Greatest Super Bowl MVPs of All Time

There is no more important metric by which professional sports careers are measured than championships. How many did you win? And how did you play when you got there? 

In the NFL, that means Super Bowls. Any list of the greatest players of all time boils down to this one fact since the first Super Bowl was played between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 15, 1967. 

And with each Super Bowl, there are heroes and there are GOATs. Your career — and in some ways, your life — can be defined by how you play in the big game. And every year (with the exception of one), only one player can walk away from the game and say they were at their very best and playing for the highest stakes. They call that person the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. 

Here’s a look at the greatest Super Bowl MVP winners of all time. 

Date: Jan. 30, 1983 (Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California)

Team: Washington Redskins

Game result: Washington Redskins 27, Miami Dolphins 17

Bottom line: Washington Redskins running back John Riggins made his career as a bruiser, and that was never more on display than in Super Bowl XVII as he set Super Bowl records with 166 rushing yards on 38 attempts and became the first NFC player to rush for over 100 yards in the Super Bowl. The Centralia, Kansas, native also had one reception for 15 yards, giving him 181 yards from scrimmage — more yards than the Miami Dolphins had as a team. 

Date: Jan. 31, 1999 (Pro Player Stadium, Miami, Florida)

Team: Denver Broncos

Game result: Denver Broncos 34, Atlanta Falcons 19

Bottom line: John Elway’s defining Super Bowl moment came the previous year when he was helicoptered on a hit as he ran for a first down late in the game against the Green Bay Packers for his first Super Bowl win in four tries. 

But Elway was even better the next year when the Broncos won their second consecutive Super Bowl. He torched the Atlanta Falcons, going 18-of-29 passing for 336 yards and one touchdown along with rushing for one touchdown. At 38 years old, Elway became the oldest Super Bowl MVP in history, which was a record that stood until Tom Brady broke it in 2017. It was also Elway’s last NFL game — he retired four months later. 

Date: Jan. 30, 1994 (Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia)

Team: Dallas Cowboys

Game result: Dallas Cowboys 30, Buffalo Bills 13

Bottom line: The Buffalo Bills actually led 13-6 at halftime over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVIII before running back Emmitt Smith took the game over in the second half. After Dallas tied the score on a fumble return for a touchdown early in the third quarter, Smith carried the ball seven times on an eight-play, 64-yard drive capped by his 15-yard touchdown run that gave them the lead for good. 

Smith finished the game with 30 carries for 132 yards and two touchdowns while also catching four passes for 26 yards on the way to Super Bowl MVP honors. It was the second of third Super Bowl wins for Dallas in a four-year stretch. 

Date: Jan. 25, 1998 (Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California)

Team: Denver Broncos

Game result: Denver Broncos 31, Green Bay Packers 24

Bottom line: The Denver Broncos won their first Super Bowl in five attempts thanks to a heroic performance by running back Terrell Davis, who missed almost the entire second quarter with a migraine but still rushed for 157 yards and had a Super Bowl-record three rushing touchdowns, including the game-winning score with 1:45 left in the fourth quarter. 

Davis, who was playing the Super Bowl in his hometown of San Diego, remains the last running back to earn Super Bowl MVP honors.