Last updated: 6 August 2026. All figures from Pro Football Reference, current through Super Bowl LX. Refreshed each February once the game is played.
The biggest Super Bowl win was San Francisco’s 55-10 over Denver in 1990, a margin of 45 points. The closest was the Giants beating the Bills 20-19 in 1991. Tom Brady holds more of the headline records than anyone, including five MVP awards and 505 passing yards in one game.
The biggest, closest and highest-scoring Super Bowls
These are the team and game records: what happened on the scoreboard rather than to any one player.
| Record | The figure | The game |
|---|---|---|
| Biggest margin of victory | 45 points, 49ers 55-10 Broncos | XXIV, January 1990 |
| Most points by one team | 55, San Francisco 49ers | XXIV, January 1990 |
| Highest combined score | 75, 49ers 49-26 Chargers | XXIX, January 1995 |
| Lowest combined score | 16, Patriots 13-3 Rams | LIII, February 2019 |
| Closest game | 1 point, Giants 20-19 Bills | XXV, January 1991 |
| Fewest points by a winner | 13, New England Patriots | LIII, February 2019 |
| Fewest points by a loser | 3, shared: Rams and Dolphins | LIII, 2019 and VI, 1972 |
| Most consecutive appearances | 4, Buffalo Bills | XXV to XXVIII |
Derived from Pro Football Reference’s Super Bowl history. Current through Super Bowl LX.
Super Bowl LIII is the one that turns up three times in that table. Thirteen points beat three in Atlanta in 2019: the lowest combined score anyone has managed, the fewest ever scored by a winner, and a joint-lowest three by the losing Rams, matched only by the Dolphins back in Super Bowl VI in 1972. If you ever wondered whether the Super Bowl is always a spectacle, that game is the answer.
At the other end, nine of the sixty have been decided by exactly three points, which in this sport is one field goal. The Super Bowl produces blowouts and it produces nail-biters, and there is no reliable way to know in advance which one you’re sitting down to watch.
Only two Super Bowls have gone to overtime
Overtime is the extra period played when the scores are level at the end of the four quarters. In sixty Super Bowls it has happened twice.
The first was Super Bowl LI in February 2017, when New England came back from 28-3 down against Atlanta to win 34-28. The second was Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024, Kansas City beating San Francisco 25-22.
Two in sixty. Whatever you’ve been told about the Super Bowl always coming down to the wire, the numbers don’t support it.
Super Bowl MVP: who has won it, and how often
MVP stands for Most Valuable Player. It’s voted on and announced straight after the game, and it goes to whoever is judged to have made the biggest difference.
| Player | MVP awards | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Brady | 5 | XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX, LI, LV |
| Joe Montana | 3 | XVI, XIX, XXIV |
| Patrick Mahomes | 3 | LIV, LVII, LVIII |
| Bart Starr | 2 | I, II |
| Terry Bradshaw | 2 | XIII, XIV |
| Eli Manning | 2 | XLII, XLVI |
Compiled from the MVP column of Pro Football Reference’s Super Bowl history. Current through Super Bowl LX.
Brady’s five is the outright record, and he won them across nineteen years, from 2002 to 2021, and with two different clubs.
The three MVPs that break the pattern
Most Super Bowl MVPs are quarterbacks, and most of them are on the winning side. A few aren’t, and those are the interesting ones.
Chuck Howley lost. In Super Bowl V in January 1971, the Dallas linebacker was named MVP after a game his team lost 16-13 to the Baltimore Colts. He remains the only player to win it from the losing side.
Desmond Howard didn’t play offense or defense. In Super Bowl XXXI in January 1997 he won it as a kick returner, the player who catches the ball after the opposition kicks it and runs it back. No other returner has won the award.
Super Bowl XII had two winners. Harvey Martin and Randy White, both defensive linemen for Dallas, shared it in January 1978. It’s the only time the award has been split.
The individual records
Passing
| Record | Player | Figure | Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most passing yards, one game | Tom Brady | 505 | LII, 2018 |
| Most passing yards, career | Tom Brady | 3,039 in 10 games | |
| Highest passer rating, one game | Phil Simms | 150.9 | XXI, 1987 |
| Highest passer rating, career | Joe Montana | 127.8 in 4 games | |
| Most passing touchdowns, one game | Steve Young | 6 | XXIX, 1995 |
| Most passing touchdowns, career | Tom Brady | 21 | |
| Most interceptions thrown, one game | Rich Gannon | 5 | XXXVII, 2003 |
Rushing and receiving
| Record | Player | Figure | Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most rushing yards, one game | Timmy Smith | 204 | XXII, 1988 |
| Most rushing yards, career | Franco Harris | 354 in 4 games | |
| Most receiving yards, one game | Jerry Rice | 215 | XXIII, 1989 |
| Most receiving yards, career | Jerry Rice | 589 in 4 games | |
| Most catches, one game | James White | 14 | LI, 2017 |
| Most catches, career | Travis Kelce | 35 in 5 games | |
| Most touchdowns, career | Jerry Rice | 8 |
Timmy Smith’s 204 rushing yards is the strangest entry on this page. It came in Washington’s win in January 1988, it is the only Super Bowl he ever played, and nobody has beaten it since.
Defence and kicking
| Record | Player | Figure | Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most sacks, one game (official era) | Reggie White, Darnell Dockett, Kony Ealy, Grady Jarrett | 3 each | XXXI, XLIII, 50, LI |
| Most sacks, one game (including charted) | L.C. Greenwood | 4 | X, 1976 |
| Most sacks, career (official era) | Charles Haley and Von Miller | 4.5 each | |
| Most sacks, career (including charted) | L.C. Greenwood | 5 in 4 games | |
| Most interceptions, one game | Rod Martin | 3 | XV, 1981 |
| Most interceptions, career | Larry Brown, Chuck Howley, Rod Martin | 3 each | |
| Most field goals, one game | Jason Myers | 5 | LX, 2026 |
| Most field goals, career | Harrison Butker and Jake Elliott | 9 each | |
| Most points, career | Jerry Rice | 48 |
All individual figures from Pro Football Reference’s Super Bowl leaders. Current through Super Bowl LX.
The sack rows need explaining, and the explanation is more interesting than the numbers. A sack is when a defender tackles the quarterback behind the line before he can throw. The NFL didn’t count it as an official statistic until 1982, so anything before that was reconstructed later, by researchers working through official play-by-plays, game film and photographs. Pro Football Reference added that work to its database in 2021.
That’s why there are two versions of the same record. If you only count what the league officially recorded, the single-game best is three, and four different players share it. If you include the charted figures, L.C. Greenwood’s four in Super Bowl X in 1976 is the highest. Both are defensible and they are not the same kind of fact, so I’ve given you both rather than quietly picking one.
What a record doesn’t tell you
This is the part I find genuinely interesting, and it’s the reason a list of records is worth more than the list itself.
The greatest passing display in Super Bowl history was a defeat
Tom Brady threw for 505 yards in Super Bowl LII. It’s the most anyone has managed in a Super Bowl, and it sits 39 yards clear of second place, which is also his own, the 466 he threw for the year before. Nick Foles threw for 373 in the same game, itself the fifth-highest total anyone has posted. Philadelphia won 41-33.
It isn’t an isolated case. Kurt Warner’s 377 yards in Super Bowl XLIII ended in defeat. Matt Ryan posted the fourth-highest passer rating anyone has managed in a Super Bowl, 144.1 in Super Bowl LI, and Atlanta lost that game after leading 28-3. Rich Gannon holds the record for interceptions thrown in a Super Bowl with five, and Thurman Thomas gained 190 yards from scrimmage in Super Bowl XXV and lost by a point.
The lesson isn’t that records are meaningless. It’s that a record measures one player’s output, and football is decided by twenty-two of them plus a scoreboard. If you take one thing from this page, take that.
Career totals reward turning up
Look again at the passing table and put the two career records side by side.
Tom Brady leads career Super Bowl passing yards with 3,039. Joe Montana leads career Super Bowl passer rating with 127.8. Brady sits ninth on that second list, at 97.7.
Neither of them is wrong. Brady played ten Super Bowls and Montana played four, so one number rewards volume and durability and the other rewards how well you played while you were out there. This is the same split that runs through every stat in the sport, counting stats against rate stats, and if it’s new to you it’s worth reading how NFL stats actually work before you argue with anyone about it.
One game, three different answers
Super Bowl LX in February 2026 makes the point better than any argument.
The record set that night belonged to the kicker: Jason Myers hit five field goals, more than anyone has managed in a Super Bowl. The MVP award went to the running back, Kenneth Walker III, who ran for 135 yards on 27 carries. And the game itself turned on Seattle’s defence, which is the part no single line in a record table captures at all.
Three reasonable answers to “who won that game for Seattle”, and the records only give you two of them.
Common questions
Who has won the most Super Bowl MVP awards? Tom Brady, with five, won in Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX, LI and LV. Joe Montana and Patrick Mahomes are next with three each. Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw and Eli Manning have two apiece.
What was the biggest blowout in Super Bowl history? The San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV in January 1990, a margin of 45 points. Those 55 points are also the most any team has scored in a Super Bowl.
What is the highest-scoring Super Bowl? Super Bowl XXIX in January 1995, when San Francisco beat San Diego 49-26 for a combined 75 points. The lowest-scoring was Super Bowl LIII in February 2019, where New England beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3, a combined 16.
Has a Super Bowl ever gone to overtime? Twice in sixty games. Super Bowl LI in February 2017, when New England came back from 28-3 to beat Atlanta 34-28, and Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024, when Kansas City beat San Francisco 25-22.
Who has the most passing yards in a Super Bowl? Tom Brady, with 505 yards for New England in Super Bowl LII in February 2018. The Patriots lost that game 41-33 to the Philadelphia Eagles, which makes it the best individual passing performance in a Super Bowl defeat as well as the best overall.
Where to go next
- Every Super Bowl winner has the full results list from 1967 and every franchise’s record.
- The Super Bowl guide explains how the game works and how the two teams get there.
- How to watch the Super Bowl covers kickoff times, channels and watch parties.