against them, but it remains a fact that the 1982 season carries with it a gigantic asterisk. They went 8-1 and would have been a contender and deserved to win the Lombardi Trophy, but it still seems hallow with the way the whole season broke down.
XIX. 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers Winner Super Bowl IX-The Steelers dynasty started off quite humbly beating a Vikings team in capable of playing in any game that used Roman Numerals. An ugly game on a grey day in New Orleans, the score was 2-0 at halftime as the Steel Curtain smothered the Vikings.
XXX. 1988 San Francisco 49ers Winner Super Bowl XXIII-At one point late in the 1988 season the 49ers were considered the most disappointing team in the NFL as they struggled to win their division at 10-6 doing so only by tiebreaker. However, in the playoffs it was magic as Joe Montana led the game winning Super Bowl drive.
XXXI. 2003 New England Patriots Winner Super Bowl XXXVIII-The Patriots erased the argument that they only one by a fluke and it would have been a valid argument until they won again almost the same exact way with Adam Vinateri hitting the game winner as time expired.
XXXII. 1990 New York Giants Winner Super Bowl XXV-The Silver Anniversary Super Bowl was perhaps the best of them all as it was decided by the slimmest of margins 1 point on a last second field attempt, as the Giants used the perfect game plan to stop the unstoppable Bills point a minute offense.
XXXIII. 1969 Kansas City Chiefs Winner Super Bowl IV-The AFL was to be absorbed into the NFL with all members getting equal treatment, but for those original AFL guys there had to be some satisfaction as they got the final blow with the Chiefs who were beaten in Super Bowl I hammering the Vikings to even the score 2-2.
XXXIV. 1967 Green Bay Packers Winner Super Bowl II-A year earlier the Packers waltzed through the first Super Bowl, and number two was not much different as the Raider put up little resistance. However, in the playoffs and regular season the Packers had to fight and claw their way as the Lombardi dynasty took its final bow.
XXXV. 1995 Dallas Cowboys Winner Super Bowl XXX-The first team to win three Super Bowl in Four Years, was not as good as meets the eye. The team had a new coach and players that were talented and knew how to win, as those lessons under Jimmy Johnson enabled the Cowboys to win despite Barry Switzer.
XXVI. 2000 Baltimore Ravens Winner Super Bowl XXXV-No offense Ravens fan this team really was not that good as they went through October without a TD. However, on defense they were quite ferocious and led by Ray Lewis some how were able to win a Lombardi Trophy even with Trent Dilfer at quarterback.
XXXVII. 1980 Oakland Raiders Winner Super Bowl XV-The Raiders had gotten off to a terrible start and when QB Dan Pastorini got hurt some how caught lighting in a bottle as Jim Plunkett once written off as a bust rediscovered his Heisman touch and became a late bloomer as the Wild Card Raiders stunned the Eagles.
XXXVIII. 1970 Baltimore Colts Winner Super Bowl V-Super Bowl V was the first to feature an AFC-NFC match up as two teams from the NFL a year before met in Miami with the Colts recovering from Super Bowl III to beat the Cowboys in the worst played Super Bowl of all time with 11 turnovers in a game dubbed the blunder bowl.
XXIX. 2001 New England Patriots Winner Super Bowl XXXVI-This team DID NOT deserve to win, they got lucky in a snow game at home when the NFL officials found some obscure rule to screw the Raiders, in the Super Bowl they got lucky as the Rams did not show, as they won the red white and blue Super Bowl in Cinderella fashion.
XL. 1987 Washington Redskins Winner Super Bowl XXII-If there is another strike in the NFL fly to Las Vegas and lay a healthy wager on the Redskins to win the Super Bowl as the 1987 season was also marred by a strike this time with replacement players being used for three games, and it puts another asterisk on the Redskins Lombardi Trophy.
Tommorow the Top 20
