Ten Years of Super Bowl Victories
At precisely 6.30pm EST on Sunday February 12th the 57th playing of the Super Bowl will get under way at the State Garden Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Competing for the coveted Vincent Lombardi trophy this year will be the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The event itself goes back to 1967 when it was a much smaller affair than the sporting and commercial juggernaut that it has become. Its first ever winners were the Green Bay Packers who have gone on to notch up three more victories since then, the most recent being in 1996.
Both of this year’s finalists have had great seasons so far both with win-loss records of 13-2 so there seems to be little to choose between them. Despite this fact the great majority of Super Bowl picks are coming down heavily on the side of the Eagles. It certainly true that in the playoffs their victories have been decisive – 38-7 against the New York Giants and 21-7 against the San Francisco 49ers. The Eagles, on the other hand, only managed to narrowly win against the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals.
As with all Super Bowls of the modern era, almost as much attention will be focused on two other elements – the TV ad breaks and the half-time show.
The former have become famous for providing a battleground for the biggest brands in the US to try to outdo each other. Not only does a single spot cost as much as some companies’ total advertising budgets, the ads tend to be epics as well.
As for the half-time show, Rhianna has chosen this as the platform to relaunch herself after six years out of the limelight. With a projected audience of 100 million in the US alone it presents the perfect opportunity.
So who’s won in the past decade?
Over the last ten years there have been eight different Super Bowl victors. Of these, one team has by far the best record having lifted the trophy no less than three times. Looking back even further, it shows that virtually every team has had a shot at the title with only four never having made it that far – the Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions.
But we’re looking at winners today – and this is the line-up.
New England Patriots 2015, 2017, 2019
It was getting to be quite a habit when the Patriots started to win every other year from 2015 onwards. Their first two victories, against the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons were quite close matches compared with the 13 – 3 victory over the LA Rams in 2019. They also made it to the 2018 final but, as we’ll see, came out second best.
Baltimore Ravens 2013
In one of the closest finals in the last decade, the Ravens overcame a very strong San Francisco 49ers to win 34-31. The game was also notable for a power outage that halted proceedings for 22 minutes.
Seattle Seahawks 2014
It was quite a walkover when the Seahawks met the Denver Broncos at New Jersey’s Met Life Stadium in 2014. The final scoreline was 43-8 and, as you can tell, the Broncos were hardly in the game.
Denver Broncos 2016
But it was just a couple of years until they were able to redeem themselves, and their reputation when they sent the Carolina Panthers home empty-handed.
Philadelphia Eagles 2018
One of this year’s finalists tasted sweet victory against the highly-fancied New England Patriots who had been hoping to become the only franchise to have won three back to back victories.
Kansas City Chiefs 2020
This year’s other finalist frustrated the San Francisco 49ers in just the same way that the Ravens had done back in 2013. To make matters even worse, they scored 20 points in the 4th quarter to help them snatch an unlikely victory.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2021
However, such is the way of sport that the following year the Chiefs were on the receiving end of a sound beating by the Buccaneers. The final scoreline was 31-9, but the consensus is that it could have been much higher.
LA Rams 2022
Last, but by no means least, the LA Rams enjoyed a famous, and narrow, victory last year beating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20, having been 16-20 down at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Not only was the result a great one for the Rams, it was also very good news for the team’s sponsors who include Pacsun, a local community support organisation as well as others including the La Brea Bakery and even Avocados From Peru.
No doubt the sponsors of this year’s finalists will also be hoping for maximum exposure for their brands – but not as much as the teams themselves will be hoping for a win!.
