The Super Bowl MVP award is given to the most valuable player in the annual Super Bowl game, which crowns the champion team for the NFL season.
Since its inception in Super Bowl I in 1967, the award has been won by 48 different players, with Tom Brady being the most recent recipient after capturing MVP honours for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.
Thirty-one of the 49 previous champions were quarterbacks. With seven individual winners, the Dallas Cowboys have the most of any team.
Among the MVP winners, only five players stand out for securing the award multiple times. Here are the five mentioned below.
1. Tom Brady – 5 Super Bowl MVP Awards
Tom Brady (QB), often regarded as the greatest NFL player of all time, has had a career spanning more than two decades, primarily with the New England Patriots before achieving his final triumph with Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 season. Now retired legend won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, capturing individual honours in four of those games (Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX, and LI), before winning a fifth with the Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.
2. Joe Montana – 3 Super Bowl MVP Awards
Joe Montana (QB) is considered royalty in San Francisco, where he led the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories over an eight-year period in the 1980s and early 1990s, winning the MVP award in Super Bowls XVI, XIX, and XXIV. His 92-yard game-winning drive in Super Bowl XXIII against the Cincinnati Bengals is still regarded as one of the greatest football moments of all time.
3. Bart Starr – 2 Super Bowl MVP Awards
Starr was chosen as the MVP of the first two Super Bowls and was selected to four Pro Bowls during his career. In 1966, he was named league MVP. In 1977, he was inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Packers Hall of Fame. Starr has the second greatest postseason passer rating (104.8) in NFL history, trailing only Patrick Mahomes (106.1), and a 9-1 postseason record.
Starr’s career predates the Super Bowl period, as he won five NFL titles with the Green Bay Packers in the early 1960s, but he will be remembered for winning the first two Super Bowls and the first two MVP honours.
4. Terry Bradshaw – 2 Super Bowl MVP Awards
Modern-day NFL fans may recognise former Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Bradshaw as one of the faces of Fox’s NFL Sunday coverage, or as the star of a reality TV show on E! (if you’re into that), but in the 1970s and early 1980s, the former No. 1 overall pick led the Steelers to 4 Super Bowl titles. Bradshaw received two MVP awards in Super Bowls XIII and XIV.
5. Eli Manning – 2 Super Bowl MVP Awards
Eli Manning, the former No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, spent 16 seasons with the New York Giants. In an era known for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots’ dominance, Manning and the Giants defeated the Pats twice in the Super Bowl 2007 and 2011.
Manning is best known for leading the New York Giants to underdog Super Bowl triumphs over the New England Patriots dynasty in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI. The former is recognised as one of the biggest sports upsets of all time, with the wild card Giants defeating a Patriots club that was the first to win all 16 regular season games. Manning was chosen Most Valuable Player in both championships, making him one of only six players in Super Bowl history to win multiple MVP titles.
Conclusion:
The Super Bowl MVP Award is a significant honour conferred upon the most valuable player in the game, underlining their crucial involvement in the ultimate football showdown. Throughout the decades, legendary personalities such as Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, and Eli Manning have engraved their names in football history with many MVP awards, demonstrating their remarkable skill and leadership on the biggest stage.