What the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did on Sunday night in completely disposing of the Kansas City Chiefs was nothing short of spectacular. Tom Brady is getting a lot of the headlines this week for his Super Bowl MVP performance, and for throwing the Lombardi Trophy over open water. But, it really was a total team effort on both sides of the ball, and it was a master class in coaching from Bruce Arians, Todd Bowles, and Byron Leftwich. Just a brilliant game plan, executed to perfect. So, it got me thinking about recent history in the NFL and where that performance would rank among Super Bowl champions the last decade. And, wouldn’t you know it? I happen to run a website on which we write sports lists and rank shit all the time!
Ranking the Super Bowl Champs of the Last Decade
10. 2011 New York Giants – As much fun as it was watching Victor Cruz salsa dancing, I just can’t, in good conscience, put a 9-7 team much higher on this list, no matter how menacing of road warriors they were. Could the 2011 Giants have beaten anybody that year? Yeah! Could the 2011 Giants beat the, say, 2015 Broncos? Nah. All due respect, of course…
9. 2012 Baltimore Ravens – January Joe (Flacco) made a ton of money off of this run. That Ravens defense was good. The offense was good. But, more than anything, like the 2011 Giants, they just got hot at the right time and could not be stopped that postseason. After finishing the regular season at 10-6, they went on a run that ended with them defeating the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in the Super Bowl.
8. 2018 New England Patriots – This wasn’t the typical Patriots team. They only had two Pro Bowlers that season. They were “only” 11-5. They weren’t winning games in flashy ways, but they got it done. When they met the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl, everyone expected a points bonanza. Instead, we got a gridlocked 3-3 game that bored most casual fans – 10 points in the 4th quarter sealed this one for the Pats. This defense was nasty.
7. 2014 New England Patriots – People lose sight of just how good that 2014 Pats team was. That was the 2-2 start, when everyone started acting as though the sky was falling. The Pats responded by going 10-1 before losing the final game of the season while resting starters. They rocked the Colts in the AFC Championship (the DeflateGate game) before going on to the Super Bowl, where Malcolm Butler famously intercepted Russell Wilson to seal the title.
6. 2015 Denver Broncos – After getting smoked by the Seahawks in the Super Bowl just two years prior, John Elway really went at it beefing up the defense. It paid off in spades, as the Broncos earned the #1 seed in the AFC, and ended up beating a damn good 15-1 Carolina Panthers squad in the Super Bowl.
5. 2016 New England Patriots – That 2016 Pats team was something special. 14-2, #1 seed in the AFC, elite offense, elite defense. It looked like it was going to be another boring Patriots march to a Super Bowl title, but little did we know we would get one of the greatest contests in Super Bowl history. The Atlanta Falcons were up 28-3 before the Pats came back to win 34-28 in overtime.
4. 2019 Kansas City Chiefs – There truly was no deficit the 2019 Chiefs couldn’t overcome. They were down to the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans before coming back to win in the AFC playoffs. Then, when they got to the Super Bowl, they found themselves down to the San Francisco 49ers in the 4th quarter before they rallied to win.
3. 2017 Philadelphia Eagles – The 2017 Eagles were as balanced a football team as you’ll find in NFL history. This was back when Carson Wentz was playing at an elite level, he was complemented by a strong backfield, and the defense was stout. They beat the Patriots in one of the most entertaining Super Bowls of all time, solidifying their spot as one of the most complete teams of the last decade.
2. 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The story is obviously Brady, but this defense was playing incredibly well. In Super Bowl LV, I saw things I never thought I’d see against Patrick Mahomes and that Chiefs offense – not a single Chiefs touchdown scored. The pass rush was so fierce that the Bucs weren’t even paying attention to motions from the Chiefs offense. The balance on offense between Playoff Lenny and Ronald Jones was *chef’s kiss.* It may have been the most complete team performance of the last decade, as the Bucs were firing on all cylinders throughout this postseason.
1. 2013 Seattle Seahawks – I’ve rarely been more stunned watching football than I was watching the Seattle Seahawks absolutely trounce the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. It was one of those rare meetings between two number one seeds. The Seahawks boasted the league’s best defense. The Broncos boasted the league’s best offense, a historic one at that. It was supposed to be a match-up of strength vs. strength, but the Seahawks just beat the brakes off of the Broncos, winning 43-8…being up 36-0 at one point. That team finished 16-3.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
Check out the SoBros Shop. Become a Patron. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Watch on YouTube.
