Super Bowl XLVIII Remains Hard To Beat

Published on February 8th, 2023 6:00 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


What was the worst Super Bowl ever?

There have been some awful Super Bowl games over the years. One-sided mismatches. Boring grinds of games.

For instance, Super Bowl LIII between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams was a dull grind. One touchdown in a 13-3 victory for the Patriots, and nothing much happened.

Super Bowl XXIX, on the other hand, was a horrible mismatch between the heavily favored San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers.

The 49ers were 18 1/2 point favorites entering the game, and they ended up destroying the Chargers by a score of 49-26.

These were two of the worst games, but the absolute worst, in our opinion, was Super Bowl XLVIII between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.

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Super Bowl XLVIII was supposed to be a fascinating stylistic clash between two great teams.

On one hand, you had the Denver Broncos, led by Peyton Manning.

The Broncos had the best offense in the NFL that year, and Peyton Manning was seemingly unstoppable, passing for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns. Manning, though 37 years of age, was in top form.

The Seattle Seahawks, on the other hand, had the league's top defense, led by the "Legion of Boom". The Seahawks allowed just 14.4 points per game in 2013, which was going to make for a fascinating Super Bowl.

Or so everyone thought.

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The Broncos were 2 point favorites heading into Super Bowl XLVIII, though the game wasn't close.

The Seahawks took advantage of early miscues by the Broncos, and had jumped out to a 22-0 led by halftime.

Late in the third quarter, the Seahawks were winning by a score of 36-0, and it was an absolute laugher. It was the biggest shutout lead in Super Bowl history, and the Broncos were getting humiliated.

Given the strength of the Seahawks defense, there was zero chance of the Broncos mounting a late rally, and the game ended by a score of 43-8.

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There have been some stinkers in the history of the Super Bowl, but no single game had more promise but delivered the least than the February 2nd, 2014 battle between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.