The Most Heartbreaking Super Bowl Losses Ever, Ranked

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When the clock hits all zeros on Super Bowl 50 Sunday night, one thing is for certain: The fanbase of the losing team will be devastated. It’s a long, grueling season, filled with wild ups and downs, and at some point the losing fans will come to realize that their team just making the Super Bowl is an awesome accomplishment. But in that moment, it’ll be nothing but sadness.

And while a loss is a loss, some are more painful than others. Nothing as a sports fan is more brutal than watching your team fall in dramatic, soul-crushing, last-minute fashion, especially in the biggest game of the year. So for the sake of Panthers and Broncos fans’ mental state, let’s hope that doesn’t happen to them this year. But if it does, they should take comfort in that fact that many fanbases have suffered before them.

Here now are the five most heartbreaking Super Bowl losses of all time.

5. Malcolm Butler Picks Off Russell Wilson At The 1-Yard-Line (Super Bowl XLIX)

The only reason why this one isn’t higher on the list is because the Seahawks had already won the Super Bowl the year before, which makes this one sting slightly less.

As time was running out, it looked like the Seahawks were about to break the Patriots’ hearts. First, Jermaine Kearse made quite possibly the most inexplicable catch in NFL history, then, Marshawn Lynch ran the ball to the 1-yard line. It would take a miracle for the Patriots to hold off the Seahawks. That miracle would come in the form of undrafted rookie Malcolm Butler.

On second and goal, Pete Carroll made the highly controversial decision to throw the ball, rather than run it with Lynch, who was looking dominant. He wanted to catch the Pats off-guard, but the plan backfired when Butler made an incredible play on the ball, out maneuvering Seahawks receiver Ricardo Lockette. It was a stunning turn of events, giving Bill Belichick and Tom Brady their fourth rings, and leaving the Seahawks just short of a repeat.

4. The 49ers’ Comeback Falls Just Short (Super Bowl XLVII)

When the lights went out in the Super Dome on Feb. 3, 2013, the Baltimore Ravens were dominating the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 28-6. Then, after one of the more unexpected events in Super Bowl history caused the game to be delayed for 34 minutes, the Niners mounted a stunning comeback. They would score 17 points in less than five minutes, making the score 28-23. Later, trailing 34-29, they had first and goal at the Ravens 7, but failed to score on four tries. Coming back from that far down, and not quite making it was quite a gut-wrencher, and the mess that the Niners have become in the three years since only makes this one worse.

3. The Patriots Lose Their Quest For Perfection (Super Bowl XLII)

If it wasn’t for the success the Patriots have already had, this would be an obvious No. 1. As it stands, it’s still pretty brutal.

What most people remember about this one is David Tyree’s incredible Helmet Catch, but this game was one of the more memorable defensive struggles you’ll ever see. The Giants’ relentless pass rush severely stifled Tom Brady, but a strong performance by the Patriots defense kept their hopes alive. Even when Plaxico Burress’ touchdown put the Giants up 17-14, it still felt like the Pats had a shot.

Then, on 3rd and 19, after a sack and an incompletion, Brady threw a bomb to Randy Moss. It looked like he would catch it, giving the Pats a chance to force overtime. Instead, it fell just short, and the Pats’ shot at immortality died right there. Very few were crying for the dominant Pats or their spoiled fans after this one, but to come that close to a perfect season and not make it, this one had to make the list.

2. Kevin Dyson Is Stopped At The One-Yard Line

In 49 tries, we have yet to see a Super Bowl go into overtime, but this was as close as we ever got. The Tennessee Titans did an admirable job of keeping the St. Louis Rams’ “Greatest Show On Turf” offense at bay. Despite that, they still trailed 23-16 with time running out, so it was up to Steve McNair to execute the 2-minute drill. He was up to the task, as the Titans made it to the Rams’ 10-yard line with 6 seconds left, giving them one last shot. McNair threw a short pass to receiver Kevin Dyson, who was wide open. The Titans were thwarted, however, when Rams linebacker Mike Jones saw Dyson catch the ball, and promptly closed on him, bringing him down at the 1 as time ran out. The NFL Films title for their broadcast of this game was “The Longest Yard,” which is all-too-appropriate.

1. Wide Right (Super Bowl XXV)

To be fair to poor Scott Norwood, a 47-yard field goal in an extremely high-pressure situation is not a particularly easy task. But what guarantees this one the top spot is everything that happened afterwards. The Bills returned to the Super Bowl each of the next three seasons, and they would drop all of those games, too. Really, this game was the only one they even had a chance in, as the rest were all fairly one-sided.

History looks on these Bills positively, with many choosing to focus on how incredible it is that a team even got to four straight Super Bowls, despite the unfortunate results. Still, that’s cold comfort for Bills fans, who still have yet to see their team win a Super Bowl, and are currently suffering through the longest playoff drought in the four major American professional sports, with their latest playoff appearance coming in 1999. Oh, and in that game, they were on the losing end of the Music City Miracle.

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