With just under two weeks to go until Super Bowl LX, here’s a look at how I’d rank the first 25 Super Bowls of the millennium.
No. 20-16, No. 15-11, No. 10-6, No. 5-1
The 2025 NFL season is just about over, with the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots set to face off in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, marking the second Super Bowl matchup between the two franchises.
The news of the matchup has caused ticket prices for the game to soar, with fans remembering the riveting game the two teams played in Super Bowl XLIX, which saw New England edge out Seattle in the final minute of regulation thanks to a heroic interception from Malcolm Butler.
That Super Bowl was one of seemingly countless unreal games American sports fans have been treated to since the turn of the century, with one-possession games that go down to the wire appearing to be the rule rather than the exception when looking at Super Bowls over the last 25 years.
Of course, much of the story in football over the last quarter-century has been the dominance of Tom Brady, widely considered to be the sport’s greatest quarterback of all-time. While Brady hung up his cleats after the 2022 season, he has still appeared in 11 of the 25 Super Bowls that have been played this century, emerging victorious in seven of those games.
Brady’s legacy will surely be at the forefont of the minds of Patriots fans heading into this year’s Super Bowl, as the franchise looks to win their first championship without Brady at the helm and their seventh overall. New England previously made it to the Super Bowl twice before the Brady-Belichick era, losing to the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers in 1985 and 1996, respectively.
The Seahawks are searching for their second Super Bowl championship, winning their first in a blowout victory over the Denver Broncos in 2013. In addition to Seattle’s heartbreaking loss to New England in 2014, the franchise also fell short in Super Bowl XL in 2005, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Seattle enters this year’s matchup as a 4.5-point favorite, with the two teams entering their previous Super Bowl matchup with an even betting line as a pick ’em. The Seahawks were two-point underdogs when they defeated the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.
As fans get ready for this year’s Super Bowl, here’s how I’d rank the first 25 that have occurred this century:
25. Super Bowl XLVIII: Seattle Seahawks 43, Denver Broncos 8 (2013)
Starting off the list with one of the games I just mentioned, Super Bowl XLVIII was a game that felt over before it started, with a botched snap on the first play of the game for Denver sailing back into their own end zone for a safety.
The disaster only deepened from there in a game that pitted the league’s best defense against the most prolific offense, with defense earning an emphatic edge in this contest. After two Seattle field goals later in the first quarter, the Seahawks ripped the game open in the second, thanks to an early 1-yard touchdown run from Marshawn Lynch and a 69-yard pick six from Malcolm Smith, who was named the game’s MVP.
Trailing 22-0 at halftime, the Broncos had the second half open up with another punch to the gut, as Percy Harvin took the opening kickoff return 87 yards back for a touchdown. The Seahawks went on to add two more touchdowns after that, with Denver’s lone highlight of the game being an incredible touchdown catch from the late Demaryius Thomas as time expired in the third quarter.
Seahawks QB Russell Wilson finished the game with 206 passing yards and two touchdowns while completing 18 of 25 pass attempts, while Peyton Manning was 34-49 with 280 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. The game is also the lone Super Bowl to be played in a cold-weather city, taking place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Despite this, gametime temperatures were an unseasonably warm 49 degrees.
The Broncos went on to win it all just two years later in Peyton Manning’s final season of his career, while the Seahawks withstood a heartbreaker in the following season’s Super Bowl.
24. Super Bowl XXXV: Baltimore Ravens 34, New York Giants 7 (2000)
The first Super Bowl following a full season in the 21st century was among the more forgettable, with the Ravens blowing out Kerry Collins and the Giants at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Though only a 10-0 Baltimore lead at the half, the Ravens went on to run away with the game in the second half, under perhaps the most forgettable Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Trent Dilfer.
The game’s most memorable moments came late in the third quarter, when three touchdowns were scored between the two teams within a span of just 36 seconds. After a 49-yard pick six from Ravens’ defensive back Duane Starks, the Giants got their lone touchdown of the game on a 97-yard kickoff return from Ron Dixon, making the game 17-7 at the time.
Seconds later, Baltimore responded with an 84-yard kickoff return touchdown from Jermaine Lewis, giving the Ravens their 17-point lead back and paving the rest of the way for a blowout victory.
Dilfer finished the game for Baltimore with 153 passing yards and one touchdown while completing 12 of 25 passes, while running back Jamal Lewis rushed for 102 yards on 27 carries with a touchdown. The game was a disaster for Collins, who completed 15 of 39 passes for 112 passing yards with four interceptions.
Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis was named Super Bowl MVP, though it was quarterback Trent Dilfer who got tell the cameras he was going to Disney World due to controversy surrouding Lewis’ alleged involvement in a murder at a Super Bowl party the previous year in Atlanta. Lewis reached a plea deal with prosecutors in exchange for testimony in the case.
23. Super Bowl LV: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, Kansas City Chiefs 9 (2020)
The seventh and final Super Bowl win for Tom Brady was perhaps his most uneventful – a wire-to-wire dominating performance from the Brady and the Tampa Bay defense as the Chiefs were kept out of the end zone the entire evening.
The first-ever Super Bowl played at a participating team’s home stadium, the Bucs got the chance to play the game in Tampa, though restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a crowd of just under 25,000 fans.
Though it was the Chiefs that struck first on a Harrison Butker field goal in the first quarter, the Bucs took control not long after that, as Brady connected with Rob Gronkowski in the end zone twice in the first half. After another Butker field goal, Brady threw his third touchdown pass of the first half to Antonio Brown just before time expired, giving Tampa Bay a 21-6 lead at the break.
Butker would tack on a 52-yard field goal to open the second half, but Tampa Bay squashed any hopes of a comeback with a 27-yard touchdown run from Leonard Fournette on the next possession, with a field goal from Ryan Succop later on in the quarter giving the Bucs a 31-9 lead they maintained the rest of the way.
Brady finished the game completing 21 of 29 passes for 201 passing yards and three touchdowns en route to his fifth Super Bowl MVP award, while Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes finished with 26 completions on 49 attempts for 270 passing yards and two interceptions.
The Buccaneers fell to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round the following season, while the Chiefs lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2021 AFC Championship Game.
22. Super Bowl XXXVII: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48, Oakland Raiders 21 (2002)
Both of the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl wins have been blowouts, with their victory in 2002 being an offensive explosion over NFL MVP Rich Gannon and the Raiders at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
Though the game ended as a 27-point blowout, the scoreboard was even uglier at certain points throughout the contest – with the Bucs scoring 34 unanswered points after Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski opened the scoring.
After a 44-yard pick six from Dwight Smith in the late stages of the third quarter that gave Tampa Bay a 34-3 lead, the Raiders went on to score three unanswered touchdowns, though they failed on the ensuing two-point conversion after each score, leaving six points off the board.
Therefore, the Raiders really could have gotten themselves back in the game, as they trailed 34-21 after the three touchdowns as opposed to 34-27, which would have put them within a touchdown.
The Buccaneers sealed the deal from there, with two more pick sixes in the final minute and 18 seconds of the game to finish the Super Bowl with a 48-21 victory.
Tampa Bay quarterback Brad Johnson finished with 18 completions on 34 attempts for 215 passing yards alongside two touchdowns and an interception, while Gannon was 24-44 for 272 passing yards with 2 touchdowns and a Super Bowl-record five interceptions. Buccaneers safety Dexter Jackson was named Super Bowl MVP.
The Buccaneers suffered a notable Super Bowl hangover the following year, going just 7-9 while finishing third in the NFC South. The Raiders suffered an even stronger dropoff, finishing 4-12 in 2003.
21. Super Bowl LIX: Philadelphia Eagles 40, Kansas City Chiefs 22 (2024)
Most recent Super Bowls have been instant classics – but last year’s game was undoubtedly an exception. With the Chiefs entering the contest armed with hopes of the NFL’s first-ever three-peat, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles bombarded Kansas City at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Though the first quarter didn’t seem to foreshadow much with a Hurts rushing touchdown providing the only scoring, the Eagles exploded in the second and third quarters, ultimately scoring the first 34 points of the game.
The offensive explosion featured two touchdown passes from Hurts and a 38-yard pick six from rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean, with the Chiefs finally getting on the board in the final minute of the third quarter as Mahomes found Xavier Worthy for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
With the two-point conversion attempt failing, Eagles kicker Jake Elliott went on to add six more points on two long-distance field goals early in the fourth quarter to give Philadelphia a 40-6 lead. Mahomes ultimately repairied the scoreboard just a bit down the stretch with two late touchdown passes and successful two-point conversions, leading to a final score of 40-22.
Mahomes finished the game with 21 completions on 32 attempts with three touchdowns, two interceptions and 257 passing yards. Hurts, who was named Super Bowl MVP, completed 17 of 22 passes with 221 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception. On the ground, the Philly quarterback added 72 rushing yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.
The Chiefs failed to make it back this season, finishing 6-11 in a campaign that included a season-ending injury to Mahomes. As for the Eagles, hopes for a repeat were squashed in an NFC Wild Card Round loss to an undermanned San Francisco 49ers team.
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