So, with the upcoming Super Bowl, the same hopes will be voiced this year as they are every year. Everyone just wants it to be a good game. To have some incredible moments, when you can feel the excitement, the tension. Moments when the game hangs in the balance, and the fate of both teams are about to be determined.
The San Francisco 49ers as a franchise have certainly enjoyed such moments on this stage. I'm specifically referring to Super Bowl XXIII, when the Cincinnati Bengals, who were fairly heavy underdogs, played a spectacular game, and their defense seemed to keep the potent offense of the 49ers in check, more or less. At least, in a "bend but don't break" manner. The Bengals were actually winning that game with less than a minute left, when Cool Joe Montana led his team down the field on an incredible drive, throwing the winning touchdown pass to John Taylor to clinch the come from behind victory in a thrilling manner. Watch the highlights from that game, and there's a good chance that you'll see then Bengals coach Sam Wyche muttering "34 seconds away", describing just how close his team came to pulling off the huge upset against the franchise that would clinch "Team of the Decade" honors with the win. In fact, earlier in the game, cornerback Lewis Billups had dropped a sure interception, but somehow dropped it. On the very next play, Jerry Rice caught a pass and managed to angle his body in such a way as to break the plane of the end zone and score the tying touchdown. When you think about it that way, it's amazing to think of just how critical such moments can be. If that play goes another way and, say, Billups does not drop it, things would surely have been different. Montana surely would be known as a great football team, but would he have been known as the very best? Or would he be remembered more closely like Peyton Manning, an indisputably great quarterback who can make key mistakes at the worst possible times, like he did in this year's playoffs, or like he did in Super Bowl LXIV? Maybe Brett Favre is another such quarterback. Great in the regular season, but he's no Joe Montana, right? But what if Billups made that sure interception? How would history have been different in football?
I tell you something, though. That was indeed a great game, but the other Super Bowls that the 49ers were involved with were not all that great. I mean, let's hope we don't see another game like Super Bowl XIX, when San Francisco beat up on Marino's Dolphins, 38-16. Or how about Super Bowl XXIX, when the 49ers took it to the Chargers, and Steve Young threw for a record six touchdown passes, en route to a 49-26 win over the hopelessly overmatched Chargers? Even worse, let's hope we never see another game like Super Bowl XXIV, when the Broncos were the sacrificial lambs to the slaughter, seemingly looking like semi-pros compared with the 49ers, who scored two touchdowns each quarter en route to a record 55-10 blowout, the most lopsided Super Bowl ever!
Of course, the only time the Ravens were previously in the Super Bowl, that was hardly a thrill, either. Now, I'm a Giants fan, but I'll be the first to admit that they didn't belong on the same field as the Ravens on that day. The G-Men were humiliated and bullied by the record-smashing Baltimore defense, who I believe were the best defensive team ever. They allowed fewer points, and by some margin, than any other team in history during a sixteen game season, and that in an era that favored offenses. Remember, that was the Super Bowl sandwiched by appearances by the Rams, who were the "Greatest Show on Turf". Brian Billick, the Ravens own head coach, actually entered that season with high hopes for the Baltimore offense, since that was his specialty. Just two years prior to that, he had orchestrated the then highest scoring team in history, the Minnesota Vikings, who averaged 38 points per game and went 15-1 (although they choked against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game). There were numerous teams that had strong offenses, and the rules of the game were increasingly favoring offenses, to generate more yards and points, with the thinking being that it would also generate additional interest by the fans. But those Ravens were so physically overwhelming, that they shut down all comers, and specialized in the so-called "finesse offenses". On Super Bowl Sunday, they intercepted Kerry Collins a record five times, and sacked him four times, and roughing up the entire offense in general. That game had a record 21 punts in all, not exactly the kind of record that the television networks hope for in the big game, you know? But that Baltimore team, boy! What a defense! Best of all time! Even better than the '85 Bears (in terms of defense, although the Bears had a way better offense). The Giants never had a chance.
But don't feel too bad for the Giants. They have enjoyed some huge successes in the biggest game in North America. They famously edged out the Buffalo Bills in that famous "kick heard around the world" that effectively ended Super Bowl XXV, which sailed a few feet wide right, to secure a narrow one point victory for Big Blue. In Super Bowl XLII, it took an enormous defensive effort and a miracle play with Eli Manning breaking out of a sure sack to throw a wobbly looking pass to Dave Tyree, who made a very famous, miracle kind of a catch, one-handed and with the side of his helmet. Probably, one of the greatest catches in NFL history, I would think. And the Giants needed it, to knock off the previously unbeaten Patriots, who many had already claimed as the "greatest team in NFL history". Eli Manning threw the winning touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the corner of the end zone, with a little more than half a minute left in the game, to secure a Giants win. It was the second greatest upset win in Super Bowl history, right behind Namath's guarantee that the Jets would beat the powerful Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. And finally, the Giants beat the Patriots again in another thriller last year, in a game that came down to the final play.
The Steelers got a thrilling come from behind victory against the upstart Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII, with Roethlisburger throwing it to the corner of the end zone, and Santana Holmes somehow making an incredible grab with very little time left on the clock, just a little more than half a minute.
There were a lot of thrillers in Super Bowl history. How about the Broncos finally getting over the hurdle and just edging out Favre and the Packers to finally give john Elway his long awaited Super Bowl (although he would get greedy and win another one the next season)? Or who could forget the Titans falling just one yard shy of the tying touchdown in Super Bowl XXXIV, which gave the Rams the victory? Maybe the Patriots handing those same Rams a shocking loss just two years later, in Super Bowl XXXVI?
But I actually think that the best game, from beginning to end, in Super Bowl history is one that is often remembered for something else entirely, that being the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" during the halftime show, when Janet Jackson's nipple was exposed after Justin Timberlake, looking right at it and reaching for it without hesitation, reached over and ripped that part of the outfit off. It's too bad that the game itself was often overshadowed, because that was a classic! It had something for everyone. For almost the entire first half, it was a virtually scoreless, defensive battle. But the two teams exploded with points just before halftime, scoring 24 combined points incredibly quickly, as the Patriots grabbed a 14-10 lead for the first half. Then, the scoreless defensive struggled again, before the most explosive fourth quarter in history, as the two teams went back and forth, with the Patriots striking last to secure an incredibly exciting, breathtaking 32-29 victory over the prohibitive underdogs, the Carolina Panthers. Ultimately, however, both teams put on the best overall performance, which probably makes Super Bowl XXXVIII the best game, one that both teams can be proud of.
There are reasons to hope that this is going to be a competitive game. After all, these two teams seem evenly matched. They are so similar, and they both have a style that would seem to favor a low-scoring affair (although both offenses have shown more than a little explosive potential, at times). I will predict this much: they are both going to be more or less feeling each other out, so to speak. Maybe I am wrong about this, but these two teams seem to thrive on minimizing mistakes, and so, they will both enter the game a little cautiously. If the game opens up, that will probably happen later on. Maybe late in the second quarter, just before the half in an effort to gain some kind of advantage, and almost certainly somewhere in second half, by one or the other of these teams.
But all that said, don't be too surprised if this is not, in fact, that good of a game. The way that these two teams have been playing, if either one gets enough momentum, they both have shown talent enough to have that killer instinct.
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