Top five most embarrassing Super Bowl moments of all time

Super Bowl winners and losers experience embarrassing moments in the big game. The difference between making a mistake in a regular season game and the Super Bowl is when you do it in the regular season the whole world is not watching.

Sometimes these skilled and highly trained athletes can be the victims of the worst mistakes or make the most horrendous decisions anyone has ever seen. When it happens in the Super Bowl, it winds up on a top five list for posterity's sake.

5) Garo Yepremian - Miami Dolphins, Super Bowl VII

The Miami Dolphins were on their way to winning Super Bowl VII when place kicker Garo Yepremian stepped into the game to add three more points for insurance. When Yepremian leaned into the ball, the kick was blocked and rolled right back to him. A kicker is taught to fall on a blocked kick so the other team cannot pick it up and run it back for a touchdown. Yepremian picked up the ball, and lobbed a pass that wound up in the hands of Washington Redskins' safety Mike Bass. Bass ran the ball back for a touchdown that cut the Miami lead to 14-7. Luckily for the Miami place kicker, the Dolphins held on to win the game.

4) Neil O'Donnell - Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl XXX

Pittsburgh fans had to be wondering who Steelers quarterback Neil O'Donnell was playing for in Super Bowl XXX. Earlier in the game, O'Donnell threw an interception to the Dallas Cowboys that seemed to be no where near a Pittsburgh receiver.

With the game on the line, four minutes remaining and the ball on the Pittsburgh 39 yard line, O'Donnell threw what looked like a pass to Dallas Cowboys defensive back Larry Brown. Brown took the ball to the Pittsburgh six yard line. The Cowboys scored the touchdown and won the game.

3) Leon Lett - Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl XXVII

When Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett picked up a Buffalo Bills fumble in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXVII, the game as 52-17 in favor of the Cowboys. The Bills were done and defeated. But thanks to Lett, it would be the Bills that would be remembered for the best play of Super Bowl XXVII, and more specifically Buffalo wide receiver Don Beebe.

Lett picked up the fumble and ran the ball towards the end zone. Around the five yard line Lett began to slow down and dance his way to the end zone. Buffalo's fastest receiver, Don Beebe, was hot on Lett's tail and knocked the ball out of Lett's hand at the one yard line. The Cowboys never scored any points from that play and the game ended 52-17.

2) Thurman Thomas: Buffalo Bills, Super Bowl XXVII

The Bills are all over this top 5 list because you do not lose four Super Bowls in a row without having some pretty embarrassing stuff happen. Super Bowl XXVII was billed as a battle between two great running backs; Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and Thurman Thomas of the Buffalo Bills. When the Bills offense took the field for the first time, Thomas was conspicuous by his absence. It turns out that he could not find his helmet and was unable to play the first series of downs. At that point it was obvious that Thomas' head was not in the game, and he went on to only rush for 18 yards in another Buffalo Super Bowl loss.

1) Jackie Smith: Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl XIII

Buffalo Bills place kicker Scott Norwood is an easy target for his world-famous miss wide right in the waning seconds of Super Bowl XXV. What people seem to forget is that Norwood's attempt was a 47-yard field goal. For any kicker, that is certainly not a gimme.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Jackie Smith found himself completely alone in the Pittsburgh Steeler end zone in the third quarter of Super Bowl XIII. Legendary Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach threw the ball to Smith and hit him right on the numbers. Smith dropped the ball and the score remained 35-28 in favor of Pittsburgh. The Cowboys kicked a field goal later, but lost the game 35-31.

Sources:

"100 Greatest Super Bowl Moments", ESPN.com

"NFL Franchise Histories", ShrpSports.com

More from Associated Content:

"Top Three Super Bowl Running Back Performances of All Time"

"Top Three Super Bowl Wide Receivers of All Time"

"Top Three NFL Franchises Never to Win a Super Bowl"