Top 5 Super Bowl Shocks
Super Bowl Sunday is only days away with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers set to square off in Miami. Will it be a predictable affair or is there a shock in store?
Get yourself ready for Super Bowl LIV with a look back at the top five Super Bowl surprises:
5. Super Bowl XLIX - Malcolm Butler Interception
Undrafted rookie Malcolm Butler’s game-winning interception may have never happened if not for amazing preparation and coaching by the ‘GOAT’ Bill Belichick.
Butler’s interception will go down in history, yet the most surprising part of the play wasn’t the interception itself but the play calling of Seattle head coach Pete Carroll.
With the ball on the one-yard line, and one timeout and 26 seconds to go, Carroll turned to the passing game instead of the NFL’s fourth highest rusher Marshawn ‘Beast Mode’ Lynch.
It’s safe to say Carroll would make that decision differently if he could do it all over again.
4. Super Bowl LII - Philly Special
Leading 15-12 with 38 seconds left in the first half, the Philadelphia Eagles had a decision to make on fourth and goal. Kicking a field goal seemed out of the question as head coach Doug Peterson kept the offense on the field, but needed a timeout to talk it over.
As quarterback Nick Foles approached Peterson, the two decided on calling one of the most iconic plays in Super Bowl history.
The ‘Philly Special’ provided the Eagles with a 22-12 lead at the break which helped hold off the Patriots, and give Philadelphia the franchise’s first Super Bowl title.
3. Super Bowl XLIV - New Orleans Saints Onside Kick
The most gutsy and surprising call in Super Bowl history is hands down Saints head coach Sean Payton’s decision to begin the second half with an onside kick.
Trailing 10-6 at half, Payton had plenty of time during the 35-minutes halftime show to decide the team would open the half with ‘Ambush’.
Kicker Thomas Morstead overcame the nerves and delivered a perfect kick which resulted in a New Orleans recovery and Super Bowl win.
2. Super Bowl LI - New England Patriots 25-point Comeback
Perhaps there was nothing more surprising at the time of Super Bowl 51 than seeing the mighty New England Patriots trailing 28-3 to the Atlanta Falcons. What followed would go on to be some of the biggest jaw-dropping moments in Super Bowl history.
After the 8:30 mark of the third quarter, New England would go on to score 31 unanswered points during one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history.
Across those 31 points, the Patriots converted two two-point conversions, forced overtime, and won in OT without giving the ball to the Falcons. New England claimed the fifth Super Bowl title during the Brady/Belichick era.
1. Super Bowl XLII - NY Giants defeat (18-0) Patriots
The most surprising Super Bowl moment in NFL history is none other than the New York Football Giants stopping the potential perfect 19-0 season of the Patriots.
Entering the game, no one gave New York much of a chance against one of the NFL’s greatest teams. Yet, against all odds the Giants put together one of the best Cinderella stories in NFL history.
Behind a dominant defensive effort, the ‘Helmet Catch’, and a textbook two-minute drill by Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, New York took down New England 17-14.
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