Caleb Wilfinger
The Super Bowl has routinely produced tons of drama and historic moments over the course of the last 6 decades. This season, football’s biggest game takes place on February 9, 2025 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, and it’s entirely possible that we could see a scenario where the victor has to win after trailing for most of the game, much like we saw with the Kansas City Chiefs over each of their last two Super Bowls. But what was the biggest comeback ever in a Super Bowl? Let’s take a look at the most historic Super Bowl comebacks of all time, while you can find out our Super Bowl picks for this year’s matchup.
5. Super Bowl 22: Washington over Denver Broncos (10 points)
The oldest entry on this list comes from January 31, 1988, when the John Elway-led Broncos surrendered 42 unanswered points after racing out to an early 10-0 lead over Washington in the opening quarter. The game completely flipped in the second quarter, when Elway threw multiple interceptions, which lead to Washington touchdowns. From there, Washington wouldn’t look back, tallying 35 points by halftime behind quarterback Doug Williams and securing a stranglehold on the game. By the time the game ended, Williams had thrown for 340 yards and 4 touchdowns, and his teams’ 32-point margin of victory is still the 4th most in Super Bowl history to date.
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4. Super Bowl 44: New Orleans Saints over Indianapolis Colts (10 points)
We are 15 years from Super Bowl 44, but the New Orleans’ only championship also featured one of the larger comebacks in Super Bowl history. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts jumped out to an early 10–0 lead in a rain-soaked Miami Dolphins Stadium, but Drew Brees and the upstart Saints were not deterred, scoring 13 unanswered points to eventually take the lead in the 3rd quarter. And even though the Colts would retake the lead, on the next possession, Brees and the Saints ultimately pulled ahead for good in the 4th quarter en route to a very emotional championship nearly 4 years following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. The game was sealed by an interception returned for a touchdown by Tracy Porter, creating one of the more memorable moments in recent Super Bowl history.
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3. Super Bowl 54: Kansas City Chiefs over San Francisco 49ers (10 points)
While Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs had already announced themselves to the world the season prior with a 12-4 record and a narrow loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game, the following season was when Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and company started out on their legendary path. Having already rallied from a 24-point deficit against Houston in the Divisional round a few weeks prior, the Chiefs came back from a 10-point second half deficit against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 54 to win their first Super Bowl in the Mahomes/Reid era. This ended up being the first of two Super Bowls that Kansas City captured over San Francisco over the past 5 years, with Mahomes and company prevailing over the 49ers in overtime to win Super Bowl 58 last February.
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2. Super Bowl 49: New England Patriots over Seattle Seahawks (10 points)
One of the best games of the last decade came on February 1, 2015, when Tom Brady and the New England Patriots knocked off Seattle in thrilling fashion to win Super Bowl 49. The game is most widely recognized for its end-of-game sequence, in which Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw an interception at the goal line instead of handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch for what would likely have been the game-winning touchdown with less than 20 seconds remaining. However, what most fans don’t remember is New England was originally down by 10 points early in the 4th quarter, and needed to string together back-to-back touchdown drives to take the lead back from Seattle; it would never be relinquished.
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1. Super Bowl 51: New England Patriots over Atlanta Falcons (25 points)
Arguably the most famous comeback in the Super Bowl history came in Super Bowl 51 when the New England Patriots rallied from a 28-3 deficit to knock off the Atlanta Falcons, cementing this game in American sports lore forever in the process. This game marked the fifth Super Bowl victory for Tom Brady, which passed Joe Montana and put the longtime Patriots quarterback in a league of his own when it comes to playoff success. Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons at the time, and he has since gone on to lose 2 other Super Bowls as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, both coming against Patrick Mahomes.
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