Fox Sports just released rankings of every Super Bowl ever played. The factors they used to come to their conclusions were: Competitiveness of the game, overall quality of play and historical significance.
While I was a little surprised at how highly ranked Super Bowls XXI, XXII and XXIV, the Super Bowl that I think Fox Sports missed the mark on entirely was Super Bowl XII. Fox Sports gave it the lowest grade in terms of historical significance and I take issue with that. It was the Denver Broncos first Super Bowl ever. Denver's mere appearance fractured the otherwise dominant regimes of the Raiders and Steelers. It was historically significant because even though there was a league-wide perception that we had no business being there, we belonged by virtue of what we accomplished on the field (even though the Cowboys beat Denver pretty soundly). To get an idea of how historically significant Super Bowl XXII was, just take a look at the number of books on that 1977 season there are available to buy. Far more than any other Broncos Super Bowl year -- and we lost! Go figure.
All that aside, I was pleased with the placement of Super Bowl XXXII. I remember there being a modicum of outrage around here after NFL Network's America's Game ranked Denver's first ever Championship at nine. Readers of this blog will be happy to know that Fox Sports has taken steps to rectify this injustice and has placed us near where this Super Bowl should probably be.Though, I won't take any issue with anyone ranking it atop the heap... That's just how I roll.
Without further ado, click here for the rankings. What do you think? Good, bad or ugly?