The Best Super Bowls By The #’s

Last year sports website Deadspin.com used an extremely sophisticated analytics model to scientifically determine what was the Best Superbowl in terms of watchability. They ranked every  Super Bowl using a sophisticated numerical system, as they tell it:

To figure this out, we used an updated version of our watchability rankings, which measured games on quality of play (for viewers) regardless of the narratives coming into the contest. Each game was scored on a 0-100 scale. Here’s the new methodology:

• Upset (15 points): Determined by the difference between the final score and the betting line, with a bonus given to true upsets. Super Bowl III, in which Joe Namath led the Jets to a 16-7 win over the Colts despite being 18-point underdogs, gets a perfect 15.
• Shootout (25 points): Based on the total points scored, because people like offense. The otherwise terrible Super Bowl XXIX, with 75 points scored in total, gets a perfect 25.
• Closeness (50 points): Clearly the most important category. Determined by the worst fourth-quarter point differential faced by the game’s eventual winner. Two teams have come back from seven-point deficits in the final quarter to take the title (Baltimore in Super Bowl V, 49ers in Super Bowl XXIII). These games get perfect 50s.

• The Wire (10 point): To further reward closeness, 10 points are awarded for the four Super Bowls (1991, 2000, 2002, and 2004) that came down to the game’s final, non-Hail Mary/kickoff return play. Games in which the lead changed on the final major drive got a five, and games that were close toward the very end but fizzled out in the last few minutes got a 1. The distribution of 1′s is, admittedly, a little subjective.

Interesting that some of the Super Bowl’s you’d assume would be toward the top are in lower spots.  Read the full article & list HERE Check out highlight videos from the top 10 games and tell us what you think, let us know if the math is right via Twitter & Facebook.