Worst Super Bowls of All-Time

The Super Bowl, the NFL's annual championship game, has produced several amazing finishes in recent years. But the event's history reveals an equal number of games that were snoozers, thanks to sloppy play and a lack of exciting moments.

These are the five worst Super Bowls of all-time.

#5 Worst Super Bowl of All-Time: Super Bowl XVIII
LA Raiders 38, Washington 9
Barry Manilow sang the National Anthem. And that qualified as excitement on this day.

The Redskins were actually favorites in Super Bowl XVIII, but the Raiders used touchdowns on special teams and defense to take an early lead and the game was never close after that. Marcus Allen won MVP honors, slowly tacking on the rushing yards before breaking free for a 74-yard TD run at the end of the third quarter.

#4 Worst Super Bowl of All-Time: Super Bowl XL
Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10
The Steelers played a terrible first half of football and still led 7-3 at halftime. That's all you need to know about this one. Though most of Super Bowl XL wasn't exciting, it did produce two of the most memorable big game moments in history: Willie Parker's record 75-yard rush and WR Antwaan Randel El's 43-yard TD toss on a trick play.

The game featured a handful of questionable calls, but considering all of Seattle's miscues - the quarterback's boneheaded late-game interception, the tight end's numerous dropped passes, the kicker's two crucial missed field goals, the coach's shockingly poor clock management, and the defense allowing the longest rush in Super Bowl history and falling victim to a trick play the Steelers had previously run just a month before - any belief among Seahawks fans that their team lost because of bad officiating was downright comical.

#3 Worst Super Bowl of All-Time: Super Bowl XXVII
Dallas 52, Buffalo 17
I'm not one of those people who believes that a blowout necessarily makes a bad Super Bowl. That's why you won't see Super Bowl XXIV, when San Francisco clobbered Denver 55-10, on this list. The 49ers were just an awesome football team and their legendary performance in that game should never appear on any "worst" list. The same goes for Mike Ditka's Chicago Bears beating New England 46-10.

But this Dallas blowout victory was different. It occurred because the Bills absolutely wilted under the pressure, committing an unthinkable nine turnovers. The final was 52-17 and the game really wasn't even that close. It would've been 59-17 had Leon Lett not committed one of the two historic blunders of his career, having the ball knocked out of his hands just as he was about to cross the goal line.

#2 Worst Super Bowl of All-Time: Super Bowl VIII
Miami 24, Minnesota 7
Super Bowl VIII was never interesting. The Dolphins ended all drama by opening up a 17-0 halftime lead and the Vikings never threatened to make it close. Miami's offense came mostly on the ground, adding to the bore factor. QB Bob Griese attempted all of seven passes, while game MVP Larry Csonka needed 33 carries to amass his 145 yards, just a 4.4 average.

The Dolphins didn't care about the lack of style points, as they won their second consecutive NFL championship.

#1 Worst Super Bowl of All-Time: Super Bowl V
Baltimore 16, Dallas 13
This Super Bowl in 1971 was too long ago for most recent NFL fans to remember it, but history shows it was the worst Super Bowl of all-time. The teams combined for 11 turnovers and the ho-hum game ended when Jim O'Brien kicked a field goal with five seconds left.

The Colts' leading rusher gained 33 yards. The Colts used two quarterbacks, both of whom completed less than 50 percent of their passes. The victorious Colts had so few heroes from the game that Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley was named game MVP, marking the only time a player from the losing team was named MVP. Sports Illustrated was forced to put field goal kicker O'Brien on its cover.

The inclusion of Super Bowl V at the top of the list of the worst Super Bowls of all-time is a no-brainer.

Worst Super Bowls of All-Time: Sources
www.nfl.com