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© 2025 COLD WIRE MEDIA. THE COLD WIRE IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF COLD WIRE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USE OF THIS SITE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF OUR TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Looking Back At Super Bowl XXV

Ben Donahue
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Looking Back At Super Bowl XXV

 

For those old enough to remember, Super Bowl XXV almost felt like a cheesy movie script straight from Hollywood.

First, the game itself pitted the high-flying offensive attack of the Buffalo Bills against the concussion-inducing New York Giants.

Second, the United States was in a war against Iraq at the time that had intensified only ten days before the contest.

Third, because of the war, the entire viewing public witnessed one of the most stirring renditions of The Star-Spangled Banner anyone could remember and left tears streaming from the cheeks of even the heartiest of souls.

Fourth, the game was supposed to be a blowout by the Bills but turned out to be anything but.

An up-and-coming coach largely unfamiliar to those outside the Giants organization crafted such a masterful defensive strategy that it baffled Buffalo and ended up being displayed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Last, but certainly not least, the final score wasn’t decided until the final moments.

When it was over, NFL fans far and wide declared the game as one of the most emotional and exhilarating world championships to date.

This is a look back at Super Bowl XXV.

 

The 1990 Buffalo Bills

detail of a Buffalo Bills helmet
(Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

 

The Buffalo Bills had once been a member of the old American Football League and won back-to-back AFL Championships in 1964 and 1965.

A third straight title came up short in 1966.

Then, for the next 20 years, the organization resembled Moses wandering through the desert, save for a rare trip to the playoffs here and there.

In 1987, Marv Levy was hired to coach the Bills and he and the front office began adding more pieces to a team that was already talented but needed a push in the right direction.

By 1990 the roster included Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, Don Beebe, Steve Tasker, James Lofton, Thurman Thomas and kicker Scott Norwood on offense, not to mention one of the best offensive lines in football.

That unit led the NFL with 428 points as Kelly consistently found Reed and Lofton on passes with his rocket right arm while Thomas spent the year rushing for 1,297 yards and a career-high 11 touchdowns.

Darryl Talley, Bruce Smith, Cornelius Bennett, Shane Conlan, Mark Kelso and Nate Odomes led a defensive unit that nearly kept pace with Buffalo’s “K-Gun,” no-huddle, hurry-up offense.

Smith set a Bills record with 19 sacks in 1990 and helped the defense become the sixth-best in the NFL.

After coming up short in the 1988 AFL Championship against the Cincinnati Bengals, and losing in the divisional round to the Cleveland Browns in 1989, Buffalo set the world on fire in ‘90.

The Bills started the season 1-1 then went on a tear, winning its next eight games before the Houston Oilers handed them a loss in Week 12.

Four consecutive wins followed before a season-ending loss to the Washington Redskins in Week 17.

Armed with a franchise-best 13 wins, Buffalo marched into the playoffs and proceeded to beat division rival Miami, 34-24, in the divisional round before crushing the LA Raiders in the AFC title game, 51-3.

That victory sent the franchise to its first-ever Super Bowl.

 

The 1990 New York Giants

Helmets of the New York Giants
(Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)

 

The New York Giants have a storied early history as one of the founding franchises of the NFL.

However, from the mid-1960s until 1981, the team was known for its wild mediocrity.

New York’s ‘81 team qualified for the postseason before defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Bill Parcells was named the head coach in 1983.

Parcells didn’t suffer fools and whipped and spurred his charges to be an absolute terror on both sides of the ball.

Two early-exit appearances in the playoffs in 1984 and 1985 led to a Super Bowl XXI victory over the Denver Broncos in 1986.

After two sub-par years, the organization lost in the divisional round in 1989 despite a 12-4 record.

When 1990 arrived, the Giants roster was stacked.

The G-Men offense included quarterback Phil Simms and his backup, Jeff Hostetler, Rodney Hampton and Ottis Anderson in the backfield, talented kick and punt returner Dave Meggett, Stephen Baker and Mark Ingram catching footballs (along with bruising tight end Mark Bavaro) and a rough-and-tumble offensive line.

New York’s 15th-ranked offense wasn’t much to write home about, but the team did boast the league’s top-ranked defense, led by little-known coordinator Bill Belichick.

Belichick’s crew included all-world linebacker Lawrence Taylor, and fellow ‘backers Carl Banks, Gary Reasons, and Pepper Johnson.

Erik Howard and Leonard Marshall played on the line and Mark Collins, Dave Duerson, and Everson Walls in the secondary.

Although Buffalo’s offense was the talk of the league that year, the Giants were no slouches themselves, starting the season 10-0 before dropping three of four and ending the year 13-3.

The franchise suffered a huge blow when Simms was lost for the remainder of the season with a broken foot, suffered against (surprise!) the Bills in Week 15.

Hostetler was the next man up, and despite being a second-stringer, played like a seasoned pro.

In the divisional round, he helped New York cook the Chicago Bears 31-3.

Then, in the NFC Championship, the Giants prevented the San Francisco 49ers from a potential three-peat when Marshall hammered Niners quarterback Joe Montana hard late in the game.

The hit was so brutal that Montana would not return to play until 1992.

Marshall’s sack also turned the tide of the contest and the Giants returned to New York victorious, 15-13.

That secured a date against Buffalo in Super Bowl XXV.

 

The Gulf War and Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

 

Just before the 1990 NFL season kicked off, Iraqi dictator Sadaam Hussein sent his army into Kuwait, located next door to Iraq, in early August.

There were allegations by Iraq of oil theft by the Kuwaitis and the United States and its allies sprang into action.

Then-president George H. Bush and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent troops to the region and a number of other countries followed suit.

The combined forces were coalesced from August 1990 to mid-January 1991 as part of Operation Desert Shield.

On January 17, 1991 (10 days before Super Bowl XXV was set to kick off) Operation Desert Storm sent the U.S.-led coalition into Iraq on frequent bombing runs.

By the time game day arrived on January 27, 1991, in Tampa, Florida, the Gulf War was in full swing, and local and national news broadcast coverage of the conflict.

As the Bills and Giants assembled on their respective sidelines, popular singer-songwriter Whitney Houston stepped to the microphone alongside the Florida Orchestra.

While football fans, America, and most of the free world watched, Houston belted out a rendition of “The Star-Spangeled Banner” that was so powerful and rousing that most of the players and several fans present were captured on camera with tears in their eyes.

Just as Houston was wrapping up her memorable moment, four Air Force F-16s flew over the stadium on cue and gave everyone watching goosebumps the size of the Rocky Mountains.

The moment was not lost on record producers who quickly turned the performance into a single and a video that received airplay for the next several months.

Eventually, Houston’s rendition would enter the top 20 of the Billboard Top 100.

That made her the only singer ever to turn the country’s national anthem into a highly-ranked pop song.

 

A Hall of Fame Game Plan

NFL-logo-on-football

 

In the days leading up to the contest, the Bills and their lightning-quick offense were installed as seven-point favorites.

Numerous football pundits believed that Buffalo simply had too many horses and that New York’s slow, plodding offense and bruising defense couldn’t keep up.

Of course, that didn’t stop Bill Belichick from sealing himself in his office and burning the midnight oil.

The Giant’s defensive coordinator devised a scheme where his troops would pound the daylights out of any Bills skill position player who touched the pigskin.

His plan also included using extra defensive backs to harass Kelly into holding onto the ball too long.

To Belichick, it didn’t matter if Thurman Thomas gobbled up yards on the ground.

The name of the game for the coach was to slow the Bills passing game.

So, when the Giants’ defense took the field for the first time that evening, the Buffalo offense looked across the line of scrimmage and saw a different New York defense than what they had schemed for.

Staring back at Kelly and company were two defensive linemen, four linebackers, and five defensive backs, all with defiant looks in their eyes.

 

First Half

American Football amongst the Yard Lines

 

Belichick wasn’t the only coach who prepared well for the Super Bowl.

His boss, Parcells, decided to lull the Bills to sleep with an offense heavy on the ground with passes sprinkled in here and there.

It worked well for 6 minutes and 15 seconds in the first quarter as the Giants struck first with a Matt Bahr 28-yard field goal.

The Buffalo offense and Jim Kelly finally started to click late in the same quarter and matched the score with a 23-yard field goal by kicker Scott Norwood.

In the second quarter, Kelly fed his receivers effectively, and at one point connected on six consecutive passes as the squad never faced a third down.

That same drive led to a one-yard touchdown plunge by Don Smith, a lightly used running back in the Bills’ offense who took his only carry of the afternoon to daylight.

That also happened to be Smith’s final carry as a pro.

Now holding a 10-3 lead, Buffalo increased its total to 12-3 when Bruce Smith sacked Hostetler in the end zone for a safety with 8:27 left in the quarter.

After the next few drives by both teams ended in punts, New York decided to flip the script on the Bills and Hostetler started firing bullets.

Ottis Anderson got a few opportunities to carry the ball during the drive and made good with an 18-yard gallop.

The first half came to a close when Hostetler zipped a pass to Stephen Baker, “The Touchdown Maker,” for 14 yards and a score.

New York’s touchdown put the halftime tally at 12-10, Buffalo.

 

Second Half

American Football Field

 

During the intermission, popular boy band New Kids on the Block performed for the Tampa Stadium crowd as a Disney-themed spectacle titled “A Small World Salute to 25 Years of the Super Bowl” played alongside.

However, the television audience didn’t see the show as Peter Jennings of ABC News reported on the Gulf War.

Instead, anyone who wanted to view the halftime festivities had to wait until after the game to see it on tape delay.

When the third quarter began, the Giants went back to the run and took a then-Super Bowl record 9:29 off the game clock with a 75-yard, 14-play drive.

At one point during the drive, New York faced 3rd-and-13 before Hostetler found Mark Ingram for a short pass.

The receiver then whirled and twirled through five missed tackles and incredibly picked up a first down.

Anderson would later score a one-yard run to put the Giants on top, 17-12.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Buffalo finally got back on track offensively.

On the first play of the quarter, Thurman Thomas took a Kelly pass and thwarted three New York defenders on the way to a 31-yard score.

His touchdown marked 1,000 total points in the history of the Super Bowl and Buffalo now held a 19-17 lead.

When the Giants offense returned to the field, it sustained another long drive, with a 7:32 time of possession aided by three receptions by “Rambo” himself, tight end Mark Bavaro.

The result was a 21-yard field goal by Bahr that gave the lead back to the Giants, 20-19.

After both teams traded punts, Buffalo got the ball with 2:16 left and a chance to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl.

 

Wide Right!

NFL-logo-on-footballonfield-1024x681
(Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)

 

Cooly and calmly, Kelly displayed a master class of leadership as he took his teammates down the field.

He scrambled, completed short passes and handed off to Thomas just enough to get the Bills to the New York 29-yard line with eight seconds left.

During the drive, ABC showed a graphic that Norwood was a woeful 1-for-5 on field goals over 40 yards on grass fields.

Sure enough, the kicker lined up for the 47-yard try and proceeded to shank it just right of the goalposts.

His miss allowed New York to hang on for an improbable 20-19 victory.

 

Aftermath

flag with the NFL logo waving

 

Remarkably, Super Bowl XXV was the first Super Bowl (and NFL playoff game) where neither team made a single turnover.

Both Anderson and Thomas rushed for over 100 yards during the contest, making it just the second Super Bowl (Super Bowl III) to have two such rushers.

Even though Thomas could have been named the MVP based on his 135 rushing yards, 190 total yards and touchdown, the award was given to Anderson based on his 102-yard, one-touchdown day (and the fact that the Giants won).

The Bills racked up 371 total yards but Belichick’s game plan would be displayed prominently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for others to copy and master.

Not long after the conclusion of the game, Parcells retired but would later coach the Patriots, Jets and Cowboys.

Instead of replacing his mentor as the head coach of the Giants, Belichick was hired to lead the Cleveland Browns in 1991.

He remained in Ohio through the 1995 season and was fired before the Browns relocated to Baltimore to become the Ravens.

Five years later, he was hired to lead the Patriots and paired with Tom Brady to win six of nine Super Bowls.

Belichick was fired after the 2023 season following 24 years and an organization-record 266 victories with New England.

In late December 2024, Belichick was hired to coach the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.

Following the 1990 season, the Bills returned to the next three Super Bowls but lost all three, becoming the first franchise in NFL history to lose four straight title games.

NEXT:  2,000-Yard Rushing Club Members

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Ben Donahue
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Pro Football History Staff
Ben Donahue
Contributor at Pro Football History
Over 25 years of experience in sports including coach, athletic director, game day operations, media relations, football operations, and scout. He is [...]

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