Everyone has a favourite team at the Super Bowl. Irrespective of whether you actually support them, you inevitably end up supporting one side. Similarly, everyone has their views on who the MVP will be. However, sometimes this choice ends up being someone you would have never thought off. Let’s take a look at 10 such players who won the award against all odds.
10. Fred Biletnikoff – Super Bowl XI
Biletnikoff was just one of the two wide-receivers to win the MVP award without scoring a single touchdown. Biletnikoff went one step further by gaining less than 100 yards. Although he had just 4 catches and 79 yards to his own name, Biletnikoff helped set up three touchdowns and helped the Oakland Raiders gather 429 yards on the way to a 32-14 win. The choice was surprising because his teammate, Dave Casper, had just as many catches, 70 yards and a touchdown to his name. Strange?
09. Jake Scott – Super Bowl VII
When the Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Redskins, Scott had just two interceptions as compared to the prolific record he had had in regular season. He got the award ahead of Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese, Larry Csonka or Mercury Morris, the latter duo forming a formidable backline. Manny Fernandez, who accounted for 17 tackles and a sack, wasn’t even given the co-MVP award.
08. Dexter Jackson – Super Bowl XXXVII
Jackson won the award ahead of Simeon Rice, who had two sacks and had the Raiders’ QB constantly under the cosh. He also won it ahead of Dwight Smith who had two interceptions, and returned both for touchdowns. When someone like Jackson wins one for just a couple of interceptions, you have to wonder what the thought behind it was!
07. John Elway – Super Bowl XXXIII
Elway was brilliant through his career. He is a pro-football Hall of Famer and to consider him unworthy of the MVP award, after his 8 franchise records, seems slightly weird. However, in 1998, Terrell Davis led the way with 336 throwing yards as well as a couple of touchdowns. He led the Broncos to a 34-19 win over the falcons and yet, Elway was awarded the MVP trophy.
06. Doug Williams – Super Bowl XXII
If you look at his Super Bowl stats, then 340 yards and tossing 4 touchdowns seems adequate to win the MVP award. However, in Doug Williams’ case, it wasn’t his winning that was a surprise, it was the fact that he managed such a performance, which was.
05. Ottis Anderson – Super Bowl XXV
His Super Bowl MVP award surprised many because Ottis Anderson was playing for the New York Giants, a team that was supposed to have been prime candidates for a major thrashing at the hands of the fantastic Buffalo Bill offensive line-up. Secondly, Anderson’s career was supposed to have been over by that time. He rushed 102 yards in 21 attempts and had a touchdown as the Giants upstaged the Bills 20-19.
04. Joe Namath – Super Bowl III
While Joe Namath may have been the most memorable figure from that fantastic triumph over Baltimore, the New York Jets’ man barely had any contribution during play. He threw just 206 yards, failed to throw a touchdown and didn’t even complete a pass in the fourth quarter. Matt Snell, who had 30 attempts in gaining 121 yards and scored a touchdown, would have definitely been a better choice.
03. Desmond Howard – Super Bowl XXXI
Howard was a former Heisman Trophy winner but, still, no one expected him to have such an impact on the game. With Brett Favre, Reggie White and Curtis Martin on the field, no one in the right mind would pick Desmond Howard as the MVP. However, he scored the decisive touchdown from a 99-yard punt return. Howard became the first and only special teams’ player to win the MVP award.
02. Larry Brown – Super Bowl XXX
Brown wasn’t spectacular when he won the MVP award, he was just in the right place at the right time. Leading the season with six interceptions, Brown added two more to the list as Pittsburgh fumbled their way through the game. Brown returned them for 77 yards while also setting up a pair of touchdowns for his team.
01. Chuck Howley – Super Bowl V
The first defensive player ever to win the MVP award, Howley is also the only player from the losing team to do so. In a game filled with turnovers, penalties, blunders and howlers, it almost seemed as if the team that would make the least mistakes would win. Howard picked off two passes and was hardly one of the best out there, considering John Unitas and Craig Morton threw touchdown passes.
