Young stars who led their teams to the Super Bowl

Namath made his guarantee and then backed it up on when the lights were on, leading the upstart New York Jets to a monster upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Broadway Joe wasn't spectacular but he was steady, and his star status was cemented after engineering perhaps the biggest shocker in pro football history to that point.

Foreman was a workhorse with a gift for catching passes, and he amassed over 9,000 yards from scrimmage in a relatively short career. He was named Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1973 when his 1,163 yards from scrimmage helped Minnesota reach the Super Bowl against Miami. However, he and his teammates were bottled up in a 24-7 Dolphins win.

Harris' 1974 season was his third in the league, and he helped the Steelers reach their first Super Bowl, rushing for 1,006 yards during the season at almost 5 yards per carry. In the Super Bowl he was even better, slashing through the Vikings defense for 158 yards and a touchdown en route to winning MVP honors.

Pittsburgh was the team of the 1970s, and so it was that the Steelers had many young stars play huge roles in big moments. Swann led the league with 11 touchdown catches in his second season, but he saved his biggest heroics for the Super Bowl, where he made two spectacular catches early in the game and then sealed Pittsburgh's second straight title with a 64-yard touchdown catch. For his efforts, he was named the game's MVP.

Dorsett lived up to the hype that came with being the second-overall pick in the 1977 draft, rushing for 1,007 yards while averaging nearly 5 yards per carry. His strong work continued in Super Bowl XII, where he rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown to help Dallas to a 27-10 triumph over Denver.

Clark's 1981 campaign was his best as a professional. He piled up 1,105 yards on 85 catches, but no play in his career was more famous than the one simply known as "The Catch," a leaping touchdown grab that propelled San Francisco to an NFC championship game victory over the Dallas Cowboys, 28-27.

A dangerous threat both rushing and receiving, Allen rolled up over 1,600 yards from scrimmage in the 1983 season. He capped off his big year with a flourish, reversing field and juking defenders on his way to a clinching 74-yard run in the Super Bowl, a play that helped earn him the MVP Award and might be the most famous run in the game's history.

Craig was a perfect fit in Bill Walsh's West Coast offense, rushing for 649 yards and catching 71 passes for 675 yards in 1984. Though he didn't win it, he also had a great case for Super Bowl MVP, rushing for a touchdown and catching two more as the 49ers cruised past Miami.

There were better players, to be sure, on the 1985 Chicago Bears. None had more of a cult following than William "Refrigerator" Perry. The Bears' rookie defensive tackle had five sacks on the season and memorably (or infamously, depending on how you feel about Walter Payton) rushed for a 1-yard touchdown in Chicago's 46-10 rout of New England.

Bavaro notched 1,001 yards receiving in his second season with the Giants, and he earned back-to-back first-team All-Pro honors in 1986 and 1987. He was instrumental to the Giants passing attack, and he had four catches for 51 yards and a touchdown in New York's 39-20 win over Denver.

You can check Timmy Smith's career numbers if you'd like, but only one game on his resume matters, and that is Super Bowl XXII. You can make the argument that Smith doesn't warrant inclusion here, as his career was short and largely undistinguished. But in the Super Bowl he exploded out of nowhere for 204 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, helping power Washington to a 42-10 victory.

The Bills lost the Super Bowl, but it wasn't Thomas' fault, as he rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown in a losing effort. His season was superb as well. He led the league in yards from scrimmage with 1,829, the second of four straight years in which he would accomplish the feat. 

Smith was already a known commodity entering his third season, having led the league in rushing the year before. He was even better in Year 3, putting up 1,713 yards on the ground, and he didn't slow down in the Super Bowl. Smith rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, helping Dallas cruise past the Bills.

John Elway never could get over the hump in the Super Bowl. He was always a man fighting alone against a superior opponent. Terrell Davis changed all that. Davis ran for 1,750 yards during the regular season, and he was even better in the Super Bowl, rolling up 157 yards and three touchdowns on his way to winning the MVP Award.

Torry Holt got all the press as the prominent understudy to Isaac Bruce, and for good reason. That said, Hakim was second on the team in touchdown catches, with eight, and he averaged nearly 19 yards per catch. He was quieted in the Super Bowl but was a productive member of the Greatest Show on Turf.

Once upon a time, Tom Brady was a humble second-year quarterback with a pair of unlikely playoff victories under his belt. He was inserted as the starter in the third game of New England's season and never looked back. In the Super Bowl he took the ball with less than two minutes to play in a 17-17 game, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jackson, in the fine tradition of Dallas' Larry Brown years prior, was a solid if unspectacular defensive back for the Buccaneers. He started all 16 games in 2002 at free safety and was a steady presence. His two interception, MVP-winning performance in the Super Bowl was the highlight of an otherwise average 10-year career.

New England's first few Super Bowl teams were as much about defense as they were offense, if not more so. Seymour was a stalwart up front and an All-Pro in 2003, tallying eight sacks, and he also recovered a fumble in New England's 32-29 thriller over the Panthers.

Roethlisberger's performance in Super Bowl XL is so far the worst by a winning quarterback, but the work he did to get the Steelers there more than made up for it. Roethlisberger threw for eight touchdowns and one interception in three straight road wins for the sixth-seeded Steelers, as they became the first six seed ever to reach and win a Super Bowl.

With apologies to Deion Sanders, Hester is the greatest return man in league history. He racked up 11 combined punt and kick return touchdowns in his first two seasons and turned himself into a solid threat at wide receiver. His electrifying rookie year reached its apex when he returned the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLI for a touchdown, though that would be by far the biggest Bears highlight of the evening.

Holmes had a good, not great year in 2008, catching 55 passes for 821 yards and five touchdowns. However, in the playoffs he raised his game, accounting for a touchdown in all three Steelers wins, including a spectacular toe-tap touchdown in the waning seconds to post the winning score in Super Bowl XLIII.

Matthews' 2010 season was his best as a pro, as he piled up 13.5 sacks, scored on a pick-six and forced a pair of fumbles. He made perhaps the biggest play of Super Bowl XLV, forcing a Rashard Mendenhall fumble that turned the tide of the game and allowed the Packers to stave off a hard-charging Steelers team. 

Wilson had a front-row seat to one of the most dominant defensive performances in Super Bowl history, but he was by no means along for the ride. Wilson built on a highly successful rookie season with an even better sophomore campaign, making the Pro Bowl both times. In the Super Bowl he was sharp, throwing for 206 yards and two scores. 

Clement had a perfectly acceptable rookie season in 2017, posting 321 yards rushing and 123 receiving for the Eagles, and he added in six touchdowns to boot. He was quiet in Philly's first two playoff wins but exploded in the Super Bowl for four catches, 100 yards and a pivotal, controversial touchdown catch that staked the Eagles to a 10-point lead midway through the third quarter. 

Michel's rookie season saw him run for 931 yards as the leader of New England's by-committee backfield, and in a defensive struggle with the Rams, he gave the Patriots a needed ground presence. Michel ran for 94 yards on 18 carries, and his 2-yard touchdown run broke a 3-3 tie midway through the fourth quarter and was the winning score in New England's 13-3 triumph. 

Mahomes and the Chiefs, who were exceptionally explosive in two playoff victories prior to Super Bowl LIV, games that saw them erase 24-0 and 17-7 deficits, respectively, looked like they had finally dug themselves too deep a hole in the Super Bowl. Trailing San Francisco 20-10 with under nine minutes to play, and with Mahomes having thrown two second-half interceptions, Kansas City promptly ripped off 21 points in the final 6:13 of the game to win, 31-20. Mahomes threw the game-winning score to Damien Williams, and was named Super Bowl MVP.

Tom Brady was the MVP of Super Bowl LV, but the award easily could have gone to White, who spearheaded a defensive effort that held the Chiefs without a touchdown, marking the first time that had happened in a game Patrick Mahomes started. Just 22 years old on game day, the second-year linebacker from LSU had an interception, a pass defensed, and a team-leading 12 tackles, including two for losses, and was a force all over the field. 

Burrow and Chase were the driving forces that turned the Bengals from an also-ran into a quick-strike offensive dynamo that came within a few plays of winning the Super Bowl. Burrow only turned 25 in December, and Chase was just 21 for the entirety of the season. Despite being sacked a league-leading 51 times, Burrow led the NFL in completion percentage and yards per attempt, and Chase's 1,455 receiving yards were the most by a rookie since the merger. Chase also snagged the single-game rookie receiving yardage record when he lit up the Chiefs for 266 yards in a 34-31 regular-season win.

Hurts was the missing piece that made a stacked Philadelphia roster truly frightening in 2022, and though the Eagles came up just short in their quest for a second title in six years, it was hardly his fault. He tied Terrell Davis' record with three rushing touchdowns, and threw for 304 yards and a score. He had a bumpy 2023, as did the rest of the Eagles, but the future is still very bright for one of the better young quarterbacks in the league.

You could put second-year back Isiah Pacheco in here, as he was a productive back for the second-straight postseason, but Rice looks like the latest excellent draft pick by the Chiefs. The second-round rookie from SMU, just 23 years old, came on strong in his final six regular-season games, averaging 7 catches and 86 yards per game, then followed that up with a postseason where he averaged 6 catches and 65 yards, and emerged as a reliable secondary threat in the passing game behind Travis Kelce.