Last time a 7th seed won the super bowl

Since the divisional dilution inonly two top-seeded teams have won the Super Bowl, while the number of lower seeds to win — and to even just reach — the. Packers become first No. 7 seed in NFL history to win playoff game Through three seasons of the new NFL playoff format, No. 7 seeds — the seed. In the Super Bowl, the Steelers handled the Seahawks and became the first ever No. 6 last time a 7th seed won the super bowl to win a Super Bowl. Green Bay Packers. The Kansas City Chiefs won in Super Bowl LVIII against the 49ers on February ; Denver Broncos · 2/7/ ; New England Patriots · 2/1/ ; Seattle Seahawks.

Super Bowl Stunners: The Lowest Seeds Ever to Come Out On Top

Has a 7th seed ever won a Super Bowl? The Packers became the first #7 seed to win a playoff game since the NFL expanded the playoffs to 14 teams in 2020. The last team to be the lowest seed in their conference and win the Super Bowl? The 2010 Packers with Super Bowl XLV MVP Aaron Rodgers.

Has a 6 seed ever made the Super Bowl? Both the 2005 Steelers and 2010 Packers were number 6 seeded teams when they reached the Super Bowl, forcing them to play all of their postseason games on the road and wearing their respective white jerseys in those games. The retractable roof at Cowboys Stadium was closed for the game.

How many 6 seeds won the Super Bowl? There have been two teams win a Super Bowl title as a No. 6 seed: the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers and the 2010 Green Bay Packers.

When was the 7th seed added? The NFL owners have approved expanding the playoffs to include number 7 seeds in each conference and adding 2 wild card playoff games starting in the 2020 postseason.

Has the NFL 7th seed ever won? The Packers rocked the Dallas Cowboys 48-32 on Sunday, becoming the first No. 7 seed in NFL history to win a playoff game.

What is the highest seed to make it to the final? The most epic Cinderella run: Villanova's 1985 Championship

What's the lowest seed to win the Super Bowl? Yeah. The Steelers did it 2005-06 season, and Packers did it in the 2010-11 season. So it's actually happened out of both conferences. They were 6 seeds, the 7 is a very recent addition and they've never done it.

Why low seeds thrive in the NFL playoffs

Jordan Love and Co. Green Bay went up and cruised to a historic victory , becoming the first No. Could the Packers join that rare company this postseason by going on a run to Super Bowl 58 and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. The wild-card format was first introduced in , when one more team from each conference could qualify for the playoffs in addition to six total division champions.

Two more wild-card teams were added in and then again in , bringing the playoff field to 12 teams. The NFL realigned to eight four-team divisions when the league expanded to 32 teams in The playoff field remained at 12 teams, though, with a total of four wild cards. In , the NFL added a third wild-card spot to each conference, awarding a first-round bye to only the No.

Tom Brady and Co. Tampa Bay defeated No. Tampa Bay was the seventh wild-card team to win the Super Bowl. Nevertheless, Roethlisberger led the Steelers to victory in all of the team's 14 remaining regular season games, giving Pittsburgh a 15—1 record and making the Steelers the first AFC team ever to win 15 games.

Pittsburgh began the season by winning seven of its first nine games, but suffered a major setback when both Roethlisberger and his backup, Charlie Batch , went down with injuries. With Maddox back as the starter, the team was defeated by Baltimore and dropped two more games after Roethlisberger's return, falling to then-undefeated Indianapolis, and division rival Cincinnati.

The postseason hopes of the Steelers were in peril, but the team recovered to win its final four regular season games and to claim the 6-seed in the AFC playoffs. Roethlisberger was efficient in his 12 regular season games, throwing for 2, yards and seventeen touchdowns with nine interceptions, while adding three rushing touchdowns.

The Steelers' main receiving threat was wide receiver Hines Ward, who led the team with receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. On the other side of the field, speedy wide receiver Antwaan Randle El was a constant breakaway threat with receiving yards, while gaining yards and two touchdowns on punt returns.

Rookie tight end Heath Miller also recorded for receiving yards and six touchdowns. Pittsburgh's main strength on offense, however, was its running game. Running back Willie Parker was the team's leading rusher with 1, yards, while also recording receiving yards and scoring five touchdowns. In short-yardage situations, the team relied on running back Jerome Bettis , who rushed for yards and scored nine touchdowns.

The year-old Bettis finished his 13th NFL season as the league's fifth all-time leading rusher 13, yards and 91 touchdowns , but until this point he had never played in a Super Bowl. Last time a 7th seed won the super bowl The Steelers defense ranked fourth in the NFL, giving up Porter led all NFL linebackers with Haggans tallied 9 sacks and 40 tackles, while Farrior added a team-high tackles to go with his 2 sacks and one fumble recovery.

In the secondary, free safety Chris Hope led the team with three interceptions, while Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu , the team's top threat in the defensive backfield, notched 91 tackles, 3 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and two interceptions. The Steelers became just the third team to win the Super Bowl despite not playing a single home game in the playoffs.

The Steelers, however, had to win four games to accomplish the feat, while the Chiefs won three and Packers won two games. Both were starters in that game. Ironically, Williams, who was in his second stint with the Steelers at the time, played with Seattle from to The chart below provides a comparison of regular season statistics in key categories overall rank amongst 32 teams in parentheses.

The Seahawks became the first team to advance to the Super Bowl without playing a division champion in the playoffs later matched by the Colts in , Steelers in , and the Seahawks again in , with the Seahawks being the only one of the four to win the Super Bowl. These were Seattle's first playoff victories since the season when they defeated the Los Angeles Raiders 13—7, when the team was still in the AFC the Seahawks were in that conference from to The Steelers became the second team after the New England Patriots to win three road playoff games to reach the Super Bowl.

The Steelers also became the eighth wild-card team to go to the Super Bowl and the fourth in nine seasons. The Steelers' catchphrase for the playoffs was "One for the Thumb", a phrase originally made popular by Joe Greene as an allusion to a fifth Super Bowl ring. Since the Silverdome featured Astroturf , a FieldTurf surface was temporarily installed at the venue specifically for these practices.

In a related note, Roger Penske , owner of a car dealership , racing team , and other related companies, headed the Super Bowl XL host committee. The Seahawks became the first team to have their full team name painted in their end zone for a Super Bowl , as their geographic location name Seattle was painted above the team nickname Seahawks. In Super Bowl XLIII , coincidentally also against the Steelers, the Arizona Cardinals became the second team to have their full team name painted in their end zone, as their geographic location name Arizona was painted above the team nickname Cardinals.

For all other Super Bowl teams, end zones have featured only the team nickname. The NFL was then reluctant to add ESPN to the Super Bowl rotation because of the potential decrease in viewership due to the relatively limited access to cable television compared to that of an over-the-air network.

The magazine reported that other companies having purchased multiple commercial segments included Ameriquest two , CareerBuilder. Agency BBDO was the biggest single producer of commercials, creating During typical HDTV broadcasts at the time, commercials themselves were broadcast in standard definition.

Google Video [16] and America Online [17] each catalogued ads for later viewing. The main NFL international feed of the game featured Fox broadcasters Dick Stockton and Daryl Johnston providing commentary tailored to those largely unfamiliar with the rules of American football. Since the game was being played close to the U. Fortune , though the network limited coverage of the Windsor event to short segments immediately prior to commercial breaks.

According to the NFL, the game was available worldwide in 32 languages. The Four Tops also performed during the pregame ceremonies, though the performance was not televised. The absences of Montana and Bradshaw were originally reported to have been due to disagreements over appearance funds to be paid by the NFL, but each later rebutted such reports, suggesting that they had prior family commitments; [18] Scott was reported to have been traveling through Australia.

A moment of silence was observed in memory of the two civil rights activists who had died during the months prior to the game: Coretta Scott King six days earlier and Rosa Parks on October 24, , the latter a long-time Detroit resident. The Steelers became the first AFC club, and only the third franchise overall, to wear white jerseys despite being the "home" team. Bill Cowher stated that the Steelers were playing in Detroit, not Pittsburgh, and therefore it was not a "home" game [19] [20] although 10 years earlier Cowher's Steelers did wear their black home jerseys as the designated "home" team in Super Bowl XXX at Tempe, Arizona away from Pittsburgh , where they had won both their playoff games to reach that Super Bowl.

The teams took the field while flanked on either side by flags bearing the names of all previous Super Bowl MVPs. Although the participating teams each entered as a team for their introduction, the Steelers insisted on sending Jerome Bettis out ahead of the rest of the team in front of his hometown crowd. John and a member choir, performed the national anthem as part of a pre-game tribute to New Orleans , a nine-time Super Bowl host city then in the midst of efforts to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The Rolling Stones performed during the halftime show , which was sponsored by the American telecommunications company Sprint. During the development of the show, there had been another disagreement between the Rolling Stones and the NFL. The halftime show was viewed by The piece stage was shaped as the group's iconic tongue logo, and was assembled by a member volunteer stage crew.

After the first four possessions of the Super Bowl XL ended with punts, Seahawks punt returner Peter Warrick gave his team good field position by returning Chris Gardocki 's yard punt 12 yards to Seattle's yard line. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck then started off the drive with a pair of completions to receivers Darrell Jackson and Joe Jurevicius for gains of 20 and 11 yards, respectively.

On the third play of the drive, Jackson caught a pass in the end-zone, apparently for a touchdown, but the play was nullified as Jackson was called for pass interference. Running back Shaun Alexander ran the ball the next two plays but gained only three yards.

Hasselbeck's third-down pass attempt fell incomplete, and the Seahawks were forced to settle for a yard field goal by kicker Josh Brown , which was successful. By the end of the first quarter, the Steelers had failed to gain a first down, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had completed one of five pass attempts for one yard.

On their first second-quarter possession, Pittsburgh once more was forced to punt after three plays, but benefited from another Seahawks penalty, a holding call that nullified Warrick's yard punt return. The Steelers forced a Seattle punt, but Seattle safety Michael Boulware intercepted a Roethlisberger pass at the Seattle yard line on the ensuing drive. The Seahawks, though, were once more forced to punt after three plays, and Pittsburgh drove into Seattle territory on the following drive.

An offensive pass interference call against tight end Heath Miller and a sack for an eight-yard loss by Seahawks defensive end Grant Wistrom , though, backed the Steelers to the yard line, and left the team facing a third-down-and However, Roethlisberger hit receiver Hines Ward out of a scramble and extremely unorthodox, against the grain pass for a yard gain to give the team the longest third down conversion in Super Bowl history.

Jerome Bettis carried the ball on the next two plays, taking his team to the one-yard line but not into the end-zone. On the third-down play, after the two-minute warning , Roethlisberger faked a hand-off and dove into the end-zone himself. There was some confusion as to whether or not he had scored, since the referee hesitated for a bit after the play ended, but he eventually signaled a touchdown, and it was upheld after a replay challenge.

On the strength of a yard Jurevicius reception, Seattle advanced the ball to the Pittsburgh yard line, but, after the drive stalled, Brown missed a yard field goal attempt to the right and the Steelers ran out the clock to end the first half. The Steelers took the ball to begin the second half, and just two plays in, running back Willie Parker broke through for a yard touchdown run, giving his team a 14—3 lead and setting a record for the longest run in Super Bowl history, beating Marcus Allen 's Super Bowl XVIII mark by one yard.

The Seahawks drove into Pittsburgh territory on the next drive, sparked by a yard run by Alexander, but Brown again missed a field-goal attempt, this one from 50 yards, as Seattle was unable to close the point deficit. Pittsburgh drove 54 yards to the Seattle six-yard line to put themselves in position to take a large lead, but Seahawks defensive back Kelly Herndon intercepted a pass from Roethlisberger and returned it a Super Bowl record 76 yards to the Steelers yard line.

From there, the Seahawks required just two plays to score on Hasselbeck's yard touchdown pass to tight end Jerramy Stevens , cutting their deficit to 14— The teams exchanged punts two from Pittsburgh, one from Seattle to fill out most of the third quarter, but the Seahawks ended the quarter having driven from their own two-yard line to near midfield. The drive continued in the fourth quarter, as the Seahawks reached the Pittsburgh yard line.

An yard pass to Stevens, though, was negated on a penalty call against Seattle tackle Sean Locklear for holding, denying the Seahawks an opportunity for a first-down-and-goal from the 1-yard-line. Three plays later, Pittsburgh defensive back Ike Taylor intercepted a Hasselbeck pass at the 5-yard line and returned it 24 yards.

While tackling Taylor, Hasselbeck dove low and was flagged for blocking below the waist. The penalty added 15 yards to the return and gave the Steelers the ball on their own yard line. Four plays later, Pittsburgh ran a wide receiver reverse, but the play turned out to be a pass play by wide receiver Antwaan Randle El , who played quarterback while in college.

Parker took a pitch from Roethlisberger and handed off to Randle El, who was running in the opposite direction. Randle El then pulled up and threw a yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Ward, giving the Steelers a 21—10 lead and also marking the first time a wide receiver threw a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl.

On the ensuing possession, Hasselbeck ran the ball for eighteen yards and was briefly touched by Steelers linebacker Larry Foote as the former fell to the ground. Though the play was initially ruled a fumble, with the ball recovered by the Steelers, a Seahawks challenge proved successful, as officials ruled Hasselbeck to have been down prior to his having lost the ball, Seattle, aided by a yard Jurevicius reception, drove to the Pittsburgh yard line but could go no further; a Tom Rouen punt entered the end zone, giving the Steelers possession on their own yard line.

Pittsburgh possessed the ball for nearly four-and-one-half minutes on the ensuing drive, as Bettis carried seven times, Seattle was forced to use all of its three timeouts to stop the clock, but nevertheless had only left when it took the ball from its own yard line following a Gardocki punt. Best sportsbooks vegas A yard reception by Jurevicius took the Seahawks into Pittsburgh territory, and a yard Bobby Engram reception took the team to within field-goal range, but dubious clock-management and play-calling left the team with just 35 seconds remaining; an incompletion and a three-yard pass to Stevens over the middle of the field consumed 26 seconds, and Hasselbeck threw incomplete near Stevens on fourth down, giving the Steelers the ball on downs with just three seconds remaining, after which a Roethlisberger kneel-down ended the game.

The Steelers became just the third team to win the Super Bowl despite not playing a home game in the playoffs. The Steelers, however, had to win four games to accomplish the feat, while the Chiefs won three and Packers won only two games. Roethlisberger finished the game having completed just 9 of 21 passes for yards and having also thrown two interceptions; his He also rushed for 25 yards and a touchdown.

He became the second youngest quarterback to start in a Super Bowl and the youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl at 23 years, 11 months. The Steelers' rushing game was paced by Willie Parker, who gained 93 yards and one touchdown on ten carries, Bettis rushed 14 times for 43 yards, converted a key first down, and allowed his team to run time off the clock late in the fourth quarter.

Ward caught five passes for yards and a touchdown. In addition to his yard touchdown pass, Randle El caught three passes for 22 yards and returned two punts for 32 yards. In defeat for the Seahawks, Hasselbeck completed 26 of 49 pass attempts for yards and a touchdown, with one interception.

Jurevicius caught 5 passes for 93 yards. Engram and Jackson also played roles, combining to gain yards on eleven receptions. Alexander led all rushers in the game, accumulating 95 yards on 20 carries while also catching two passes for two yards. Defensively, Taylor led the Steelers, making seven tackles, defensing two passes, and intercepting Hasselbeck; for the Seahawks, linebacker Lofa Tatupu recorded nine tackles.

Sources: NFL. The officiating in Super Bowl XL was met with criticism from members of the media soon after the game. One call that was complained about was an offensive pass interference on Seahawks wide receiver Darrell Jackson for a push-off against Steelers safety Chris Hope that nullified his yard touchdown reception in the first quarter. Another complaint had to do with a penalty in the fourth quarter against Seattle right tackle Sean Locklear for holding Steelers linebacker Clark Haggans that nullified a deep pass.

Pereira later stated that Locklear was definitively holding and the call was correct. In addition, many Steelers fans were outraged by an incomplete pass call early in the game from Hasselbeck to Jerramy Stevens. Stevens appeared to have possession and then fumble, only for the officials to rule he never had complete possession. It was ruled however that Hasselbeck had been touched before losing control of the football, thus negating the fumble.

Am I the only one who would like to hear them defend their incompetence. I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well. In response to the criticisms leveled at the officials, the NFL, just two days after the game, released a statement defending the officials' performance. High-profile referee Ed Hochuli said "The Super Bowl was one of those games where it seemed the big calls went against Seattle.

And that was just fortuitous—bad fortuitous for Seattle. Now, that doesn't mean there were no mistakes. There are always mistakes, but it was a well-officiated game. Last time a 7th seed won the super bowl On August 6, , while visiting the Seahawks' preseason training camp for an annual rules interpretation session with the Seattle media, Leavy brought up Super Bowl XL without being asked, and said: [40].

It was a tough thing for me. I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that. It left me with a lot of sleepless nights, and I think about it constantly. I'll go to my grave wishing that I'd been better I know that I did my best at that time, but it wasn't good enough When we make mistakes, you got to step up and own them.

It's something that all officials have to deal with, but unfortunately when you have to deal with it in the Super Bowl it's difficult. The Super Bowl XL officiating controversy was later listed as number 8 on the NFL's list of the top ten controversial calls of all time. In each but the last iteration, the lower-seeded and favored team won.

It also marked the first time since that game the favorite won against the spread. Rooney would have preferred the ring to focus exclusively on this team's win, but Bettis and Roethlisberger, cognizant of a tradition of which they couldn't help but be reminded, insisted that it acknowledge the legacy of all those teams indeed, during the pre-game MVP introductions, Franco Harris , winner of the award in the Steelers' first Super Bowl IX victory 31 years earlier on January 12, , had waved a Terrible Towel as he walked onto the field.

The base of each trophy has the Roman numeral for their victories, with Super Bowl XL front and center. In front of the trophies is the Steelers logo set with colored jewels to mimic the colors of the logo. Each side of the crown has 10 square cut diamonds channel set along the edge. The left side of the ring has the player's name and number with the NFL logo in between, while the right side has the score of the game Steelers 21 Seahawks 10 above the Super Bowl XL logo over The Super Bowl XL rings were produced by the Minneapolis-based jewelry company Jostens , which is the primary supplier of Super Bowl champion rings and has made 31 rings in the Super Bowl's year history through Contents move to sidebar hide.

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