Deadspin Ranks All SuperBowls According To "Watchability"

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What Was The Best Super Bowl Ever? Ranking All 47 Games According To Watchability

Reuben Fischer-Baum
http://deadspin.com/5981692/what-was...ium=socialflow


To figure this out, we used an updated version of our watchability rankings, which measured games on quality of play (for viewers) regardless of the narratives coming into the contest. Each game was scored on a 0-100 scale. Here's the new methodology:

• Upset (15 points): Determined by the difference between the final score and the betting line, with a bonus given to true upsets. Super Bowl III, in which Joe Namath led the Jets to a 16-7 win over the Colts despite being 18-point underdogs, gets a perfect 15.
• Shootout (25 points): Based on the total points scored, because people like offense. The otherwise terrible Super Bowl XXIX, with 75 points scored in total, gets a perfect 25.
• Closeness (50 points): Clearly the most important category. Determined by the worst fourth-quarter point differential faced by the game's eventual winner. Two teams have come back from seven-point deficits in the final quarter to take the title (Baltimore in Super Bowl V, 49ers in Super Bowl XXIII). These games get perfect 50s.
• The Wire (10 point): To further reward closeness, 10 points are awarded for the four Super Bowls (1991, 2000, 2002, and 2004) that came down to the game's final, non-Hail Mary/kickoff return play. Games in which the lead changed on the final major drive got a five, and games that were close toward the very end but fizzled out in the last few minutes got a 1. The distribution of 1's is, admittedly, a little subjective.

Based on this methodology, here are the top 12 Super Bowls of all time:





The chart above raises another question: Are we living in the golden age of the Super Bowl? Below is a graph of the five-year average for Super Bowl watchability, the combined quality of the game for each year, the two years prior, and the two years post:





Sure enough, after a rough period from 1993 to 1997, the Super Bowl has gotten more and more watchable (per our metric). However, since our rankings place Super Bowl XLII (2008) just ahead of this year's game, by our measurement the very best five-year stretch of Super Bowls was 2008-2012. The worst period was 1984-1988, when the Raiders, 49ers, Bears, Giants, and Redskins won in five consecutive blowouts.

You can check out detailed results here. Full rankings below:

Rank	Bowl	Year	Winner	Loser	Upset	Score	Close	Wire		Total
1	XXXVIII	2004	New England 32	Carolina 29	7	19	40	10		76
2	XXV	1991	N.Y. Giants 20	Buffalo 19	10	8	42	10		70
3	XXXVI	2002	New England 20	St. Louis 17	13	7	39	10		69
4	XLIII	2009	Pittsburgh 27	Arizona 23	7	13	44	5		69
5	XXIII	1989	San Francisco 20	Cincinnati 16	7	7	50	5		69
6	XXXII	1998	Denver 31	Green Bay 24	12	16	39	1		67
7	XLII	2008	N.Y. Giants 17	New England 14	12	5	45	5		67
8	XLVII	2013	Baltimore 34	San Francisco 31	8	20	35	1		65
9	XVII	1983	Washington 27	Miami 17	8	11	45	0		63
10	XXXIV	2000	St. Louis 23	Tennessee 16	6	8	39	10		63
11	XLVI	2012	N.Y. Giants 21	New England 17	7	8	42	5		62
12	XLIV	2010	New Orleans 31	Indianapolis 17	9	13	40	0		61
13	XIV	1980	Pittsburgh 31	L.A. Rams 19	6	13	42	0		61
14	V	1971	Baltimore 16	Dallas 13	6	4	50	1		61
15	X	1976	Pittsburgh 21	Dallas 17	7	8	44	1		59
16	XIII	1979	Pittsburgh 35	Dallas 31	6	21	32	0		59
17	XXXIX	2005	New England 24	Philadelphia 21	7	11	39	0		57
18	XLV	2011	Green Bay 31	Pittsburgh 25	5	16	34	1		56
19	XXX	1996	Dallas 27	Pittsburgh 17	7	11	34	0		52
20	XXXVII	2003	Tampa Bay 48	Oakland 21	8	22	18	0		48
21	XVI	1982	San Francisco 26	Cincinnati 21	5	12	31	0		48
22	XLI	2007	Indianapolis 29	Chicago 17	5	12	31	0		47
23	XXVIII	1994	Dallas 30	Buffalo 13	5	10	27	0		42
24	XL	2006	Pittsburgh 21	Seattle 10	4	5	32	0		41
25	XXVI	1992	Washington 37	Buffalo 24	5	19	18	0		41
26	XXXIII	1999	Denver 34	Atlanta 19	4	15	21	0		40
27	IX	1975	Pittsburgh 16	Minnesota 6	4	0	34	0		39
28	XXXI	1997	Green Bay 35	New England 21	6	16	16	0		38
29	XXVII	1993	Dallas 52	Buffalo 17	0	22	16	0		38
30	XXI	1987	N.Y. Giants 39	Denver 20	4	18	13	0		34
31	III	1969	N.Y. Jets 16	Baltimore 7	15	1	18	0		34
32	XI	1977	Oakland 32	Minnesota 14	3	12	19	0		34
33	XII	1978	Dallas 27	Denver 10	3	7	23	0		33
34	VII	1973	Miami 14	Washington 7	5	0	27	1		33
35	XXIX	1995	San Francisco 49	San Diego 26	5	25	2	0		32
36	XV	1981	Oakland 27	Philadelphia 10	8	7	16	0		31
37	IV	1970	Kansas City 23	Minnesota 7	12	4	13	0		29
38	XVIII	1984	L.A. Raiders 38	Washington 9	8	12	8	0		28
39	II	1968	Green Bay 33	Oakland 14	5	12	8	0		25
40	I	1967	Green Bay 35	Kansas City 10	3	11	10	0		24
41	XXII	1988	Washington 42	Denver 10	8	14	0	0		22
42	VI	1972	Dallas 24	Miami 3	2	3	16	0		21
43	XXXV	2001	Baltimore 34	N.Y. Giants 7	0	9	11	0		21
44	XXIV	1990	San Francisco 55	Denver 10	0	20	0	0		20
45	XIX	1985	San Francisco 38	Miami 16	2	15	3	0		20
46	VIII	1974	Miami 24	Minnesota 7	4	5	11	0		19
47	XX	1986	Chicago 46	New England 10	0	16	0	0		16

[chefsos]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Don't get why 1983 wash/Miami is rated so high? Doesn't seem like anything special and you don't hear it talked about much?
Posted via Mobile Device

I only remember one play from that one, and it's Riggins busting a 40 some-odd yard TD run on 4th down. I guess it was late in the game.

[chefsos]

If you vaporized the '70s Vikings, '80s Broncos, and '90s Bills (which is not a bad idea come to think of it) there would have been a few more watchable SBs.

[Bump]

Originally Posted by gochiefss

that rams-titans game was pretty awesome.

ya it was. "The Tackle"

that was badass.

[Nzoner]

Originally Posted by chefsos

I only remember one play from that one, and it's Riggins busting a 40 some-odd yard TD run on 4th down. I guess it was late in the game.

Yep that was ****ing great,4th and 1 ball on the 42 and Riggo runs into history.

Can't embed but you can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tleC3OYByXs