5. Wide Right
The Bills lost four Super Bowls in a row, but very few Super Bowl losses have been as painful as their XXV loss to the Giants. Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal that would have won the game in the final seconds, and Buffalo hasn’t been as close since.
4. Bart Starr’s Ice Bowl-winning sneak
Alright, before this gets depressing, the final four plays are all positive feats, rather than failures. This one brings us way back, but it was the first iconic play of the Super Bowl era. Starr was supposed to hand off at the 1-yard line with 13 seconds left in one of the coldest games in NFL history, but he instead surprised his teammates by keeping it himself, rolling into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown to send Green Bay to the Super Bowl.
3. Music City Miracle
I’m so sorry, Bills fans. Two defeats in the top five. But this one — from the 1999 wild-card playoffs — is undeniable.
2. Immaculate Reception
Like “The Catch” in San Francisco, the Immaculate reception was a franchise-changing play for the the Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ve all seen it a thousand times. Trailing and facing fourth-and-10 on their only 40-yard line with no timeouts and just seconds to play in a 1972 divisional playoff game against the Raiders, the Steelers — who until now had never won a playoff game — benefited from a remarkable turn of events.
1. Manning to Tyree
I’ll admit this was a close call, but Eli Manning’s incredible third-down completion to David Tyree on the winning drive of Super Bowl XLII simply has too much going for it. The Giants were completing one of the greatest upsets in NFL history, it was on the biggest stage in the world, and the play was incredible on two ends — that Manning avoided a sack and got the pass off and that Tyree, a reserve wide receiver, managed to catch it tight coverage against his helmet.
