Has there ever been a safety in a Super Bowl?

There have been nine safeties in the 57 Super Bowls played so far. They aren’t common at all in football, but they are actually more common in the Super Bowl than you might expect. So we might be more likely to seen between the Chiefs and the 49ers than you might think. Those nine safeties mean there have been safeties in 15.7% of Super Bowls played.

Compare that to regular season football. In the 2023 season there were just 17 across the 272 games. That’s a rate of 6.3%, which is in line with the rate of 6.1% since the NFL moved to the 32 team league in 2002.

The nine safeties in the Super Bowl

1975 the Steelers got the first ever safety in a Super Bowl when they tackled the Vikings QB in the end zone after he recovered a fumble. They went on to win 16-6.

There was another safety for the Steelers next year when they blocked a Cowboys punt which went out behind the goal line. They won again, 21-17.

It was another decade before the next safety, when the Bears sacked the Patriots QB Grogan. They won 46-10 in Super Bowl XX.

The Giants picked up a safety the next year, against the Broncos, sacking Elway in the end zone. The Giants won that one 39-20.

In 1991 we had the first team ever to pick up a safety but go on to lose, as the Bills sacked the Giants’ QB Hostetler in the end zone but lost 19-20.

And then there were no safeties for the longest time, until in 2009, the Cardinals got one against the Steelers for holding in the end zone.

There was then a run of three safeties in three years, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The Giants got the first one, when the Patriots’ Brady was done for intentionally grounding - the Giants won that Super Bowl 21-17. Then the 49ers lost to the Ravens 34-31, with the Ravens taking an intentional safety in the dying seconds to ensure victory. Finally, in 2014, the Seahawks beat the Broncos 43-8, picking up a safety from a bad snap recovered in the end zone.

What is a safety?

A safety happens in the following situations, being scored against the offensive team, with the defensive team picking up two points.

- A player is tackled in their own end zone

- When the offense commits a foul in its own end zone

- If the offensive team fumbles the ball out of bounds in their own end zone

The most common safeties are quarterbacks getting sacked in their own end zone or the offense fumbling or taking the ball out of bounds in their own end zone, although fouls, such as intentional grounding from the QB aren’t unheard of.

There is also a one-point safety, but it’s never been scored in the NFL. It can only happen on a point after touchdown or two-point conversion play, where either team is tackled in their own end zone. If a PAT were to be blocked and the defending team catch it, leave the end zone and then go back into the end zone and is tackled, that would be a one point safety. The other way would be for the team attempting the PAT or two point conversion to run all the way back to their own end zone and then be tackled. I wouldn’t put any money on a one point safety in this Super Bowl.

What happens after a safety?

The team who concedes the safety have to kick the ball to the other team, with a safety kick, which is a kickoff with the kicking team on the 20-yard line, not the 35-yard line. The kicker can punt, dropkick or use a holder, but cannot use a tee. Teams usually choose to punt as it gives the longest hang time and is easiest to defend.