The History of the Super Bowl

Super Bowl Winning Coaches

There is a proud history of Super Bowl winning coaches. It birthed the legend of Vince Lombardi, for whom the game’s trophy is now named, when his Packers won the first two Super Bowl games ever played. It popularized the legend of Chuck Noll’s ‘Steel Curtain’ Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s, setting a new standard for defensive excellence. Bill Walsh’s revolutionary ‘west coast’ passing attack led him to three Super Bowl titles in the 1980s and paved the way for the modern NFL offense. Joe Gibbs became the only coach ever to win Super Bowls with three different starting quarterbacks. In 2007, Tony Dungy became the first black coach to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, followed shortly after by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin in 2009. Bill Belichick earned his record fifth Super Bowl title in 2017 in epic comeback fashion, and added a sixth in 2019.

Super Bowl Winning Quarterbacks

There is a widespread belief in the NFL that elite quarterback play is a prerequisite for a Super Bowl title. That isn’t necessarily true, but the history of the game certainly supports that your odds of winning are drastically reduced without great quarterback play. The first eight Super Bowl winning quarterbacks—Bart Starr (twice), Joe Namath, Len Dawson, Johnny Unitas Roger Staubach, Bob Griese, Terry Bradshaw and Ken Stabler—are all enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If you look back at any NFL team with a realistic claim to being a dynasty, you will find a Hall of Fame quarterback at the helm, from Starr to Montana to Brady. There is an inescapable connection between elite quarterback play and Super Bowl success.

Defenses That Won the Super Bowl

The phrase "defense wins championships" has proven to be true throughout Super Bowl history. Few teams in NFL history have won the Super Bowl without an above-average scoring defense, with only eight teams ever winning the big game without a scoring defense that was in the top third of all defenses in the key stat. Some of the most famous defenses in the league have been the driving force of many championship teams, with Check Noll's "Steel Curtain" Steelers and the '85 Bears two of the most well-known defenses to do so. Many of the teams to win the Super Bowl since 2000 have also featured vaunted defenses, such as the 2000 Ravens, the 2002 Buccaneers, and the "Legion of Boom" Seattle Seahawks in 2014. Defense has proved vital specifically over the past nine seasons, as the Cincinnati Bengals 20 points marked the sixth time that the runner-up finished with 20 or fewer points. With that said, over the same time frame, there have been as many teams to score more than 20 points as there have been that have scored less than 10 points (3). The NFL may be a "quarterback-driven league" but the adage that "defense wins championships" continues to be nearly as important.