The NFL has a unique way of drawing fans to its postseason action, regardless of whether or not their favorite teams are still in contention. People will tune in to watch, because there has been so much build up through the regular season thanks to epic storylines, achievements, and what-have-you…
All of that leads to the big game… which often comes with the highest expectations in terms of entertainment value of all of them.
Unfortunately—it isn’t always able to deliver the level of excitement that fans are anticipating—and because there is so much build up, fans absolutely HATE a bad Super Bowl.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at 10 Super Bowls That Everyone Disliked.
Super Bowl 24
First up… We have Super Bowl 24, which was played between the San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos—back in 1990.
Which… I suppose is an easy choice, considering it was one of the most lopsided Super Bowls we have ever seen—as evidenced by San Fran winning it 55 to 10, posting a 45-point margin of victory, the largest in Super Bowl history.
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It wasn’t the most shocking outcome, we’ll admit. Despite both sides being the top seed in their conference and having a big name quarterback leading the charge—Joe Montana for the Niners and John Elway for the Broncos—San Francisco was heavy favorites coming into the game.
The spread was nearly two touchdowns in most sportsbooks at the time.
That being said, the public still allowed itself to get excited for this one… The storylines were too juicy!
Two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks duking it out… San Francisco trying to repeat as world champs with a brand new head coach in George Seifert… Would Elway be able to shake his reputation for being Super Bowl snake bitten and win the big game—having lost two to this point?
And then there was the star power in the game… Not just the aforementioned quarterbacks, but guys like Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Charles Haley on the San Francisco side and Steve Atwater on the Broncos.
There were plenty of reasons to be excited about this one… Even if people did have their doubts as to whether or not the Broncos could hang with the juggernaut that was the 49ers of that time. Unfortunately, it got UGLY for the Broncos… and FAST.
San Francisco jumped out to a 13 to three lead in the first quarter—helped by a Bobby Humphrey fumble that shifted the balance of power in the game completely. It was never close from there. San Francisco went into the half up 27 to three—and ultimately won 55 to 10, making it one of the least eventful Super Bowls we’ve seen… and subsequently making it hated by the fans of the time.
Coincidentally, this wasn’t the only Broncos Super Bowl that fans hated…
The next came in 2014—when Peyton Manning’s Denver side squared up against the Seattle Seahawks, led by the infamous Legion of Boom—and a young Russell Wilson at quarterback.
Super Bowl 48
Don’t think that John Elway is getting off scot-free in Super Bowl 48 either… Because he was the general manager of the team—and the executive vice president of football operations. And though he did eventually shake the choke artist label by quarterbacking two straight Super Bowl victories on his way into retirement, this was a nice regression to the norm—as his Broncos melted down in truly spectacular fashion.
And, by the way… it wasn’t just the play on the field that everyone hated—the NFL also made an extremely questionable decision to let the Giants host the Super Bowl, at their outdoor stadium in February, need I remind you!
So there was all sorts of stress leading up to the game about potential weather issues… But luckily Mother Nature showed some mercy.
The same cannot be said for the Seahawks though—because this game was a no-contest from the opening whistle… On the first offensive play of the game—the snap sailed pasty Manning into the back of the end zone for a safety
And from that point on—it was all Seattle.
All in all, this was one of the least entertaining Super Bowls we’ve seen, especially considering the fact that it was all but over from the first play on! The only thing that kept it somewhat enjoyable for fans was watching Peyton Manning and John Elway both choke at once—for old time’s sake.
Super Bowl 35
Seattle scored on offense, defense, and special teams—making Seattle the first team since the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl 35 to do so. My lord, was this game a complete and utter slobber knocker.
I mean, the Broncos were just one of two teams in the preceding 30 years to be held to less than 10 points in a Super Bowl… Truly, a dubious distinction.
That Ravens-Giants Super Bowl in 2001 was none too popular in its own right either…
Baltimore came into the game as slight favorites, around three points or so, but they absolutely smothered the Giants.
New York totaled just 152 yards of total offense, the third-lowest in Super Bowl history, surrendering four sacks and five turnovers along the way.
Every single Giants offensive possession ended with a punt or an interception—and their only score came in the third quarter on a kickoff return for a touchdown—once the Ravens were already up 17 nothing.
And, of course, Baltimore answered with a kickoff return of its own mere seconds later—further cementing the “never in doubt” status of this game.
The Ravens ended up taking it by a final score of 34 to seven, with its starting quarterback, Trent Dilfer only completing 12 passes for 152 yards.
All in all, this was one of the most boring Super Bowls we’ve ever seen.
Super Bowl 55
Interestingly, in the time since, we have actually seen two more Super Bowls in which one of the teams failed to eclipse the 10-point threshold: Super Bowl 53, in 2019, between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, and Super Bowl 55, between the Buccaneers and Chiefs in 2020.
Unsurprisingly, the public was not exactly enthralled with these Super Bowls.
The latter, between Tampa Bay and Kansas City, was one of the most anticipated Super Bowls in recent memory. People saw it as a potential “passing of the torch” moment—in which Tom Brady, who shocked everyone by leading the Bucs to the Super Bowl during his first season with the team, might bend the knee to Patrick Mahomes and a Chiefs team that was looking to form a little a dynasty of their own.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs—the Bucs defensive line had other plans—and absolutely dominated the game. For the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs failed to score a touchdown in a full game.
This also marked the Chiefs’ first double-digit loss in the Mahomes era, which, in and of itself is a pretty insane statistic.
Although the storylines around Brady winning the big one during his first season after his split with Bill Belichick were undeniably compelling, the game itself was not particularly entertaining…
Besides, it isn’t like there were all that many people sitting around hoping that Tom Brady would win ANOTHER Super Bowl! Simply a miserable viewing experience for anyone who wasn’t a lifelong Tom Brady jock rider or a Bucs bettor.
Super Bowl 53
Super Bowl 53, which coincidentally involved Tom Brady as well, was actually a pretty close game deep into the fourth quarter—but my lord was it boring.
This one was particularly disappointing to the public, not just because Brady and Belichick captured their sixth Super Bowl together… but also… because the Rams were one of the most prolific offenses in the league that season.
They had gone 13 and three in the regular season—and regularly put up massive stat lines and point totals. They finished second in the league in points scored and were extremely exciting to watch all year long.
Which made it all the more shocking that they laid a complete egg during the biggest game of the year.
Leave it to Bill Belichick to find a way to completely shut down one of the best offenses that the NFL has seen in recent years—leaving all the NFL fans at home stewing in disappointment for having to watch such an excruciatingly unentertaining game.
Super Bowl 40
Although the point totals were slightly higher—Super Bowl 40, in 2006 between the Steelers and Seahawks and Super Bowl 8, way back 1974, between the Dolphins and Vikings were two Super Bowls that bored fans into hating them as well.
Starting with the Steelers, and Seahawks—the more recent of the two…
This matchup featured a Seahawks team that was one of the best teams in the league all season under Mike Holgrem. The team started the season two and two before rattling off 11 straight regular season wins—and two playoff dubs to get to the Big Game.
Seattle’s running back, Shaun Alexander was a monster all season, going for an insane 1880 yards and 27 touchdowns on the ground.
The Steelers, however, were favored by a little over a field goal despite making it to the Super Bowl as an 11 and five, sixth seed. The public sentiment, on the other hand, favored Seattle… It was the franchise’s first ever Super Bowl appearance—and let’s face it, no one really needed to see the Steelers win another Super Bowl…
Unfortunately, we did not get our wish as Pittsburgh won a snooze fest of a game—largely thanks to a couple of key, controversial calls by head official Bill Leavy. And before anyone starts claiming sour grapes—Leav himself has admitted it!
“It was a tough thing for me,” Levy said. “I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game and as an official you never want to do that. It left me with a lot of sleepless nights and I think about it constantly. I’ll go to my grave wishing that I’d been better.”
Yeah, BILL. So do we! And we wish that game itself was better too!
Super Bowl 8
Super Bowl 8, on the other hand, wasn’t as ripe with controversy, but it was a real stinker of a game.
The only real intrigue was that the Dolphins were looking to repeat as champions, making them just the second team to do so in NFL history to that point—but much of the excitement was zapped in comparison to the previous year’s championship—because that was their legendary 17 and 0, undefeated season.
And while the Dolphins did deliver, they did so in a drag-out fashion—scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter and essentially squeezing the rest of the life out of the Vikings for the remaining 45 minutes of gameplay.
Miami just ran and ran and ran—and the game was never in doubt. The Fins cruised to a 24 to seven victory despite only having thrown the ball seven times, which is INSANE.
Super Bowl 37
Next up, we have Super Bowl 37, between Jon Gruden’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Bill Callahan’s Oakland Raiders — though, there has to be a little bit of an Asterix on “Callahan’s Raiders” because Gruden had coached the Raiders from ’98 until 2001 before the team traded him to Tampa Bay.
In fact, the Raiders were still considered Gruden’s team to the point that people, including players on the team itself, speculated that Callahan might’ve thrown the game for his mentor. The rumors stemmed from his decision to completely flip the gameplan on its head, going from a run-heavy attack to an aerial gameplan just days before the Big Game.
While it may never be proven for sure that Callahan intentionally sabotaged his own team on the world’s biggest stage—he DID play his part in putting together a Super Bowl that EVERYONE hated to watch.
Tampa smoked Oakland—and largely kept their highly-ranked offense at bay—as the Raiders had just nine points until the fourth quarter—before tacking on another 12 once the game was completely out of hand.
Just not a fun game to watch—and not just because characters like Jon Gruden and Warren Sapp ended up taking the glory… Though that definitely didn’t make watching it any more enjoyable for us!
Lastly—we have two back-to-back Super Bowls—between the same two teams
Super Bowl XXVI & Super Bowl XXVIII
Lastly—we have two back-to-back Super Bowls—between the same two teams
In ’93 and ’94, the Cowboys and Bills squared off in two of the WORST Super Bowls that we have ever seen.
If these games sound familiar by the way, it’s because they were the finale of Buffalo’s legendary four Super Bowl losing streak!
As if the losses to the Giants and Redskins the two previous years weren’t devastating enough… Buffalo made the climb all the way back to the Big Game only to get completely dispatched at the hands of Jerry Jones’ Cowboys.
One of the most hate-able men in sports, let alone the NFL!
The outcome of the game wasn’t the only reason we hated watching this Super Bowl, either.
The action on the gridiron left a lot to be desired in its own right… Because these games were never even close!
Dallas blew Buffalo’s doors off both years—52 to 17, then 30 to 13. Not what you want to see as an uninvested fan looking for some competitive action to close out the season.
Which Super Bowl did you hate watching the most? Did we miss any?
