Five of the Greatest Comebacks in Sports History
Find out about the best comebacks in sports history
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over- and there are many of examples of this across the history of sports, with incredible comebacks for lots of teams!
In this article, we are going to talk about five of the best, most dramatic comebacks that have happened throughout sports history.
Super Bowl LI Patriots 34 Falcons 28
Over the course of the last five and a half years since this Super Bowl happened, there have been numerous memes and signs made about it.
The Falcons infamously built up to a 28-3 lead over about the first three and a half quarters.
It is famously said that was the score at the 2:12 mark of the third but the Falcons technically made it that score almost six minutes earlier on a Tevin Coleman touchdown at the 8:31 mark of the third).
However, no one could have anticipated what was going to happen in the last part of the third quarter and all of the fourth.
So what came next? Four Patriot touchdowns, a missed extra point, a field goal and 2 two point conversions- and even after doing all that, it still only tied the game.
Two of the most famous catches in this NFL comeback included one by wide receiver Julian Edelman.
He had to cradle and lose the ball multiple times while on his knees, and he successfully kept the ball off the ground- resulting in a catch on the play.
The other one came from Falcons receiver Julio Jones, who had to use his entire 6 '3 frame and long arms to catch a ball that was going out of bounds from quarterback Matt Ryan.
He was then able to throw the ball over the outstretched arms of a Patriots defender.
Once Jones caught the ball, he was able to keep both feet in bounds and then fell out of bounds with the approximate grace of a ballerina.
1992 AFC championship Bills Oilers
While it may not have happened during the Super Bowl, in 1992 the Bills came back from even more than the Patriots did.
They fell behind 35-3 and then eventually came back to win 41-38 in overtime.
At half-time, the Oilers were up 28-3 and some of the players were even discussing their post season plans before they realised that they were going to go further into the playoffs and pull off an opening round wild card win.
While the Bills barely survived the first round, they eventually did win the later rounds and they ended up in the Super Bowl, only to fall to the Redskins 52-17.
Pacers-Knicks 1995 playoffs
What’s unique about this comeback is that all the points were scored by the same player, who happened to do it in the minute where it happened to matter most. The last one. Or to be more specific, the last nine seconds.
That’s right! In the 1995 series playoff game against the New York Knicks, the Pacers shooting guard, Reggie Miller, went extra clutch in game 1 of the 1995 playoffs.
Miller, who is often known for hitting clutch shots, recorded two 3 pointers and two free throws in the last nine seconds of the game.
Liverpool teams champion final 2005
The only thing that saved Liverpool in this game was three goals in six minutes by their captain Steven Gerrard, after falling behind 3-0 at halftime.
Liverpool was able to push the game into extended time and then eventually came out victorious, after beating AC Milan 3-2 on extra shots after stalling out in regulation at 3-3.
2004 ALCS Red Sox-Yankees
While it was the Cardinals that the Red Sox beat in the 2004 World Series, it could be reasonably argued that this was the series that truly defeated The Curse of the Bambino.
For those who may not be familiar with the curse, the story is that the Red Sox traded away Babe Ruth, one of their best hitters and pitchers, to the Yankees for $125,000.
Although the Red Sox did go to the World Series four times between 1918 and 2004, 1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986 to be specific, they never proved victorious, while their AL East counterparts won the World Series 27 times!
So, why choose this specific series as the one that broke the curse?
The Red Sox did not just win, first they fell into a hole at three games to none, and then they won all four games which was very entertaining to watch!
The four games included two walk off home runs, both by David Ortiz, although that was far from the only two he had in his career, along with stolen bases and Curt Schilling’s bloody sock.
After beating the Yankees in 2004, the Red Sox then went on to sweep the Saint Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series.
Since then, the Yankees have only won two World Series in the 2000s (2000 and 2009) while the Red Sox have also won the World Series in 2007, 2013 and 2018.
