Super Bowl LI (51) between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Feb. 5 featured one of the best football games ever and the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history.
The “Golden Boy,” quarterback Tom Brady, won his fifth Super Bowl ring. This also wasn’t his first comeback in a National Football League championship game.
Down 28-3 early in the third quarter, Brady and the Patriots rallied back to win 34-28 in overtime.
Here are some more of the largest comebacks in history and how they compare to the Patriots’ upset last weekend.
Super Bowl XLVI (46)
The Patriots faced the New York Giants in a rematch of a game two years earlier, and New York overcame an eight-point deficit to defeat the Patriots 21-17 for the 2011 Super Bowl title in Arlington, Texas.
In the third, Brady hit tight end Aaron Hernandez in the end zone for a 17-9 lead. The Giants’ field goal kicker then hit two field goals in the third to cut the gap to 17-15.
With 3:53 remaining on the clock, quarterback Eli Manning led an 88-yard drive, which ended with Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw running in for a touchdown with 1:04 left.
In the final minute, Brady couldn’t respond, and the Patriots fell by four points. This was the second Super Bowl ring for Manning, who has won two championships during his career – defeating Brady both times.
Super Bowl XXV (25)
This blast from the past also has the Giants winning the Lombardi Trophy, which the Super Bowl winner gets every year, in 1991 in Tampa.
The game had a poor start when Giants quarterback Jeff Hostetler was sacked in the end zone, resulting in a safety for the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills had an early 12-3 lead, and before halftime, they had a chance to widen it. They didn’t capitalize and had a three and out before the Giants ended the half with a touchdown to come within two.
The Bills and Giants traded points back and forth, but Giants kicker Matt Bahr kicked in a 21-yard field goal to put New York up 20-19.
Bills quarterback Jim Kelly then drove down the field and put his team in a position to win, but placekicker Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal with nine seconds left, fanning on the kick to the right.
That blunder came on the heels of the Bills’ four consecutive missed field goals.
Super Bowl XXII (22)
John Elway, the Denver Broncos quarterback and one of the best all-time NFL players, helped his squad take an early 10-0 lead, but it evaporated not long after in 1988 in San Diego.
The Broncos’ lead followed the first quarter, but the second didn’t go so well. Elway threw two interceptions in the frame, and the Washington Redskins scored 35 unanswered points by halftime.
The contest ended with the Redskins winning 42-10. It is considered the worst game of Elway’s career.
Super Bowl XLIV (44)
Quarterback Peyton Manning, Eli’s older brother, and the Indianapolis Colts jumped out to an early 10-point lead in the second in 2010 in Miami. But New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees scored 13 unanswered points to take a 13-10 cushion into halftime.
The Colts regained the lead early in the third, but after Broncos placekicker Garrett Hartley kicked a field goal and tight end Jeremy Shockey caught a touchdown pass, Denver had a 24-17 lead.
Manning had a drive to attempt to tie the game, but Saints cornerback Tracy Porter had an interception and brought it back for a pick-six to seal the Saints’ lone Super Bowl victory.
Super Bowl XLIX (49)
The 2015 Super Bowl is remembered for Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler’s interception of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s throw at the one-yard line with 26 seconds left as New England beat Seattle 28-24.
The Seahawks were up by 10 (24-14) after the third, but a 14-point run by the Patriots sealed Seattle’s fate.
