10 Best Championship Games Since 2000, From Patriots-Falcons to Dodgers-Blue Jays

Second-and-26. Santonio Holmes’ toe tap. Blowing a 3-1 series lead. 28-3. Sometimes, you don’t need more than a score or a couple of words to conjure memories of stunning championship-winning games. The pressure, stakes, legacies and dreams of winning it all elevate incredible performances to unforgettable moments etched in sports lore. Going back to the beginning of the 21st century, we’re breaking down the top-10 championship games across the NFL, the World Cup, college football and basketball, MLB and NBA, and reexamining what made them so special and memorable. Here are our 10 best title games since 2000. Honorable mention: 10. 2013 NBA Finals: Ray Allen’s Shot for Heat vs. Spurs in Game 6 Rowan Kavner: The San Antonio Spurs led by five points with less than 30 seconds on the clock and were seven seconds away from celebrating an NBA championship. The trophy presentation was already getting prepared when history was rewritten with one of the most iconic shots in playoff history. After a LeBron James 3-pointer brought the Miami Heat within two with 20 seconds to go, Kawhi Leonard made one of two free throws on the other end. A three would tie it. James came off a screen from Chris Bosh and had a good look but couldn’t connect. Bosh crashed to the rim. No one boxed him out. He secured the offensive board as Ray Allen backpedaled toward the corner. Allen barely got his feet behind the 3-point line when he launched the game-tying shot that would send the contest to overtime, where the Heat prevailed before winning their second straight NBA title in Game 7. The Spurs would get their revenge on the Heat a year later, needing only five games in the 2014 NBA Finals to end Miami’s run. 9. 2009 Super Bowl: Santonio Holmes’ Toe-Tap TD Gives Steelers the Win Ralph Vacchiano: Kurt Warner was supposed to be the star of this show, in a Super Bowl that would be the perfect capper to his Hall of Fame career. But two players on the Pittsburgh Steelers stole his spotlight and the game. The first highlight-reel moment came just before halftime with Warner and the Arizona Cardinals at the Steelers’ 1-yard line. That’s when Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison picked Warner’s pass off at the goal line and rumbled 100 yards the other way for a touchdown — the longest interception in Super Bowl history — giving the Steelers a 10-point halftime lead. Warner led the Cards back and even got them the lead with 2:37 to go, when he hit Larry Fitzgerald with a 64-yard touchdown. But Ben Roethlisberger and receiver Santonio Holmes had one last surprise left in them. They quickly drove back down the field, and, with 35 seconds to go, Roethlisberger hit Holmes in the back of the end zone where he made arguably the greatest catch in Super Bowl history — reaching for the ball way out of bounds while his toes miraculously stayed just inside the white lines. It was enough to deny Warner his second championship and give the Steelers ring No. 6. 8. 2016 NBA Finals: LeBron’s Iconic Chase-Down Block vs. the Warriors in Game 7 Rowan Kavner: With three NBA championships in four years, the one title that slipped away from the Golden State Warriors was the year in which they won a record 73 games. They were unstoppable during the 2015-16 season and looked on their way to cementing one of the league’s all-time great seasons… until LeBron James and Kyrie Irving authored a different ending. James returned to Cleveland to bring a championship to the city, and he did so by reviving the Cavaliers from the brink in the NBA Finals. James scored 41 points in Game 5, another 41 in Game 6 and then produced a triple-double in Game 7 along with an iconic chase-down block on Andre Iguodala that will live on highlight reels in Cleveland forever. In the waning minutes of a tie game, James came out of nowhere to swat the shot. One minute later, Irving buried a step-back three, and the Cavs became the first team ever to rally back from a 3-1 NBA Finals deficit to win a championship. 7. 2016 NCAA Championship: Villanova’s Kris Jenkins Hits Buzzer-Beater to Beat North Carolina Michael Cohen: How often does the biggest moment of the biggest game on a sport’s grandest stage really and truly come down to a buzzer beater, the outcome only decided when the clock shows all zeroes? It’s exceedingly rare — something fans will remember forever — and that’s why the 2016 national championship game between North Carolina and Villanova claims its rightful place on this list. It wasn’t enough for Tar Heels guard Marcus Paige to make a leaning, double-clutch 3-pointer of his own with 4.7 seconds remaining, tying the game at 74-74. No, that incredible bucket would be swiftly upstaged by arguably the greatest shot in NCAA tournament history. Wildcats point guard Ryan Arcidiacono flipped an underhand pass to forward Kris Jenkins for a championship-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer as time expired. It’s a moment that has been replayed millions of times since then as the ultimate One Shining Moment in a sport that glorifies such things, and it won’t be forgotten any time soon. 6. 2018 CFP Title: Tua Tagovailoa Leads Alabama to Overtime Win Over Georgia RJ Young: What I remember — what some Georgia fans loathe — is the play before The Play, resulting in Bulldogs defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter and linebacker Davin Bellamy absolutely planting Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for a sack and a 16-yard loss. The game was in overtime, and Georgia had a three-point lead. The Bulldogs were just two downs from glory — two downs from the program’s first national championship in 38 years. But on second-and-26 from Georgia’s 31, Tagovailoa reared back, planted his left foot and uncorked a shot gorgeous in its arc and spiraling as if it would explode like a Roman candle. A beautiful pass that became a title-winning shot when wideout DeVonta Smith caught it in stride as two Georgia players watched him float into the end zone, run along the back of the white line with his right fist high and into a crush of hugs from his Bama teammates. That DeVonta Smith turned out to be the Heisman Trophy winner two years later on an undefeated national title team only adds to the mystique. 5. 2008 Super Bowl: Giants Beat Undefeated Patriots Ralph Vacchiano: The New England Patriots were 18-0 and everyone thought they were unbeatable, especially by a New York Giants team that barely made the playoffs and entered with few expectations. The Pats were already a dynasty, led by the consensus greatest coach (Bill Belichick) and quarterback (Tom Brady) in NFL history. But Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning got in the way. And they did it in style, sealing the deal with a brilliant, dramatic game-winning drive in the final minutes, which included one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history. Manning saved the drive by pulling himself away from two Patriots defenders and heaving the ball 32 yards downfield to fourth receiver David Tyree, who made a leaping, one-handed catch by pinning the ball against his helmet. And that wasn’t all. Manning finished the drive by hitting Plaxico Burress for a game-winning touchdown pass with 35 seconds remaining. And when the Giants defense, which had battered Brady all game long, stopped the Patriots’ final, desperation drive, the Giants had capped the most unexpected, improbable and perfect Super Bowl upset of all time. 4. 2006 Rose Bowl: Vince Young and Texas Beat Undefeated USC RJ Young: The Vince Young Game — that’s how I and many others remember it. That’s because, with 19 seconds left to play, on fourth-and-5, Young took off for the pylon from the 8-yard line to score the touchdown that would earn Texas a 41-38 win against the No. 1 USC Trojans and the 2005 BCS championship. It capped off an improbable win against a seemingly unbeatable opponent. When the game ended, Young clutched a rose stem in his teeth. The box score reflected he’d accounted for 467 total yards — including 200 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns — in a win against a program that had not lost a single game in 831 days (Sept. 27, 2003) and had been ranked No. 1 in the country for 735 consecutive days. 3. 2025 World Series: Dodgers Beat the Blue Jays in Game 7 Rowan Kavner: The Blue Jays returned home with two chances to knock out the reigning champs. Instead, the city of Toronto was left heartbroken. After getting doubled off on a line drive to end Game 6, the Blue Jays responded by striking first on a three-run homer by Bo Bichette in Game 7. They were two outs away from celebrating their first championship since 1993 when Miguel Rojas, whose nifty pick at second base ended Game 6, became the Los Angeles Dodgers’ unlikely Game 7 hero. The light-hitting infielder lifted the first-ever game-tying home run in the ninth inning of a winner-take-all World Series finale. The Blue Jays still had multiple chances to walk it off in the bottom of the frame, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s slide home was just late on a bases-loaded grounder and a deep drive in the gap by Ernie Clement was tracked down by center fielder Andy Pages, who bulldozed teammate Kiké Hernandez to make the play. Two innings later, a home run from Will Smith put the Dodgers ahead for the first time, and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto — one night after throwing 96 pitches in a Game 6 win — recorded the final eight outs of Game 7 to cement a dynasty. The Dodgers became the first repeat champions since the New York Yankees won three straight titles from 1998-2000. 2. 2022 World Cup Final: Argentina Beat France in Penalties Doug McIntyre: At halftime at jam-packed Lusail Stadium, most of the almost 90,000 souls in attendance were already in a celebratory mood. With Argentina comfortably ahead 2-0, everyone but the relatively small minority of Les Bleus backers in attendance was convinced that Lionel Messi was less than an hour away from lifting his first World Cup and cementing his legacy as the greatest soccer player of all time. Then all hell broke loose with 10 minutes left. France got a penalty that Kylian Mbappe converted. Seconds later, in front of a global television audience of 1.5 billion, Mbappe capitalized on a Messi turnover in midfield and evened the score with a ruthless volley. Messi scored his second of the match deep into extra time — the storybook ending every neutral wanted. Yet another French penalty somehow sent Mbappe to the spot again. Of course, he completed his hat trick. France then had a golden chance to win, but Albiceleste keeper Emiliano Martínez’s spectacular kick save on Randal Kolo Muani ensured that the contest would be decided via a tiebreaker. Club teammates in Paris turned hated rivals on this night in Qatar. Messi and Mbappe both scored from 12 yards again, but another Martinez stop, combined with a French effort that sailed wide, left Argentina one shot from glory. Gonzalo Montiel stepped up and calmly stroked the ball past Hugo Lloris, giving Messi his moment and ending the greatest World Cup final ever played. 1. 2017 Super Bowl: Patriots Overcome 28-3 Deficit to Beat Falcons Henry McKenna: This was a game for the record books with Tom Brady and the Patriots overcoming the — now meme-ified — 28-3 deficit, the largest comeback in Super Bowl history. Sorry, Falcons fans. The comeback started almost as a joke on the sideline, with Julian Edelman saying to Brady: “Going to be a hell of a story.” Edelman delivered in the fourth quarter with what must be the most improbable catch in Super Bowl history — with the Patriots receiver famously bobbling the ball off a defender’s shoe. That helped send the game into the first-ever overtime period in a Super Bowl, where New England finished it off with a touchdown from James White. The Patriots and Falcons scored 62 total points. Brady threw for 466 yards and two touchdowns. To this day, Matt Ryan has to deal with people reminding him of “28-3.”