Tuesday , 4 a.m.
As theater went, it was terrific.
A comeback. A dynamite finish. An injury. A hero. A controversial call at the end. Music. Confetti. Commercials. Celebration.
So what else do you want in a Super Bowl?
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If you are of a certain age, you probably remember when Super Bowls were terrible. New England would beat someone. Buffalo would lose to someone. Often, the game would be over by the time the coin flip was over.
Granted, we've seen some stinkers in the Super Bowl. We've seen some players fall apart right in front of us.
Then there was another one like Sunday night, when the Kansas City Chiefs beat Philadelphia, 38-35. As scripts go, it was a hit.
But was it top 10?
One man's Top 10 Super Bowls:
10. Philadelphia 41, New England 38: The Eagles beat Tom Brady, which is always good in the Super Bowl. But they did it with backup quarterback Nick Foles and the "Philly Special" play.
9. Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31: Terry Bradshaw and his wonderful receivers put on a show as the Steelers won their third Super Bowl.
8. New England 28, Seattle 24: The eternal question of "why didn't he run?" still looms over Pete Carroll. Ready to put the game away, Seattle chose to pass instead of hand it to Marshawn Lynch, and Malcolm Butler intercepted.
7. St. Louis Rams 23, Tennessee 16: Mike Jones earned a place in NFL history with a game-saving tackle on Kevin Dyson just short of the goal.
6. New York Giants 17, New England 14: A terrific play by Eli Manning, coupled with a helmet catch by David Tyree, highlighted a game that kept the Patriots from finishing up an 18-0 season.
5. Kansas City 38, Philadelphia 35: Patrick Mahomes led a comeback, and despite a bad ankle, had a 26-yard run to set up the winning field goal at the end. A game for the ages.
4. New England 34, Atlanta 28: Tom Brady led the comeback for the ages. Atlanta led 28-3, but Brady came back to force overtime and then win.
3. Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23: This game had not one but two comebacks, the one by the Cardinals to take the lead and the one by the Steelers to take it back.
2. New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19. The Giants somehow found a way to stop Buffalo's high-powered offense, and Scott Norwood missed a last-second field goal. Why the Bills didn't run Thurman Thomas more is an unanswered question.
- San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16: There are other arguments elsewhere, but Joe Montana against a dying clock has always been my favorite. Despite the Bengals lead, there was an inevitability to the result. How do you beat that drama?