List of Super Bowl Records - Non-occurrences

Non-occurrences

In the history of the Super Bowl, the following firsts have yet to occur:

• Snow - Super Bowl IX had drizzle; Super Bowl XLI had rain. An ice storm hit the Dallas area prior to Super Bowl XLV, but the game was played with the roof closed. Super Bowl XLVIII will be the first northern Super Bowl played outdoors, but there is no guarantee that there will be snow.
• An all-wild card matchup (teams who failed to win their divisions) - Nine wild card teams (since the 1970 merger) have won conference titles, but never two in the same season.
• A shutout - Every Super Bowl participant to date has scored. In five cases, the offenses have failed to score a touchdown. In four of those cases, the special teams scored the only touchdown:

Super Bowl VI: The Miami Dolphins finished with 3 points, the fewest in a Super Bowl to date (and the only team to date to fail to score a touchdown).

Super Bowl VII: The Washington Redskins returned a fumble for a touchdown after blocking a field goal attempt and converted the extra point with 2:07 remaining in the game.

Super Bowl IX: The Minnesota Vikings recovered a blocked punt in the end zone but did not convert the extra point with 10:33 left in the game.

Super Bowl XXIII: The Cincinnati Bengals scored on a 93 yard kickoff return with extra point in the third quarter and kicked 3 Field goals throughout the game.

Super Bowl XXXV: The New York Giants scored on a 97-yard kickoff return and converted the extra point in the third quarter.

• A punt return for a touchdown. There have been 3 blocked punts returned for touchdowns, however.
• A second half kickoff for a touchdown. Super Bowl XLI was the first time a game's opening kickoff had been returned for a touchdown, and is still the only time a kickoff touchdown did not follow a score by the opposing team.
• A 90-or-more-yard play from scrimmage. Seven kickoffs and one interception have been returned 90 or more yards, but 90 yards has never been gained on one offensive play.
• Home field advantage (playing in one's own home stadium) - The closest instances to this in terms of distance have been Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena 30 miles from the Los Angeles Rams' home stadium, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Super Bowl XIX played at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto which is about 25 miles south of the San Francisco 49ers' home stadium, Candlestick Park in San Francisco. (At the time, both the Rose Bowl and Stanford Stadium were considered superior stadiums to the teams' home fields for major events; the wave of new stadium construction that began in the 1990s has eliminated the advantage of most non-NFL stadiums.) Were a team to earn a berth in a Super Bowl being played in its home-stadium in a year when that team's conference is scheduled as the "road" team, the team would remain so designated for the purposes of uniform selection and the coin-toss.

The closest to this in terms of the number of additional playoff wins needed to qualify for a Super Bowl in one's home stadium was accomplished by the Miami Dolphins in 1970, 1994, and 1998. All three teams came within two wins of playing in a Super Bowl hosted in Miami, but were eliminated in the Divisional Round. The only other teams to qualify for the playoffs during a season in which their home stadium hosted the Super Bowl were the 1978 Miami Dolphins and the 2000 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, both of whom lost in the Wild Card Round. No team outside of the state of Florida has ever made the playoffs during a season in which their home stadium has hosted the Super Bowl.

• Two teams from the same metropolitan area: one city currently has two franchises: New York City has the Giants and the Jets. (In the past Los Angeles was home to the Raiders and the Rams, but both teams left town in 1995.) Also two pairs of teams share a common metropolitan area, although they are based in different cities: the Baltimore Ravens and the Washington Redskins; as well as the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders. Every team mentioned above has won a Super Bowl, but never against its neighbor.

Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears represents the geographically closest teams, separated by only 164 miles.

One game involved teams from the same state: Super Bowl XXIX involved the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers. Super Bowl XXV involved the Buffalo Bills of New York and the New York Giants of New Jersey.

• Overtime - The narrowest margin of victory in a Super Bowl is one point, in Super Bowl XXV (1991). The closest instances to overtime, in which the result of the last play of the game could have realistically led to a tie and thus an overtime, have been:

Super Bowl V: Baltimore's Jim O'Brien kicked a game-winning field goal with :05 left.

Super Bowl XXXIV: Tennessee's Kevin Dyson was stopped one yard short of a touchdown that would have allowed them to try an extra point for the tie.

Super Bowl XXXVI: New England's Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired.

Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England's Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal with :04 left.

There have also been three instances in which the trailing team scored a late, go-ahead touchdown when a field goal could have tied the score: SB XXIII, the San Francisco 49ers scored with 34 seconds left to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-16 when a field goal would have tied it at 16; and SB XLII, the New England Patriots scored a late touchdown to take a 14-10 lead when a field goal would have tied the game at 10, even though the Giants would later retake the lead on a touchdown of their own. Similarly, in SB XLIII, the Pittsburgh Steelers, trailing the Arizona Cardinals 23-20 in the final minute of play, conducted a drive capped by a touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes to make the score 27-23 Pittsburgh with 0:35 left; the Steelers were in field goal range at the time.

• An appearance by every team - Four teams have yet to reach their first Super Bowl: the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans. The Browns and Lions both won NFL championships in the pre-Super Bowl era. The latter two are expansion teams that were formed less than two decades ago.
• Every team winning - 14 teams have yet to win their first Super Bowl: Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Buffalo Bills along with those four that have not appeared in Super Bowl. The Chargers, the Titans (known as Houston Oilers in the 1960s), and the Bills all won AFL championships in the pre-Super Bowl era. The Eagles, and the Cardinals both won NFL championships in the pre-Super Bowl era. The Vikings won an NFL championship, but lost Super Bowl IV to the AFL champs, the Chiefs. Thus the Jaguars, Texans, Bengals, Falcons, Panthers, Seahawks, have yet to win their first NFL Championship pre- or post-Super Bowl era.
• A team winning without a touchdown - Every Super Bowl champion to date has scored at least one touchdown in their efforts. The New York Jets scored only one touchdown in their Super Bowl III triumph.
• No touchdowns scored - In every Super Bowl to date, there have been at least two touchdowns scored (Fewest combined - 2, in Super Bowl III).
• A three-peat. Two teams (New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys) won three Super Bowl titles in four years and the Pittsburgh Steelers won 4 Super Bowl titles in 6 years, which included back to back championships twice. The Miami Dolphins appeared in three consecutive Super Bowls from 1971–1973, winning the final two, making them the team having come closest to a three-peat. The Green Bay Packers were the 1965 NFL Champions and won the Super Bowl each of the next two seasons. The Buffalo Bills appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls, but lost all four of them.
• Fair catch kick - A fair catch kick has never been attempted in the Super Bowl.
• Interception return for touchdown by a losing team - by 2011 the teams are 11-0 when returning a picked pass for touchdown.
• A head coach leading two different teams to Super Bowl victories.
• A Quarterback leading two different teams to Super Bowl victories..
• Every team losing, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New Orleans Saints are yet to lose their first Super Bowl. In addition to those four teams that are yet to make a Super Bowl appearance.