Greatest Plays in NFL History
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The NFL has no shortage of amazing plays every season that will be seared into our collective memory forever — depending on what side of the line you fall on that can be a good thing or a bad thing. What’s not up for debate is the greatness on display when it all goes down.
One of the reasons the NFL continues to create distance between itself and every other professional sport in the U.S. in terms of popularity boils down to those great plays and those great moments. Here’s a look at the 50 greatest plays in NFL history.
50. McGee’s One-Handed Catch is First Super Bowl Touchdown
Date: Jan. 15, 1967
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
Final score: Green Bay Packers 35, Kansas City Chiefs 10 (Super Bowl I)
Bottom line: Max McGee wasn’t the biggest, fastest or stronger wide receiver to ever play the game. But he was one of the greatest winners and always will be the player who scored the first touchdown in a Super Bowl — a 37-yard pass from Bart Starr.
49. ‘The Fumble’ Seals Byner’s Place in History
Date: Jan. 17, 1988
Location: Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado
Final score: Denver Broncos 38, Cleveland Browns 33 (AFC championship game)
Bottom line: The secret to happiness for Browns fans is to never expect anything from their team. Then, they can never be disappointed. Hope leads to gut punches like “The Fumble,” which cost the Browns a shot at their first Super Bowl. And they haven’t come close again since.
48. Rodgers Throws Game-Tying Hail Mary Against the Cardinals
Date: Jan. 16, 2016
Location: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona
Final score: Arizona Cardinals 26, Green Bay Packers 20 (NFC divisional round)
Bottom line: Aaron Rodgers is a master of the comeback, and the Packers’ prayers have been answered in many games. But Green Bay can’t win them all.
47. Brown Beats Bears By Himself
Date: Dec. 10, 1961
Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
Final score: Chicago Bears 17, Cleveland Browns 14
Bottom line: Jim Brown was hard to catch. In this play alone, he made seven Bears defenders miss. With 2,621 touches in Brown’s career, by a conservative estimate, that means at least 10,000 players couldn’t touch him.