The Ten Coolest Super Bowl Rings

Now that the Green Bay Packers are the Champions of Super Bowl XLV and are well on their way to acquiring their rings from the Josten’s Catalog (yeah, that’s the same company you all get your garish and gaudy class rings from), we here at Gunaxin figured it’s high time we took a look at ten of the best rings from the past 45 Super Bowls. Sure, there’s the phallic Super Bowl trophy and the parade and the glory of maintaining your championship throughout the off-season and the season to follow, but nothing really screams ‘Super Bowl Winners’ like a flashy, bling-encrusted hunk of expensive Costume Jewelry. But they weren’t always that way. They used to have class… they used to be -dare I say- slightly vanilla. Let’s look at the ten finest, shall we?

Bart Starr says, “It’s the one Vince Lombardi would have one”. And it also happens to be the the second won by Green Bay. Why is it cool? It’s just not gaudy and the three solitaire diamonds are very classy. Classy also describes some Lombardisms emblazoned in the ring including, “Discipline” and “Team Work”.

The Baltimore Colts… a team that is, technically, no longer around. But they were huge. And so was this ring: sapphire stones, the perfect horseshoe, the diamond crests, and that deep blue just sets the whole thing off so perfectly. A very nice ring.

In nine years it appears as though the ring for the Pittsburgh Steelers has come around full-circle. It is just about the most non-garish ring of the bunch and it is that simplicity that truly makes this one of the best. Basically it’s nothing more than a centered diamond surrounded by gold. Beautiful.

San Francisco’s choice to use the ubiquitous football design filled with gems was certainly not the first time, but it definitely looked the nicest here. There’s really not too much more to it than that: gold surround and a black field where the ban designs are emblazoned, and then the diamond pigskin. Classy.

For Chicago Bear Walter Payton, his ring meant the world to him. So when it went missing at an Illinois College campus, and didn’t turn up till after his death, a long unsolved mystery was finally put to rest. It’s no wonder the ring meant so much; it’s a beautiful use of the Bears’ ‘C’ encrusted with -and surrounded by- diamonds.

The Washington Redskins slightly formulaic ring design is bling-worthy without being overtly so. The prominence of the football design set with stones, is itself off-set by the two trophies on either side of center. The band is even slightly different, as it doesn’t use the typical black background to highlight the designs. Excellent.

Everyone knows when Dallas does things, it does them on the largest scale possible. And the ring from Super Bowl XVIII is no exception. No, it’s not the first truly enormous and sparkly ring the NFL has ever produced, but it is one of the finest of that bunch featuring a a veritable nest of diamonds set into the football shape we all know and love.

The Broncos had won the previous season and pulled off a feat that is well known to be exceptionally difficult: repeating as champions. Their ring from 1997 is deceptively simple, and almost exactly the same. Though it only features one horse. This one, for obvious reasons, has two and it makes it almost look like a running heard. Well done.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers knew this was a long time coming. Some how it seemed that after an image change (we all remember the ridiculous former logo and colors) and a Super Bowl victory, it was time to improve on the ring design as well, and they did just that. Proudly pronouncing the trophy itself, this ring is extravagant without taking away from its simplicity.

The Saints first (and as of this past season, only) Super Bowl victory came after an amazing season right when New Orleans needed it the most. It was a storied run and an amazing victory, and the ring only stands to eccentuate that. As simple as the Fleur De Lis encrusted with gems.