Super Bowl XLIV: The Greatest Moments in 44 Years of Championship Games

With Super Bowl Sunday less than 24 hours away, the 44th edition of the NFL's storied championship game will again host two teams. The NFC champion New Orleans Saints and the AFC champion Indianapolis Colts, led by three-time NFL MVP quarterback Peyton Manning, will do battle for the right to become world champions and hoist the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy. 

For the Colts, this is not their first trip to the big game, as they captured Super Bowl XLI with a 29-17 decision over the then-NFC champion Chicago Bears, led by quarterback Rex Grossman.

As for the Saints, this game culminates a 2009 campaign which saw them rocket through the gate to start the season going 13-0, until a 24-17 setback to the Dallas Cowboys in the Superdome brought them back down to earth.

That started a disappointing conclusion to the season, as they finished 13-3 and won the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, culminating with a victory over the No. 2 seed Minnesota Vikings to secure the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl appearance.

While this Super Bowl may produce its own reel of highlights and the stories that will be told through the ages, I am going to share five of some the greatest moments from 44 years of championship games in preparation for this edition of the NFL's championship game.

 

No. 1: Patriot Games

Super Bowl XXXI's play to remember featured Packers' KR Desmond Howard taking a third-quarter kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown thus setting a Super Bowl record, ending the scoring and clinching the Packers' first Super Bowl title victory since Super Bowl II. Patriots' coach Bill Parcells and most of his staff left that following year to the New York Jets.

 

No. 2: Delivery Guaranteed

In Super Bowl III, Jets QB Joe Namath had said, "We're gonna win the game. I guarantee it." And boy he delivered, as Namath had a day for the ages as he went 17-for-28,...

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