Top Five Exciting Super Bowl Finishes

1. Super Bowl XXV (Giants 20, Bills 19)
With the underdog Giants ahead by one point, the Bills received the ball on their own 10 from a punt with just over two minutes to go. They drove to the Giants' 29-yard-line, and with eight seconds left, Scott Norwood had the opportunity to make a last-second game-winning field goal. The snap went down, the ball went up, but it sailed wide right. With four seconds to go, the Giants took a knee and ran out the clock. The final score is (and always will be) the closest margin of victory in a Super Bowl game.

2. Super Bowl XXXVI (Patriots 20, Rams 17); Super Bowl XXXVIII (Patriots 32, Panthers 29)
We'll package these two games into a single entry. After the Rams tied the game with a touchdown, the Pats took possession with 1:24 to play and no timeouts. Ignoring John Madden's entreaties to take a knee and play for overtime, Tom Brady completed five out of six passes, driving to the Rams' 30. He spiked the ball with :07 to play, setting up Adam Vinatieri for a 48-yard FG which he converted as time expired. Two years, Vinatieri continued his magic, though he only got his chance after a wild, back-and-forth final quarter. After the Panthers went up 22-21, Brady drove the Pats 68 yards, throwing a touchdown to linebacker-cum-tight end Mike Vrabel and following that with a direct snap to Kevin Faulk for the two-point conversion. Carolina responded with a drive of its own, capped off by a game-tying 12-yard pass to Ricky Proehl with 1:08 to play. But an out-of-bounds penalty on the ensuing kickoffs gave the Pats great field position and allowed them to drive to the Panthers' 23, where Vinatieri once again converted the clutch field goal with :04 to go.

3. Super Bowl XXXIV (Rams 23, Titans 16)
Down by a touchdown after a Kurt Warner pass to Isaac Bruce, the Titans took possession at their own 10-yard-line with 1:54 to play. Short completions to Derrick Mason, Frank Wycheck, and Kevin Dyson, plus a couple of fortuitous penalties, put the Titans on the Rams' 10 with six seconds to play and no more timeouts. Steve McNair threw a short dump to Dyson down the middle. Dyson appeared to have a clear path to the end zone, but Rams' linebacker Mike Jones tackled Dyson one yard short of the goal line. The image of Dyson stretching his arm as far as it could go in an futile effort to nail down a final score is what defines this Super Bowl.

4. Super Bowl XXIII (49ers 20, Bengals 16)
A field goal gave the Bengals a 16-13 lead with 3:20 to play and the 49ers found themselves backed up to their own eight-yard-line thanks to a penalty on the kickoff. To relieve some of the pressure from his teammates, Joe Montana huddled them up, then pointed out John Candy in the stands. From that point, Montana completed seven of eight passes, interspersed with two Roger Craig runs and a 10-yard illegal man downfield penalty, as part of a 92-yard drive, eventually finding John Taylor in the end zone from 10 yards out with :34 to play.

5. Super Bowl V (Colts 16, Cowboys 13)
The Blunder Bowl was tied at 13 with less than two minutes to play. The Cowboys had the ball on the Colts' 48 after a punt, but thanks to a rush for a one-yard loss and a 15-yard spot foul holding penalty, the Cowboys were faced with 2nd and 35 from their own 27. Craig Morton then threw a pass to running back Dan Reeves, but the ball passed through is hands and straight to Colts linebacker Mike Curtis, who returned it to the Cowboys' 28. Colts kicker Jim O'Brien strode onto the field to attempt the game-winning FG. O'Brien had an extra point blocked earlier in the game, but this time around, his kick was true and the Colts took their first and only lead of the game with only five seconds remaining.