Super Bowl: Greatest Performances of All Time

We've had well over 50 editions of the Super Bowl, and a select few players have separated themselves from the pack under the brightest lights.

Here are the five greatest performances by a player in NFL Championship history.

5. Tom Brady (2017)

Tom Brady's seven championship rings are the most in league history, so it's hard to choose just one of his performances for this list. But one sticks out more than any other given the situation his team found itself in and the mental toughness required to break out of it.

The New England Patriots were losing 28-3 halfway through the third quarter against the Atlanta Falcons in Houston, Texas. Brady had thrown a pick-six with just over two minutes left in the first half, but the Patriots woke up after the Falcons scored with eight and a half minutes left in the third.

Brady marched the team down the field and passed to James White to make it 28-9 Falcons, a Pats field goal made it 28-12 early in the fourth, and a Danny Amendola TD reception plus a two-point conversion run by White made it 28-20 Falcons.

The Pats tied it up after a few clutch Brady throws set White up for a one-yard TD run followed by an Amendola two-point play.

The game then went to overtime. Brady found Amendola, Chris Hogan, and Julian Edelman for receptions greater than 10 yards each, which set up White - who deserves a large amount of credit for helping New England win this game - to score the winning TD on a one-yard run.

4. Jerry Rice (1990)

The most dominant receiver in football history won three Super Bowls, scoring three touchdowns in two of those games: XXIV (1989 season) and XXIX (1994 season).

Super Bowl XXIV - where Rice's San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55-10 - gets the edge because of Rice's efficiency. He caught seven passes for 148 yards and three scores, posting an average of 21.14 yards per catch.

Niners QB Joe Montana won the MVP award in this game for his five TD passes, but without Rice, the game would not have been the blowout it ended up being.

3. Terry Bradshaw (1979)

Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw won all four of the Super Bowls he appeared in. His best of those four performances was his third, where he went up against Roger Staubach and the Dallas Cowboys and won 35-31.

The game featured 26 Hall of Famers between the two teams: Franco Harris (Steelers) and Tony Dorsett (Cowboys) still stack up as two of the greatest running backs ever, the Steelers' Steel Curtain defense was in its prime with 'Mean' Joe Greene and Jack Lambert, and coaches Chuck Noll and Tom Landry are still models for how to lead a franchise.

Bradshaw managed to outshine all of that star power. The defense's five sacks and one interception helped, but Bradshaw rightfully took home the MVP award as he completed 17/30 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns, including two early in the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach.

2. Nick Foles (2018)

In the middle of this particular NFL season, Nick Foles would not have been blamed if he didn't think he would see the field again. Then-Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz was playing at an MVP level with a 60.2 completion percentage for 3,296 yards, 33 TDs, and seven interceptions in 13 games played, but in that 13th game, Wentz suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Foles stepped in, and he stepped up. He took care of the ball with a 76.7 completion percentage and no TDs or INTs in the Eagles' first playoff game, then he went off for 352 passing yards and three touchdowns in the 38-7 NFC Championship win over the Minnesota Vikings for the honor of facing Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the New England Patriots for the title.

Somehow, Foles improved upon his NFC Championship game performance. While an interception against the Patriots was his first turnover of that postseason, he made up for it by trading scores with Brady and Co. The Eagles won 41-33 and Foles took home the game's MVP award with 373 passing yards, three touchdown passes, and a touchdown reception on the famous "Philly Special."

1. Doug Williams (1988)

Similar to Foles at No. 2 on this list, Doug Williams had an unspectacular career, but he had a spectacular night on January 31st, 1988.

Williams entered the strike-shortened season slated to be Washington's backup quarterback, but he was thrust into the starting lineup shortly before the end of the season. He lost both of his regular season starts. He wasn't great in the team's first two playoff wins, either.

Then Super Bowl XXII came around, where Washington played then-newly-minted MVP John Elway and the Denver Broncos. Williams shocked the world and outdueled Elway, completing 18/29 passes to Elway's 14/38, gaining 340 pass yards to Elway's 257, throwing five touchdown passes to Elway's one, and throwing one interception to Elway's three.

Washington ran away with the Lombardi Trophy, winning 42-10.

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