The Super Bowl has been the spectacular NFL season finale for 60 years now. A clash between the two greatest teams in the league, battling it out for the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy and a place in the history books.
Ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl LX matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, Flashscore looks back on the 10 greatest touchdowns in Super Bowl history – from Santonio Holmes’ tip-toe catch to Devin Hester’s kickoff return and everything in between.
Super Bowl XLIII: Santonio Holmes’ tip-toe catch
Down 23-20 to the Arizona Cardinals and with just 2 minutes and 37 seconds on the clock, the Pittsburgh Steelers needed to bridge 88 yards to win their sixth Super Bowl. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger orchestrated a massive game-winning drive, that ended with one of the most spectacular catches in NFL history.
In the corner of the end zone, stuck behind three Cardinals defenders, Santonio Holmes caught a perfect pass from Roethlisberger and tip-toed his way to a championship-winning touchdown.
Super Bowl XLIII: James Harrison’s ‘Immaculate Interception’
We stay in 2009 and with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had their backs against the wall when Kurt Warner and the Cardinals were on the Steelers’ 1-yard line with 18 seconds to go in the first half. As Warner got the ball and threw it in Anquan Boldin’s direction, Steelers linebacker James Harrison dropped down into coverage and intercepted the pass.
What followed was a 100-yard touchdown return – the longest in Super Bowl history – and a 17-3 lead for the eventual Super Bowl champions.
Super Bowl XLI: Devin Hester’s kickoff return
The Chicago Bears reached their first Super Bowl since their 1985 championship and had a not-so-secret weapon to battle the Indianapolis Colts: rookie returner Devin Hester, who’d scored five return touchdowns from kicks and punts in the 2006 season.
The 24-year-old specialist received the ball for the opening kickoff – something Colts coach Tony Dungy wanted to avoid at all costs – and opened the game in classic ‘Anytime’ fashion with an electrifying 92-yard kickoff return touchdown. The first of its kind in Super Bowl history.
Super Bowl XX: The Refrigerator can run
At 6’2” (1.88m) and 335 lbs (152kg), there’s a good chance that William Perry was the biggest rookie we’ve ever seen in the NFL. Luckily for him, the Chicago Bears reached the Super Bowl in his rookie year of 1985. Even better for him: he scored a touchdown.
After scoring two touchdowns in the regular season as a special offensive weapon, head coach Mike Ditka gave Perry the ball when the Bears were up 37-3. The result: a spectacular 1-yard touchdown run that saw Patriots linebacker Larry McGrew fall like a bowling pin. Officially, the heaviest touchdown in Super Bowl history!
Super Bowl LII: Philly Special
Up 15-12 in Super Bowl LII, Philadelphia Eagles QB Nick Foles ran over to head coach Doug Pederson amid a timeout on fourth down. There, Foles spoke the words that would later become an instant classic: “You want the Philly Philly?”, asking Pederson if he wanted to run the trick play the Eagles had up their sleeves.
Foles lined up behind center Jason Kelce, but slowly shifted to the right, allowing running back Corey Clement to catch the snap. Clement flipped the ball to the incoming tight end Trey Burton, who passed the ball two yards to a wide-open Foles, who became the first player in Super Bowl history to both pass and catch a touchdown.
The Philly Special – a one-of-a-kind play that eventually won the Eagles their first Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XVIII: Marcus Allen’s MVP run
Marcus Allen’s NFL peak was relatively short-lived, but in no way underwhelming. Allen was voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1985, two years after his career-defining moment came in Super Bowl XVIII for the Los Angeles Raiders.
Allen totalled over 1,600 total yards in the regular season, but left his best for last with a more than spectacular 74-yard reverse-the-field cutback touchdown run that pierced through the Washington Redskins’ defense. Allen’s touchdown essentially put the game out of reach for the favoured Redskins, who lost 38-9 to the Raiders. Super Bowl MVP Marcus Allen put up a total of 209 yards and scored two touchdowns in a legendary performance.
Super Bowl X: Terry Bradshaw’s headache home run
The tenth Super Bowl saw a team go back-to-back for the second-straight time, with the Pittsburgh Steelers now establishing themselves as the new NFL powerhouse. Led by quarterback Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain defense, the Dallas Cowboys were beaten 21-17, but weren’t out of it until a late Pittsburgh bomb that Bradshaw never even saw.
With just over three minutes to go in the game and the score at 15-10, Terry Bradshaw hurried to get the ball out as the Cowboys launched a blitz. Bradshaw threw the ball right before Cowboys defenders Cliff Harris and Larry Cole levelled and concussed him, meaning he never saw how Lynn Swann caught his inch-perfect pass over the shoulder to give the Steelers a late two-score lead.
Super Bowl XLIV: Tracy Porter’s knockout pick-six
The Drew Brees-led New Orleans Saints were on the verge of greatness after tight end Jeremy Shockey scored the go-ahead touchdown with under six minutes to go. Peyton Manning and the Colts were marching down the field, however, and were looking to level the score.
After two quick completions to Pierre Garçon and Reggie Wayne, the Colts were already on the Saints’ 31-yard line. That’s when cornerback Tracy Porter, the Saints’ hero of the NFC Championship Game after a late interception, picked off Brees on the 26-yard line and cemented his name in New Orleans history with a 74-yard pick-six that won the city that lost so much after Hurricane Katrina.
Super Bowl XLVII: Jacoby Jones goes lights out
Super Bowl XLVII was a game with massive storylines. The game was dubbed the ‘Harbowl’, with the brothers Jim and John Harbaugh on opposite sides as the head coaches of the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens. The biggest storyline after the game wouldn’t be the brotherly rivalry, however.
The Ravens were leading 21-6 when the 49ers kicked off the second half. On the other side of the kick stood returner Jacoby Jones, who unleashed the longest kick return in NFL playoffs history by scoring a 108-yard touchdown. It was a truly electrifying play by Jones, but maybe a bit too electrifying, as the power of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome went out just minutes after the Ravens went up 28-6.
Super Bowl XXXIV: Isaac Bruce’s Greatest Show
Super Bowl XXXIV between the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans will always be remembered for the clutchest championship-winning tackle ever made by Mike Jones, who stopped Kevin Dyson a yard short of the Rams’ end zone to win St. Louis its first Super Bowl.
The reason they even were in the situation to win was perhaps just as spectacular, though. The Rams’ offense, nicknamed the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’, showed its true might when quarterback Kurt Warner found Isaac Bruce deep for a spectacular 73-yard touchdown, which Bruce made happen by evading several defenders. What a dynasty it could have been.