Fourth Quarter To Remember
Well, another Super Bowl has come and gone. And the amazing thing is the games are actually getting better than ever. Less than a touchdown has separated both teams at some point in the fourth quarter of seven of the past eight Super Bowls — an amazing statistic since the average margin of victory in the first 31 Super Bowls was 17 points!
What’s more, the fourth quarters of the past two Super Bowls wound up as instant classics. Some pundits are calling Super Bowl XLIII better than last year’s improbable Giant’s victory over the previously unbeaten Patriots. The main reason I disagree with that – and it doesn’t have to do with being a Giants fan, which I’m not – is Pittsburgh was favored to beat Arizona while the Giants weren’t just an underdog against the Patriots, they were a decided underdog considering New England was unbeaten, playing for its place in NFL history as only the second undefeated team ever – along with the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
To me, that’s what separates the past two Super Bowls. Ironically, the past two Super Bowls were similar in that the games didn’t become pulsating until the fourth quarter. Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner, 37, who is in the discussion regarding future Hall of Famers, has now lost two of the three Super Bowls he’s played in. He won Super Bowl XXXIV with the St. Louis Rams, but lost Super Bowl XXXVI against New England and then last night. But, Warner certainly had his team in position to win, if only the Arizona defense could’ve held the Steelers on their last drive.
There will always be talk of the Super Bowl commercials and the halftime show – which featured Bruce Springsteen – but at the end of the day, it comes down to the drama of the games. And last night’s Super Bowl – at least the fourth quarter — was one to remember.
