The Kansas City Chiefs are chasing Super Bowl history by attempting to win an unprecedented three-peat.
Standing in their way are the Philadelphia Eagles, who boast one of the most talented rosters in recent memory. Super Bowl LIX is not only a rematch of Super Bowl LVII but a heavyweight matchup fitting of the biggest game in sports.
With that in mind, we look back at the history of the Super Bowl by reliving some of the most anticipated matchups and the build-up to those big games. A few of those, interestingly, did not live up to the hype.
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Here's hoping Sunday between the Chiefs and the Eagles will be a classic. For now, here's a list of the most hyped Super Bowls in NFL history.
10. Super Bowl I: Green Bay Packers 35, Kansas City Chiefs 10
Played among the Hollywood glitz at the Los Angeles Coliseum, head coach Vince Lombardi and the Packers secured a convincing victory over the Chiefs in the first matchup between the NFL and AFL champions. League MVP Bart Starr won MVP honors in the title game, throwing for 250 yards and two touchdowns.
The matchup provided an opportunity for the upstart AFL to prove it could go toe-to-toe with the more established NFL. And the Chiefs accomplished that by hanging around early, trailing just 14-10 at halftime before the more experienced Packers took over in the second half.
Bart Starr won the first ever Super Bowl MVP award when he led the Packers to victory in Super Bowl I. (Photo by Vic Stein/Getty Images)
The game was also the last time a pro football contest was played with an H-shaped, double-supported goal post, with the single support goal post becoming standard for the NFL the following year.
9. Super Bowl XIX: San Francisco 49ers 38, Miami Dolphins 16
Decades before Tom Brady ascended to GOAT status, there was a years-long debate about who was the best QB of all time. Joe Montana and Dan Marino both had their supporters. While Montana had already won one Super Bowl heading into this showdown, Marino had just completed arguably the greatest season by a QB in league history. His 48 touchdown passes and 5,084 passing yards were both NFL records.
Both teams won at least 14 games in the regular season, with the Dolphins leading the league in scoring and the Niners ranking second in scoring defense behind four Pro Bowl defensive backs.
Both Montana and Marino threw for over 300 yards — a first for both starting QBs in Super Bowl history — but the game wasn't particularly after the first quarter. Montana, of course, went on to win two more titles, while Marino never made it back to the Super Bowl during his 17-year Hall of Fame career.
8. Super Bowl XVIII: Los Angeles Raiders 38, Washington 9
Washington was the defending champion, won a league-high 14 games and broke the NFL record for points in 1983. John Riggins' 24 rushing touchdowns were also a record. Yet the Raiders dominated.
Marcus Allen ran for 191 rushing yards and two scores against the league's top rushing defense, and the Raiders won by what was then the largest margin in Super Bowl history.
The highlight of that game was Allen's iconic, 74-yard run on a sweep to the right side of the formation, where the USC product reversed field and outran the Washington defense to the end zone. Allen is one of four Heisman Trophy winners to also win Super Bowl MVP.
7. Super Bowl XLIV: New Orleans Saints 31, Indianapolis Colts 17
The stage was set by an all-time QB matchup between future Hall of Famers in their primes. Both teams were also No. 1 seeds, marking the first time that had happened in 16 seasons.
It was the first Super Bowl appearance for the Saints, who had garnered widespread support in the wake of Hurricane Katrina just a few years earlier. While Drew Brees was guiding the league's top scoring offense, Peyton Manning and the Colts were making a run at a perfect season, winning their first 14 games of the 2009 campaign.
They were leading in the Super Bowl until Saints punter and kickoff specialist Thomas Morstead perfectly executed an onside kick to open the second half. New Orleans scored six plays later, and then sealed the win late in the fourth when Tracy Porter intercepted Manning and returned it 74 yards for the score.
Drew Brees and Sean Payton led the Saints to their first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XLIV. (Photo by Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
6. Super Bowl XLVII: Baltimore Ravens 34, San Francisco 49ers 31
Maybe no game had more nicknames leading up to it, including "Harbaugh Bowl," "Har-Bowl," "Super Baugh," "Bro Bowl," "Super Bro." It was the first and still only Super Bowl matchup between head coaching brothers, the Ravens' John Harbaugh and the 49ers' Jim Harbaugh.
Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis had announced during the playoffs that he would be retiring at the end of the 2012 season. This game would also be the last of Randy Moss' decorated career. Beyoncé was the halftime performer.
San Francisco reached its first Super Bowl in nearly two decades after switching quarterbacks midseason from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick, who instantly emerged as one of the most dynamic players in the league. The Ravens, meanwhile, saw quarterback Joe Flacco (and eventual Super Bowl MVP) string together some of the best games of his career in their title run.
Baltimore took a 22-point lead after Jacoby Jones returned the second-half kickoff 108 yards, the longest kick return in Super Bowl history. Soon after, the game was suspended for 34 minutes due to a partial blackout at the Superdome. The 49ers would rally behind Kaepernick, who threw for 302 yards and a touchdown and ran for 62 with a score. But his three pass attempts at the Ravens' 5-yard line in the final minutes all fell incomplete.
5. Super Bowl XLVIII: Seattle Seahawks 43, Denver Broncos 8
The Broncos became the first NFL team to score 600 points in the regular season, while Peyton Manning set single-season records for passing touchdowns (55) and passing yards (5,477). Conversely, the "Legion of Boom" Seahawks allowed the fewest points in the league and were in the midst of a historic stretch on defense.
Something had to give, and it gave on the first play from scrimmage. A bad snap went over Manning's head and resulted in a safety. Seattle would score a touchdown soon after and scored the game's first 36 points. That included a pick-six from part-time starter Malcolm Smith, who also recovered a fumble and recorded nine tackles while earning MVP honors.
The Seahawks forced four turnovers overall, as Pete Carroll joined Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer as the only coaches to win both a Super Bowl and an NCAA national championship.
4. Super Bowl XIII: Pittsburgh Steelers 35, Dallas Cowboys 31
This was a much-anticipated rematch between the two most successful NFL franchises in the first decade-plus of the Super Bowl era. The two rosters featured a combined 26 Hall of Famers (15 for Pittsburgh and 11 for the Cowboys). Dallas was the defending champion and became the first NFL team to appear in five Super Bowls. Pittsburgh, which won the first title showdown between the two teams three years earlier, boasted the league's best defense.
And, like most times when these two teams met, the game was a slugfest. League MVP Terry Bradshaw earned Super Bowl MVP honors by throwing for 318 passing yards and four scores. The Steelers were also helped by some fortunate plays at the Cowboys' expense, including a dropped touchdown pass by tight end Jackie Smith.
Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers outlasted the Cowboys in a star-studded affair in Super Bowl XIII. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
With the loss, the Cowboys were the first defending Super Bowl champ to lose a Super Bowl and the first losing team to score at least 30 points.
3. Super Bowl XXXII: Denver Broncos 31, Green Bay Packers 24
The quarterbacks and the coaches were again the headliners here. The Packers' Mike Holmgren and the Broncos' Mike Shanahan were both Bill Walsh disciples, while John Elway and Brett Favre were future first-ballot Hall of Famers. The younger Favre had just won his third consecutive league MVP award and had led Green Bay to a championship the year prior. Elway, meanwhile, had already lost three Super Bowls and was still searching for his first title in the twilight of his career.
The Packers entered the game as heavy favorites, but the game couldn't have been closer. Terrell Davis ran for 157 yards and two touchdowns to earn MVP honors in his hometown of San Diego — he remains the last running back to win Super Bowl MVP. His 2,331 rushing yards that season (including the postseason) set an NFL record, which he broke the following year (2,476) and is now being threatened by Saquon Barkley.
While the game would end up being the last title appearance for Favre, it was the first of consecutive Super Bowl titles for Elway and the Broncos.
2. Super Bowl XXVII: Dallas Cowboys 52, Buffalo Bills 17
Known as "The Triplets," Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith led the rebirth of "America's Team." The Cowboys had gone 14 years between Super Bowl appearances.
The Bills, meanwhile, had just lost the previous two Super Bowls. They also mounted the greatest comeback in postseason history a few weeks prior, rallying from a 35-3 deficit to beat the Oilers.
There was no coming back against the Cowboys, however. Aikman earned MVP honors by throwing for 273 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair to Irvin. Smith became the first season rushing leader to win the Super Bowl in the same season. Dallas had a chance to record the game's greatest margin of victory, only to see Don Beebe strip Leon Lett just before the goal line on a fumble return in the fourth quarter.
Michael Jackson performed at halftime, starting the trend of celebrity musicians performing at the big game.
Michael Jackson's halftime performance at Super Bowl XXVII is widely considered as one of the best ever, (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
1. Super Bowl LV: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, Kansas City Chiefs 9
The time will soon come, if it hasn't already, when Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes will be considered the two greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. We knew it was a possibility when they squared off in the Super Bowl in 2021.
Mahomes was already an MVP and had led the Chiefs to a Super Bowl title the year prior. Brady was a six-time winner and three-time league MVP. And after 20 years with the Patriots, the 43-year-old QB led the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl in his first year in Tampa.
The game was also played in Tampa, as the Bucs became the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium. Alas, it wasn't especially competitive. Brady threw for three touchdowns, while Tampa's defense overwhelmed Kansas City despite a few otherwordly plays from Mahomes.
It would be Brady's final Super Bowl appearance, and he won his fifth MVP in the big game while finishing with a 7-3 mark. It all left a monumental challenge for Mahomes to pursue.
Honorable mentions
Super Bowl III: New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7
Quarterback Joe Namath guarantees victory and comes through for the Jets.
Super Bowl XXV: New York Giants 20, Buffalo Bills 19
Scott Norwood pushes his 47-yard field goal wide right and the Bills suffer another heartbreaking loss in the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XXXVII: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48, Oakland Raiders 21
Led by four Hall of Famers, Tampa Bay's defense shuts down the No. 1 offense directed by league MVP Rich Gannon.
Super Bowl XLII: New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14
In a modern-day matchup of David vs. Goliath, Eli Manning and the Giants spoil New England's attempt to become the second team in NFL history to go undefeated and win the Super Bowl with an improbable, late-game winning drive.
Super Bowl XLIX: New England Patriots 28, Seattle Seahawks 24
Brady, Bill Belichick and the Pats deny the Seahawks' repeat bid by rallying from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter. New England seals the win, its first in the Super Bowl in 10 years, on Malcolm Butler's last-minute interception of Russell Wilson in the end zone.
Super Bowl LIV: Kansas City Chiefs 31, San Francisco 49ers 20
The Chiefs score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter in the comeback victory, Kansas City's first win in the NFL title game since Super Bowl IV. Andy Reid also earns his first Super Bowl victory as a head coach.
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