What was the shortest touchdown play in Super Bowl history?

Combing through all the Super Bowls ever played, these two TDs are the shortest on record

We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Vikings block Steelers punter Matt Blair’s kick, which is recovered in the end zone by Terry Brown for a Minnesota touchdown.
Vikings block Steelers punter Matt Blair’s kick, which is recovered in the end zone by Terry Brown for a Minnesota touchdown.
Image: AP

Terry Brown and Derrick Jensen share this record, both on blocked punts that were recovered in the end zone. So the answer is 0 yards.

Matt Blair needs to get some credit here, too, because he blocked the punt to set up Brown’s recovery in the end zone for the Vikings’ only points of Super Bowl IX, a game in which Minnesota had 119 yards of total offense and committed five turnovers. It’s a testament to how good the Purple People Eaters were on defense that Brown’s touchdown made it a 9-6 game, and the Steelers were only able to score a 16-6 victory late thanks to Terry Bradshaw’s four-yard touchdown pass to Larry Brown.

The Vikings have made a total of four trips to the Super Bowl, and have lost all four, a mark of futility matched by only the Buffalo Bills, a franchise that lost four straight Super Bowls in the early 90s.

Advertisement

Jansen’s touchdown, recovering a punt that he himself blocked in Super Bowl XVIII, was an almost entirely opposite story. It was also his team’s first touchdown of the game, but far from the only one, as the Los Angeles Raiders pummeled Washington, 38-9 — with Chris Bahr making that extra point, four more PATs, and a field goal for good measure.

There’s been one other punt blocked for a touchdown in the Super Bowl — also by the Raiders, though for Super Bowl XXXVII they were back to representing Oakland, and like the Vikings, their blocked punt came in a losing effort. After Tim Johnson blocked Tom Tupa’s punt, though, it didn’t go all the way to the end zone. Eric Johnson had to pick it up and run 13 yards for the score.