Ranking The Super Bowls, #28: Super Bowl XXVI

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Super Bowl XXVI pitted the two best offenses in the league against each other in what was sure to be a shootout between the AFC-Champion Buffalo Bills and NFC-Champion Washington Redskins. The teams did not disappoint in that respect, combining for 61 points and 700 yards of total offense. Competitively, however, the game was not nearly as interesting. Washington established a large lead and rolled to a 37-24 victory in Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

Buffalo (13-3 during the regular season) was making its second-consecutive Super Bowl appearance, coming off the heart-breaking experience of placekicker Scott Norwood’s “Wide Left” in Super Bowl XXV against the New York Giants, succumbing 20-19. To reach Super Bowl XXVI, Buffalo had defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 37-14 in the Divisional Round, then ousted the John Elway-led Denver Broncos 10-7 in the Conference Championship.

The Bills were led by their offensive stalwarts: Quarterback Jim Kelly had the best year of his career with 3,844 yards and 33 touchdowns; Running back Thurman Thomas had over 2,000 yards from scrimmage, scored 12 touchdowns and was named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player. Receivers James Lofton and Andre Reed each had over 1,000 yards and at least eight touchdowns. Those contributions led to Buffalo leading the league in total yards and finishing second in points scored.

Washington (14-2) breezed through the NFC playoffs to reach the Super Bowl, beating the Atlanta Falcons 24-7 in their Divisional matchup, then walloping the Detroit Lions, 41-10, in the Conference Championship. The Redskins were no strangers to offense themselves, leading the league in points scored and tallying the fourth-most yards.

Quarterback Mark Rypien finished with 3,564 yards and 28 touchdowns. Running backs Earnest Byner (1,048), Ricky Ervins (680), and Gerald Riggs (248) combined for almost 2,000 rushing yards and 19 total rushing touchdowns. The receiving duo of Art Monk (1,049 yards, eight touchdowns) and Gary Clark (1,340 and 10) almost cloned the output of Buffalo’s pair.

The game started slowly. Scoreless through the first quarter, the first touchdown did not come until Rypien connected with Byner to give Washington a 10-0 lead with ten minutes left in the first half. After Darrell Green intercepted a Kelly pass on the second play of Buffalo’s next series, Riggs scored from one yard out to bump the lead up to 17-0. That score would hold until early in the third quarter.

On Buffalo’s second play from scrimmage in the second half, Kelly was intercepted a second time, this time by Kurt Gouveia, giving the Redskins the ball at the Buffalo two yard line. Riggs punched it in again, giving Washington a 24-0 lead. After a Scott Norwood field goal and Thurman Thomas touchdown run, the Bills got back within two scores, 24-10, with six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Rypien found Clark for a 30-yard score, and kicker Chip Lohmiller added two field goals by the 12-minute mark of the fourth quarter for Washington’s biggest lead, 37-10. Jim Kelly tacked on two garbage-time touchdown passes to create a respectable final score, but the game as close as the 13-point final margin.

Mark Rypien earned Super Bowl MVP honors with his 292 yards and two touchdowns. Jim Kelly set a Super Bowl record that still stands with 58 pass attempts, just 28 of which were completed to his Bills teammates, four others intercepted by Washington defenders. Clark and Monk each had seven catches for over 100 yards. Due to the deficit, Thomas was nullified with just 10 rushing attempts for 13 yards.

The victory was Washington’s third in five Super Bowl appearances. They have failed to advance as far since. The loss was Buffalo’s second of four in a row. No team in the four major sports has suffered the dubious distinction of losing their respective sport’s championship that many times in a row. The Bills have qualified for the playoffs just four times in the 22 years since their last Super Bowl appearance, and none have come since 1999.