Among many terrific defenses, one stands out as best.
Which was the greatest Super Bowl performance by a defensive unit? Ask NFL football fans that question, and you will get many responses. For those that would say the New York Giants against the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl 25 … does allowing the Bills to drive into field goal range for a game-winning field goal attempt that did not miss by much eliminate the Giants defense from consideration? Some may say the ’85 Bears against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 20. Yes, the Bears defense dominated the Patriots, but did a Tony Eason-quarterbacked offense strike fear and give nightmares to any defensive coordinator? How good was that Patriot offense?
I will compare the most talked about greatest defensive performances in Super Bowl history and the quality of offenses they faced. Let’s look at the ones that merit consideration sequentially.
Super Bowl III: New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7. The heavily favored Colts were the second highest-scoring team in their league, averaging 28.7 points per game. Five turnovers did the Colts in despite gaining 324 total yards and 18 first downs. It was an impressive performance by the Jets’ defense, as five members of the Colts offense were named to the Pro Bowl: TE John Mackey, RB Tom Matte, QB Earl Morrall, FL Willie Richardson, and LT Bob Vogel.
Super Bowl IV: Kansas City Chiefs 23, Minnesota Vikings 7. The Vikings led their league in scoring 27.1 points per game during the regular season yet managed only seven points and 13 first downs against the Chiefs. Kansas City forced five turnovers, and Minnesota was held to 239 yards of offense. The Vikings offense had four Pro Bowlers in 1969: LT Grady Alderman, QB Joe Kapp, C Mick Tinglehoff, and WR Gene Washington.
Super Bowl VI: Dallas Cowboys 24, Miami Dolphins 3. The Cowboys’ Doomsday Defense surrendered only a field goal to the Dolphins, and yielded only 10 first downs, and forced three Miami turnovers. Miami came into the game with the fourth-highest-scoring offense in the NFL with a 22.5 points per game average but could only manage a field goal and 185 total yards of offense. The Cowboys held Miami’s vaunted running attack, led by Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, to just 80 yards rushing. RB Larry Csonka, QB Bob Griese, G Larry Little, and WR Paul Warfield all were Pro Bowlers for the Dolphins in 1971, and Miami could get no further than the Cowboys’ 16-yard line.
Super Bowl VII: Miami Dolphins 14, Washington Redskins 7. Even though the Redskins had more first downs than the Dolphins (16-12), they suffered three turnovers at the hands of Miami’s No Name Defense and were limited to 228 yards of total offense. The Redskins offense, which was seventh best in scoring in the NFL, averaging 24.0 points per game, was shut out by Miami’s defense. In 1972, RB Larry Brown, C Len Hauss, QB Billy Kilmer and WR Charley
Taylor all were named to the NFC Pro Bowl for the Redskins, and the closest they got to scoring a touchdown was the Dolphins 10-yard line.
Super Bowl IX: Pittsburgh Steelers 16, Minnesota Vikings 6. The Steel Curtain defense reigned supreme in this one, shutting out the Fran Tarkenton-led Vikings’ offense as the Vikings’ only points came off a blocked punt that was recovered in the Steelers’ endzone. The Steelers’ defense forced five Viking turnovers. It held the Vikings to a still Super Bowl record 119 yards of total offense and a record-low nine first downs despite losing two-thirds of their starting linebackers, Andy Russell and Jack Lambert, to injuries during the game. The Vikings reached the Steelers’ five-yard line after a 42-yard pass interference penalty, and then, on the next play, the Steelers forced a fumble and recovered the football. Minnesota was the fifth-highest-scoring team in the NFL, averaging 22.1 points per game as RB Chuck Foreman, WR John Gilliam, QB Fran Tarkenton and T Ron Yary all were named to the NFC Pro Bowl.
Super Bowl XII: Dallas Cowboys 27, Denver Broncos 10. Dallas’ Doomsday Defense II ruled the day, holding the Broncos to 11 first downs, 156 yards of total offense, and forcing eight turnovers. But to be honest, the Broncos offense was not anything special. The Broncos averaged only 19.6 points per game in 1977, which was 10th best in the NFL, and they did not have one player on offense named to the AFC Pro Bowl squad.
Super Bowl XVIII: Los Angeles Raiders 38, Washington Redskins 9. The Raiders held the league’s highest-scoring team well below their 33.8 points per game average and limited the Redskins to 283 total yards and just one touchdown and a field goal. The Raiders defense scored as many touchdowns as did the Redskins offense. The Redskins managed 19 first downs and had three turnovers. C Jeff Bostic, WR Charlie Brown, G Russ Grimm, T Joe Jacoby, RB John
Riggins and QB Joe Theismann were all chosen for the NFC Pro Bowl in 1983.
Super Bowl XX: Chicago Bears 46, New England Patriots 10. With one of the greatest defenses in pro football history, the Bears demolished the Patriots 46-10. The “46 defense” held the Patriots to 12 first downs and just 123 total yards, forced six turnovers, and scored as many touchdowns as the Patriots offense. WR Irving Fryar, G John Hannah, T Brian Holloway, and RB Craig James were named to the Pro Bowl for the Patriots, and despite having two
Pro Bowl offensive linemen, the Patriots could only manage seven rushing yards on 11 attempts. However, the Patriots offense was hardly the Greatest Show on Turf. Their offense was 10th in the NFL in 1985, with an average of 22.6 points per game. One has to keep that in perspective, as it’s not like the ’85 Bears faced Dan Marino in the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XXIV: San Francisco 55, Denver Broncos 10. Everyone remembers the 49ers great offense, but their defense was also very good. The 49ers held the Broncos to only 12 first downs and just 167 yards of total offense and forced four turnovers. Denver’s offense in 1989 was eighth in the NFL in scoring, averaging 22.6 points per game, and quarterback John Elway was the only Bronco to be named to the AFC Pro Bowl squad.
Super Bowl XXV: New York Giants 20, Buffalo Bills 19. The 1990 Buffalo Bills were the highest-scoring team in the NFL, averaging 26.8 points per
game. C Kent Hull, QB Jim Kelly, WR Andre Reed, RB Thurman Thomas, and LT Will Wolford all were named to the Pro Bowl for the Bills, and
despite the Giants keeping the Bills’ offense below their scoring average, the Bills still racked up 371 yards of total offense. The Giants’ defense allowed the Bills to get into field-goal range on the game’s final drive for a game-winning field-goal attempt. The Giant’s time-consuming running attack, led by O.J. Anderson, did a great job in limiting the Bills’ offensive possessions by possessing the football for 40:33 of the game clock to the Bills 19:27.
Super Bowl XXXV: Baltimore Ravens 34, New York Giants 7. The Ravens’ defense kept the Giants’ offense off the scoreboard as the Giants’ only
points were from a 97-yard kickoff return by Ron Dixon. The defense outscored the Giants’ offense when Duane Starks had a 49-yard interception return for a touchdown. The Giants’ offense managed only 152 total yards and 11 first downs, and the Ravens defense forced five turnovers. The Giants’ deepest penetration into the Ravens’ territory was Baltimore’s 29-yard line. No one can say however, that the Ravens faced a great offense against the Giants. The Giants averaged only 20.5 points per game, which was 15th in the NFL in 2000, and only G Ron Stone was named to the Pro Bowl for the Giants.
Super Bowl XXXVI: New England Patriots 20, St. Louis Rams 17. The Rams were the highest-scoring team in the NFL in 2001, averaging 31.4 points per game. They had 26 first downs but also three turnovers against the Patriots. WR Isaac Bruce, RB Marshall Faulk, WR Tory Holt, T Orlando Pace, G
Adam Timmerman, and QB Kurt Warner were all named to the NFC Pro Bowl in 2001. The St. Louis Rams offense was known as the Greatest Show on Turf,
and the Patriots managed to keep the high-scoring Rams to under 20 points. Still, no team’s defense was ever considered dominant that surrendered 427 yards of total offense to an opponent, and that happened to be 160 yards more than what New England had in total offense.
Super Bowl XXXVII: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48, Oakland Raiders 21. Tampa Bay held Oakland to 269 total yards on offense and only 11 first
downs and forced five turnovers against a Raiders team that was second in the NFL in scoring with a 28.1 points per game average, but the Buccaneers defense did give up 21 points. However, the Buccaneers defense scored 21 points on three interception returns. The Raiders had four offensive players named to the Pro Bowl: C Barret Robbins, who did not play in the Super Bowl, QB Rich Gannon, RT Lincoln Kennedy, and WR Jerry Rice.
Super Bowl XLII: New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14. The 18-0 New England Patriots had the league’s highest-scoring offense, averaging 36.8 points per game in 2007, and were looking to make history. The Giants’ defense had other plans. It held the Patriots to 22 first downs and 274 total yards and forced a turnover. QB Tom Brady, C Dan Koppen, G Logan Mankins, WR Randy Moss, and T Matt Light were all named to the Pro Bowl for the Patriots in 2007.
Super Bowl XLVIII: Seattle Seahawks, 43 Denver Broncos 8. The Legion of Boom defense kept the Broncos league-leading scoring offense well
under their season average of 37.9 points per game. Seattle limited Denver to 18 first downs, 306 total yards, and just one touchdown while forcing four turnovers. Seattle’s defense had an interception return for a touchdown and registered a safety against the Broncos. QB Peyton Manning, WR Demaryius Thomas, TE Julius Thomas, and RG Louis Vasquez from Denver were all Pro Bowlers in 2013.
Super Bowl L: Denver Broncos 24, Carolina Panthers 10. The Panthers came into the game with the league’s highest-scoring offense, averaging
31.3 points per game. The Broncos’ defense kept the Panthers’ offense in check, holding them to 21 first downs and 315 total yards of offense. They also forced four turnovers and had as many touchdowns (one) as the Carolina Panthers’ offense. Conversely, the Panthers’ defense allowed only 11 Denver first downs and 194 yards of total offense. C Ryan Kalil, QB Cam Newton, TE Greg Olsen, RB Jonathan Stewart, and G Trai Turner were all named to the NFC Pro Bowl for the Panthers in 2015.
Super Bowl LIII: New England Patriots 13, Los Angeles Rams 3. The Rams had the second-highest-scoring offense in the league in 2018, averaging 32.9 points per game. Surprisingly, the Rams only had two offensive players named to the Pro Bowl: QB Jared Goff and RB Todd Gurley. The Patriots defense limited them to just one field goal, 260 total yards of offense, 14 first downs and forced a turnover. The deepest the Rams got into New England territory was the Patriots’ 26-yard line.
Super Bowl LV: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, Kansas City Chiefs 9. Tampa Bay limited the Chiefs to three field goals and forced two turnovers. The Chiefs managed 22 first downs and racked up 350 yards of total offense, 10 yards more than Tampa Bay’s offense. The Chiefs averaged 29.6 points per game during the regular season, which was sixth in the NFL in 2020. LT Eric Fisher, RB Tyreek Hill, TE Travis Kelce, and QB Patrick Mahomes were all named to the AFC Pro Bowl squad for the Chiefs.
The Greatest Super Bowl Defense
If you’re going to select the most dominant performance by a defense in a Super Bowl, there are specific criteria that narrow down the selection process.
–The Super Bowl-winning team should have more yards on offense than the losing team. That eliminates New England vs. St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI, Denver vs. Carolina in Super Bowl L, and Tampa Bay vs Kansas City in Super Bowl LV.
–You must hold your opponent to less than 20 points. Giving up more than 20 points automatically takes a defense out of this discussion. If you surrender more than 20 points, that is hardly a dominant performance, especially considering that other defenses have shut out their Super Bowl opponent’s offense. That eliminates the Tampa Bay vs Oakland in Super Bowl XXXVII, even though their defense had three touchdown interception returns.
–You must hold your opponent to under 350 total yards. If you give up more than 350 yards of offense, your defense is certainly not dominant. That eliminated the New York Giants vs. Buffalo in Super Bowl XXV. The Bills had 371 yards of total offense. With so many outstanding defensive performances to choose from, the criteria need to be more stringent.
–You must keep your opponent’s offense from reaching the end zone twice. That eliminates the New York Giants against New England in Super Bowl XLII.
–The defense does not allow an offensive touchdown, which is not easy. That eliminates the New York Jets vs. Baltimore in Super Bowl III, Kansas City vs. Minnesota in Super Bowl IV, Dallas vs. Denver in Super Bowl XII, the L.A. Raiders vs. Washington in Super Bowl XVIII, Chicago vs. New England in Super Bowl XX, San Francisco vs. Denver in Super Bowl XXIV, and Seattle vs. Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII.
–The defense does not allow a field goal and shuts out the opposing offense, eliminating Dallas vs. Miami in Super Bowl VI and New England vs. the L.A. Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
–The defense outscores the opposing team’s offense. That eliminates Miami vs. Washington in Super Bowl VII.
This leaves just Pittsburgh vs. Minnesota in Super Bowl IX and Baltimore vs. the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, so which team faced a better offense? The Vikings’ offense had more Pro Bowlers (four) than the Giants had only one, and the Vikings’ offense averaged more points per game than the Giants’ offense. Minnesota was the fifth-highest-scoring team in 1974, and the Giants were 15th in 2001. In the first half of Super Bowl XXXV, the Giants had 116 yards of offense, three yards less than the Vikings’ total in the entire game of Super Bowl IX.
Conclusion: Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense in Super Bowl IX is the greatest performance by a defense in a Super Bowl.
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John Baranowski is a sports historian and contributor to newspapers, sports publications, and sports websites. This and other articles written by him can
be found on his blog: https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/
