Sunday, when the Colts play the Jets in the AFC Championship Game and the Saints face the Vikings in the NFC final, will either become a title-game classic? Here are the five most memorable Super Bowl semifinal games:
5. The Comeback: 2006-07 AFC
Colts 38, Patriots 34
After years of playoff failure, Peyton Manning (27 of 47, 349 yards) led the Colts from 18 points down in the biggest comeback in title-game history. Manning directed the winning, 80-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter and Marlin Jackson sewed it up with an interception of Tom Brady as New England lost for the first time in six title games.
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If this were a top 10 list, two Redskins games would have made it:1983-84: Redskins 24, 49ers 21 » San Francisco rallied from a 21-0 deficit in the fourth quarter before Washington kicker Mark Mosley, after missing four field goals, hit the game winner.1987-88: Redskins 17, Vikings 10 » Darrell Green dove at the goal line to bat away a Wade Wilson pass on fourth down as Minnesota threatened to tie.» But to most Redskins fans, the most memorable NFC Championship games were decisive victories over the rival Cowboys in 1972-73 (26-3) and 1982-83 (31-17).
4. The Fumble: 1987-88 AFC
Broncos 38, Browns 33
It remains one of the most famous errors in NFL history. Cleveland back Earnest Byner was on his way to the tying touchdown at Mile High Stadium when he got stripped by Denver’s Jeremiah Castille at the 3-yard line with 1:12 to go. It was especially painful for Browns fans, coming a year after John Elway’s famed drive in Cleveland in the 1986-87 AFC Championship Game.
3. The Ice Bowl: 1967-68 NFL
Packers 21, Cowboys 17
With a game-time temperature of 13 below at Lambeau Field, this remains the coldest NFL game on record, played on a frozen turf on New Year’s Eve. Dallas took the lead on a 50-yard option pass from Dan Reeves to Lance Rentzel. But with 16 seconds and no timeouts left, Bart Starr scored on a quarterback sneak to send Green Bay to Super Bowl II.
2. The Drive: 1986-87 AFC
Broncos 23, Browns 20 (OT)
Trailing 20-13 with 5:32 left and starting at the 2-yard line, quarterback John Elway took Denver on a 15-play, 98-yard march. Elway completed 5 of 8 passes for 63 yards and scrambled twice for 20 yards before throwing a 5-yard TD pass to Mark Jackson with 39 seconds left that tied it. In OT, Elway took Denver 60 yards to set up the winning field goal.
1. The Catch: 1981-82 NFC
49ers 28, Cowboys 27
In the back of the end zone, the Niners’ Dwight Clark leaped skyward and made a fingertip catch with 51 seconds left on a pass from a backpedaling Joe Montana on third down. The catch, immortalized on the cover of Sports Illustrated, put San Francisco in the Super Bowl for the first time and sunk “America’s Team” at the height of its popularity.
