Recap / Super Bowl XXVI to 50

Super Bowl Recaps
I-XXV | XXVI-50 | LI-LXXV

Super Bowls XXVI to XXX

XXVI — January 26, 1992 / Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota / Washington Redskins def. Buffalo Bills, 37-24

MVP: Mark Rypien, QB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Pat Summerall, John Madden)
National Anthem: Harry Connick Jr.
Coin Toss: Chuck Noll, Hall of Fame coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Halftime: Gloria Estefan, with Olympic figure skaters Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill, in celebration of winter and the 1992 Winter Olympics, which took place just a couple of weeks after the game

• Ranked the 4th worst (52nd) Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Washington was named the #15 Greatest Team of the NFL's first century. Under coach Joe Gibbs, they posted a league-best 14-2 record with the NFL's #1 offense (led by QB Mark Rypien, who led the NFC in most passing stats) and #2 defense. They were even a threat on special teams, as Brian Mitchell led the league in most punt return stats. They easily handled the Falcons and Lions in the playoffs and were favored by 7 going into the Big Game.
• Buffalo returned after their narrow defeat in last year's Super Bowl as the underdogs. On offense, coach Marv Levy's team were still dominant, posting the #2 offense with QB Jim Kelly and MVP/Offensive Player of the Year Thurman Thomas, the latter of which gave Buffalo the league's best ground game while also serving as an active passer. However, their defense was one of the worst in the league thanks to injuries to most of their stars, ranking second-worst in yards allowed. They still secured the AFC's #1 seed with a 13-3 record. After easily beating the Chiefs, their powerful offense failed to score a single touchdown in a close-fought match against the Broncos.
• NBC was supposed to broadcast this game, but the league allowed them to swap this Super Bowl with the next one with CBS, so that CBS could use it as a lead-in to their coverage of the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France a month later. This was the last Super Bowl televised by CBS until Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, as Fox jumped into the sports business and swooped up CBS's NFC package in 1994.
• Speaking of Fox. they successfully countered the halftime show with a special episode of In Living Color!, giving this broadcast the lowest total market share and one of the lowest ratings of any Super Bowl^note though the total audience was just slightly up from the last year. This development forced future broadcasts to adapt to broaden their appeal, most notably by further upping their game with their halftime shows.
  • Also speaking of Fox, this Super Bowl is referenced as a central part of the "Lisa the Greek" episode of The Simpsons.
• The game got off to a cold and messy start from the first play, as the opening kickoff had to be redone due to coming before the ref's signal. The miscues and mistakes were numerous: Thomas missed Buffalo's first two plays after losing his helmet. Instant replay called back a Washington touchdown due to Art Monk stepping out of bounds, and a missed snap cost them a chance at a make-up field goal. Kelly immediately threw the first of several interceptions on the very next play, which was nearly run back for a TD, only for Rypien to give the ball right back to the Bills a few plays later.
• While Buffalo remained stagnant in the second quarter, Washington woke up. After scoring a field goal, a three-and-out and a poor Bills punt led to a Washington TD drive. CB Darrell Green soon picked off Kelly for another interception, and Washington scored again. While the Bills launched a solid responding drive, the refs did not call a penalty on a clear pass interference on a third-down throw to Andre Reed. Reed threw his helmet to the ground in frustration, which did lead to a penalty on Buffalo for unsportsmanlike conflict, pushing the Bills out of field goal range and leaving them scoreless before the half, leaving the tally 17-0.
• The halftime show that was meant to help CBS lead in to the Winter Olympics was really more a celebration of the concept of "winter" itself for the first half, including a Piss-Take Rap about Frosty the Snowman, before ice skaters and other Olympians took the field to a Bowdlerized cover of Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now", culminating in an out-of-place Gloria Estefan performance. No wonder many viewers skipped it to watch the In Living Color special take the piss out of the NFL instead and never turned back the channel.
• While things already looked grim for the Bills in the first half, their fate was all but sealed when Kelly threw his third interception 16 seconds after halftime on the first play from scrimmage. The ball was run back to the Bills' 2-yard line and quickly followed up with a TD, bringing the score up 24-0. While Buffalo was finally able to respond with a field goal and touchdown, Washington scored another TD, then converted two turnovers from Kelly (a strip sack recovery and an interception) into field goals. The Bills partially covered up the extent of the 37-10 beatdown with two late-game TD passes (the only ones Kelly ever threw in his four Super Bowl appearances) connected by a successful onside kick recovery, but their second attempt to regain possession was unsuccessful, and Washington was able to run out the clock.
• Calgary-born Mark Rypien became the first Canadian to be named Super Bowl MVP, winning it off a good passing performance^note 18/33 passes completed for 292 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 92.0 rating that looked amazing next to Kelly's, who set a then-Super Bowl record for pass attempts (58) but turned the ball over five times and was sacked the same number. The Bills' other big star looked similarly terrible: after winning the MVP for the regular season, Thomas put up just 13 yards rushing on 10 attempts. Rypien, like Joe Theismann before him, had one more solid season in the NFL after his championship win before his career was derailed by injuries.
• Gibbs became the only head coach to win a Super Bowl with three different starting quarterbacks, including Joe Theismann (XVII), Doug Williams (XXII), and Rypien. However, this was the end of Washington's dynastic run. Gibbs shocked everyone by retiring after the next season. The team immediately cratered, and even Gibbs' brief return in the 2000s couldn't bring the team back to consistent contention; in the decades since his first retirement, they have not posted consecutive playoff berths nor made it past the divisional round.
• The Bills returned yet again to the Super Bowl next year. They had to win this one, right? ...Right?

XXVII — January 31, 1993 / Rose Bowl, Pasadena (Los Angeles), California / Dallas Cowboys def. Buffalo Bills, 52-17

MVP: Troy Aikman, QB
Network/Announcers: NBC (Dick Enberg, Bob Trumpy)
National Anthem: Garth Brooks
Coin Toss: O. J. Simpson, Hall of Fame RB for the Bills
Halftime: Michael Jackson

• Ranked the 35th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The Cowboys' return to the Big Game (a then-record sixth appearance) came after a dramatic rebuild. After original coach Tom Landry's team declined in the '80s, new owner Jerry Jones cleaned house completely in 1989, firing Landry and front office staff who had been with the team for its entire near-three decade existence. Jones took control of GM duties and hired former college teammate and recent college champion coach Jimmy Johnson, a widely derided move considering the very poor track record of college coaches on the pro level.^note The only pro coach who previously won any sort of college championship was the legendary Paul Brown, and even his title was not a consensus choice. Savvy drafting (and an even savvier trade of star RB Herschel Walker, who provided most of those picks) contributed to a stellar rebuild. The Cowboys went from a one-win team in '89 to a powerhouse by '92, with QB Troy Aikman, WR Michael Irvin, and league rushing leader RB Emmitt Smith (aka "The Triplets") leading the NFL's #2 offense. The team also featured a highly underrated defense (#1 against the run despite lacking a single Pro Bowl selection) and were named the #6 Greatest Team of the league's first century by NFL Films.
  • Their 13-3 record was good enough for a #2 seed in the NFC. In the playoffs, they easily beat division rival Eagles before upsetting the #1 seed 49ers in the NFC Championship, getting revenge for "The Catch" game over a decade prior that had derailed the last Dallas dynasty.
• The Bills had faced a long road to return to their third straight Super Bowl. They remained strong in the regular season, securing an 11-5 record with their team full of stars: RB Thurman Thomas had the best season of his career leading a #1 rushing offense, their defense recovered from the bout of injuries the year prior and came up just behind Dallas against the run, and QB Jim Kelly continued to be a dependable signal caller. However, three other teams in their competitive conference matched their record, and tiebreakers relegated them to a #4 seed and a wild card slot. Their loss against the Oilers in the final game of the regular season not only cost them a #1 seed bye but injured Kelly, leaving him sidelined for the next two weeks. Their first opponent in the playoff tournament was... the Oilers.
  • What followed was one of the most legendary moments in NFL history: "The Comeback" (or "The Choke", if you were a Houston fan). After being buried in the first half of their matchup against Houston 35-3 and losing Thurman Thomas to injury, backup QB Frank Reich and the Buffalo defense led a Miracle Rally for the ages, guiding the team to an overtime win adnd delivering the biggest comeback ever in an NFL game in what remains the greatest moment in franchise history, more than even their their pre-merger AFL Championship titles. It seemed to many like the Bills had been chosen by destiny to finally get their title, as they cruised through victories against the Steelers and Dolphins to become the first team since Miami to make three straight Super Bowl appearances. Vegas, on the other hand, observed all of the team's injuries and still favored the Cowboys by 6.5.
• The game was originally slated to be played in Tempe, Arizona, but was moved to Pasadena by the NFL when voters rejected a ballot initiative to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Realizing the loss of millions of dollars of revenue, Arizona quickly passed a new initiative approving the holiday two years later and the NFL rewarded them with hosting Super Bowl XXX, demonstrating the Super Bowl's (and the NFL's) considerable weight and influence on American politics.
  • Last Super Bowl hosted in the Los Angeles area (at the time tied with New Orleans for the most popular Super Bowl site) for nearly three decades, as the Raiders and Rams both left town two seasons later. New Orleans and Miami later passed L.A. in number of Super Bowls, though the Big Game finally returned to Los Angeles for LVI.
• With the return of America's Team to the Big Game and the A-list entertainment, ratings for this game surged; its audience of 90.99 million was up over ten million from last year and was the largest TV audience of any Super Bowl save XX.
• The pre-game show was elevated to a level of production previously reserved for the halftime show, since that had gotten an upgrade, with the Rockettes performing a Hollywood tribute accompanied by Glenn Frey and Fleetwood Mac.
  • Country megastar Garth Brooks was hired to perform the national anthem, and he flexed his own considerable star power for political purposes; he threatened to drop out if NBC did not broadcast the music video for "We Shall Be Free" during the game. The song was written after the Rodney King riots to protest injustice and inequality in many forms, and the network refused due to the archival footage of violence in the video (and, potentially, the pro-LGBT lyrics in the song). Brooks went as far as leaving the stadium 45 minutes before the game, and while producers found Jon Bon Jovi in the crowd and tried to rope him into a last-second performance, they eventually caved to Brooks demands. The performance also featured the first ASL interpreter of the anthem, also at Brooks' suggestion. Since this incident, all Super Bowl performances have been prerecorded so the producers can seamlessly slot it into the broadcast if another artist tried to pull the same thing.
• The game was not quite the Curb-Stomp Battle that the final score suggests; the teams both put up comparable yardage numbers and the score was never out of reach for Buffalo (especially considering they had just pulled off the biggest comeback in NFL history) until things truly fell apart in the final quarter. The biggest reason for the Bills' drumming was their own record-setting lack of ball security: they fumbled the ball eight times, surrendering five of them. Kelly and Reich (who came in during the 2nd quarter after Kelly aggravated a previous knee injury) both threw a pair of interceptions, meaning Buffalo threw the ball away nine times, seven of which came on Buffalo's first set of downs after possession; all of these stats are Super Bowl records. Across both teams, the game featured the most fumbles (12) and lost fumbles (7) ever in the Big Game, and the total number of 11 turnovers tied the record set in V, leading some to nickname this game "Blunder Bowl II".
• In the initial minutes, the game seemed in Buffalo's favor; the Bills forced the Cowboys to three-and-out, and star special teamer Steve Tasker blocked a punt, leading to a quick touchdown and an early lead. However, Kelly threw an interception on the next possession, and 15 seconds after Dallas scored a TD, a penalty on the Bills and a strip sack in the end zone allowed them to score another TD in the fastest scoring spree in Super Bowl history.
• On their next possession, Buffalo got all the way to the Cowboys' 4-yard line before Kelly threw an extremely costly end zone interception on fourth down. He was re-injured on the next possession and benched for the rest of the game. Reich led a drive that ended in a field goal, bringing the score to 14-10 with a few minutes before the half. Dallas responded with a blazing five-play drive that ended with a TD pass to Irvin, stripped Thomas of the ball on the first play of the Bills' next possession, and scored another TD pass to Irvin just 18 seconds after their last, leaving the score a much more demoralizing 28-10 at the half.
• Despite the on-field play being so poor, this edition saw the halftime performances become a highlight in itself thanks to the King of Pop. After Fox's successful counter-programming of last year's halftime show, the NFL made a sizable donation to Michael Jackson's charity to get him to star in the show. It worked: viewing numbers were actually higher for the halftime show than the rest of the game for the first time ever. Jackson's performance is the Trope Maker for today's halftime spectacles, though it took a few more years for the league to settle on the artist-centric model.
  • As for the performance itself, while it is commonly held up as one of the pinnacles of Jackson's impressive career, it was actually fairly short and did not contain many of his biggest hits: Jackson insisted on making the performance more about promoting his Heal the World Foundation than his own celebrity. After standing still as a statue on-stage for two straight minutes while the crowd cheered, he performed only three songs himself ("Jam", "Billie Jean", and "Black or White"). He was then joined by a children's choir, which sang "We Are The World" during an audience card stunt, and finished off with "Heal the World". This performance, featuring Jackson embracing multiple children on-stage, came just a few months before the first allegations of child sexual abuse were leveled against him, making the whole thing feel Harsher in Hindsight to modern audiences.
• After the high scoring first half, the third quarter slowed, with Dallas scoring a field goal and Reich throwing a 40-yard TD pass to Don Beebe just as the quarter expired - which might have ended up controversial had the game been closer, as on replays he appeared to have crossed the line of scrimmage before releasing the pass. This made it a two-possession game entering the fourth at 31-17, still leaving hope for a great comeback.
• Those hopes were promptly quashed when Aikman threw a 45-yard TD pass, S Thomas Everett intercepted a pass from Reich and returned it for 22 yards to set up another Cowboys TD, and Dallas LB Ken Norton Jr. recovered a fumbled snap and returned it for a TD. In less than three minutes, Dallas scored 21 points, a Super Bowl record for fourth quarter points still only tied once.
• The game is probably best remembered for a blooper that occurred well after the outcome was already decided. Late in the fourth, Cowboys DT Leon Lett scooped up a fumble on the Dallas 35-yard-line and had a clear 65-yard path to the end zone. However, around the 10, he foolishly showboated by slowing down and holding the ball out to one side, allowing Beebe to catch up just outside the end zone and knock the ball away for a touchback. Had Lett scored the touchdown, Dallas would've set a new record for highest score in a Super Bowl. NFL Films named Beebe's play the #46 Greatest in NFL history.
• Aikman won Super Bowl MVP for a marvelous passing performance,^note 22/30 passes completed for 273 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs, 140.7 rating though both Irvin and Smith put up great showings. Bills WR Andre Reed put up the most receiving yards of any losing player in the Super Bowl (152). Once again, an injured Thomas performed abysmally in the Super Bowl, putting up just 29 yards from scrimmage.
• The pilot for Homicide: Life on the Street (and the character Detective John Munch) debuted after the game.
• For the first and only time ever, both teams ran it back the following year to once again face off for the Lombardi.

XXVIII — January 30, 1994 / Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia / Dallas Cowboys def. Buffalo Bills, 30-13

MVP: Emmitt Smith, RB
Network/Announcers: NBC (Dick Enberg, Bob Trumpy)
National Anthem: Natalie Cole, daughter of Nat King Cole
Coin Toss: Joe Namath, Hall of Fame QB and Super Bowl III MVP, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Jets' upset win
Halftime: A tribute to Country Music by Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, Brooks & Dunn, and The Judds

• Ranked the 31st best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• First (and only) Super Bowl in which the same two teams met in consecutive years. Ironically, due to the reshuffling of the network rotation a few years prior, this was also the only time the same broadcast duo covered the Super Bowl in consecutive years (These were also the only Super Bowls with Bob Trumpy in the booth, who had been promoted to the lead analyst role when Bill Walsh left after the 1991 season for a second stint as head coach in Stanford), and ratings/audience were comparable as well. Eighth Super Bowl to be a rematch of a regular season contest; however, whereas Buffalo got revenge for their Super Bowl defeat in the Week 2 regular season matchup, 13-10, Dallas decisively won this match-up.
  • The Cowboys may have been named the #23 Greatest Team of the league's first century by NFL Films, but their road to the Super Bowl was one much shakier than the prior year's. Part of this was due to off-field struggles: owner Jerry Jones and coach Jimmy Johnson had managed to rebuild America's Team, but the two men's sizable egos and different ideas for the team's future led to them constantly butting heads. RB Emmitt Smith held out for the first two weeks of the season over a contract dispute, and star QB Troy Aikman struggled with injuries, resulting in a shaky start before Jones caved to Smith's demands after their loss to the Bills. The team also lost their traditional Thanksgiving game due to an error by Leon Lett, adding to his reputation as a blunderer after his fumble in last year's Super Bowl. They recovered by the end of the season, posting the #2 offense and defense in the league. Smith played through injury in the last game of the season to clinch the #1 seed with a 12-4 record and was named league MVP after claiming his third straight rushing yards title.
    • After beating the Packers in the playoffs, the Cowboys once again faced off against the 49ers for the NFC Championship; while they won the game handily, Aikman was knocked out by a severe concussion, passing the game to backup Bernie Kosar to clinch the game and reach his first Super Bowl after several failed attempts as the Browns starter in the '80s.
  • After three straight losses, the American public were starting to get a little exasperated with coach Marv Levy's Bills, who were desperate to not become the third team to go 0-4 in the Super Bowl. They secured the #1 seed with a 12-4 record, but neither their offense nor defense was as statistically impressive as it had been in their prior runs (their defense surrendered the second most yards of the entire season). However, they performed well in the playoffs, defeating a Raiders team led by Jeff Hostetler (the QB that had bested them in XXV) and demolishing Joe Montana's Chiefs. This, combined with their earlier defeat of Dallas, gave Bills fans some hopes, even as Vegas pegged them as 10.5-point underdogs.
• Like last year's Super Bowl, there was a political controversy associated with this game: as the first Super Bowl played in Georgia, several civil rights groups tried to organize boycotts due to the Georgia flag still including the image of the Confederate battle flag. Unlike the MLK Day controversy, the NFL mostly ignored this call, though they did avoid flying the flag inside the stadium.
• Last Super Bowl to not feature a week bye after the conference championships; the league experimented with giving each team two bye weeks in this season to allow greater rest to all teams and expand revenue with more TV slots. Unfortunately, this came at the cost of the Super Bowl bye, which contributed to Aikman and other players not being able to fully recover after the marathon of the playoff tournament; the league backtracked on the idea in response to player and coach criticism.
• The pre-game festivities included performances by a number of "Georgia Music Makers", including Kris Kross (featuring gymnasts on trampolines), The Georgia Satellites, and Charlie Daniels.
• Though the game started off with a 50-yard Dallas kickoff return, the game remained fairly close at first. Aikman was still not recovered from the concussion two weeks prior (he has since stated he doesn't remember a moment of this game), and they had to settle for a field goal on first possession. The Bills responded with a field goal of their own, a 54-yard bomb by Steve Christie that remained the longest ever in a Super Bowl for thirty years. The Cowboys later responded with another FG after stripping RB Thurman Thomas of the ball, but Thomas paid them back by ending the Bills' next drive with a TD, taking a 10-6 lead in the second quarter. After Aikman threw an interception, Buffalo got close to the Dallas end zone but had to settle for another field goal as the first half's clock expired, widening their lead to 13-6 at halftime.
• While the halftime show didn't feature a single artist on the level of Michael Jackson, the NFL tried to assemble a host of country artists who could collectively match Jackson's star-power and marry their performances with some of the more traditional halftime spectacle of hundreds of dancers (this time line-dancing). This was the first halftime show where the main lights of the stadium were turned off to simulate a full concert experience. Also, Stevie Wonder stood on-stage at the end of the show... for some reason.
• Buffalo's lead did not last; in fact, they didn't score in the whole second half as Dallas put up 24 unanswered points. 45 seconds into the third quarter, Lett forced another Thomas fumble that safety James Washington returned 46 yards for a TD, tying the game. On Dallas' next drive, Smith ran the ball in seven of eight plays for 61 of 64 yards and capped it with another TD. Early in the fourth, after an interception from Kelly, Smith ran in a third TD on fourth down. A devastating sack on Kelly and a very poor punt left Dallas in the position to run out four minutes of clock, waste all of Buffalo's time-outs, and score a field goal that put the game away.
• Smith's control of the Dallas offense (132 yards for 2 TDs) earned him Super Bowl MVP; neither the dazed Aikman nor Kelly threw a TD pass all game. Thomas had a third-straight abysmal Super Bowl appearance with 37 yards, one fewer than the Bills #2 running back, and his second fumble was pointed to as the moment that the tide turned against Buffalo.
• Despite Dallas' repeat title win, Johnson's relationship with Jones continued to get more and more acrimonious as the owner continued to push for greater football control. Less than two months after the Super Bowl, Jones publicly stated that he believed anyone could have won two Super Bowls with the roster that he had assembled (with Johnson's help), and Johnson quit/was fired ("agreed to part ways" was the official wordage) after just five years in Dallas. Other coaches before and since have retired after a Super Bowl win to go out on top (Vince Lombardi even briefly came back to coaching), but no other Super Bowl-winning head coach has left their team afterwards under such circumstances. Johnson spent a few years in broadcasting before returning to coach with the Dolphins; Jones, meanwhile, appeared to prove his claim correct by hiring Barry Switzer, another Arkansas alumn-turned-college champion coach, who kept the '90s Cowboys dynasty rolling.
• The End of an Era for the Bills' unprecedented four-straight-streak of Super Bowl appearances (and losses). The team remained competitive for a few more years before falling off hard entering the 21st century; while they have since recovered from their time in the NFL's basement, they have still yet to return to the Super Bowl.^note In fact, as of 2024, this is the last Super Bowl to feature any AFC East team other than the New England Patriots.
• Also the last NFL game covered by famous Bills player O. J. Simpson (who worked the sidelines for NBC); by the time he was next seen on television, it was as a murder suspect in the deaths of estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her close friend Ron Goldman.

XXIX — January 29, 1995 / Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami (now Miami Gardens), Florida / San Francisco 49ers def. San Diego Chargers, 49-26

MVP: Steve Young, QB
Network/Announcers: ABC (Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf)
National Anthem: Kathie Lee Gifford
Coin Toss: Otto Graham, Joe Greene, Ray Nitschke, and Gale Sayers, inductees into the NFL's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, and recent Hall of Fame inductees Steve Largent, Lee Roy Selmon, and Kellen Winslow
Halftime: Disney's Indiana Jones themed presentation with Patti LaBelle, The Miami Sound Machine, and Tony Bennett

• Ranked the 46th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Ninth Super Bowl to be a rematch of a regular season contest with San Francisco beating San Diego in Week 15, 38-15. This was just one factor for the 49ers entering the game as 18.5-point favorites. This remains the most lopsided Super Bowl odds ever, surpassing the 18-point spread in which the Colts were favored over the Jets in III; unlike the Jets, the Chargers were not only unable to overcome them for a victory but were blown out even harder.
  • The Niners were named the #19 Greatest Team of the league's first century by NFL Films. Since the franchise's last Super Bowl win five years prior, they had reached the NFC Championship thrice and fallen up short both times, the last two years falling to the eventual Super Bowl champion Cowboys. QB Steve Young had successfully succeeded an injured Joe Montana in 1991 and led what was consistently the league's best offense, but he struggled to emerge from his predecessor's shadow due to his failure to win the Big Game (especially after Montana's Chiefs beat the Niners during the regular season). Even still, Young had the best statistical passing season ever seen in the NFL that year, once again leading the highest-scoring offense and the league and earning league MVP. To help get the team over the hump, coach George Seifert and the front office took advantage of the new free agency system to sign a massive group of veteran defensive players that included several future Hall of Famers, most notably superstar corner Deion Sanders, who won Defensive Player of the Year. This defense was #2 against the run, and this stacked roster assembled a league-leading 13-3 record, cruised past the Bears in the playoffs, and finally bested the Cowboys in their third-straight NFC Championship matchup thanks to some fortunate first-quarter turnovers that resulted in a 21 point lead less than 5 minutes into the game.
  • In hindsight, the Chargers' appearance in this game as their only Super Bowl visit stands out as rather bizarre. Most familiar with the franchise's history identify its post-merger peaks as being the "Air Coryell" era of the early '80s (when QB Dan Fouts was setting league passing records) or the mid-2000s (when RB LaDainian Tomlinson was setting scoring records with Philip Rivers under center). The fact that this relatively anonymous roster led by coach Bobby Ross and QB Stan Humphries was the only one to actually make the Super Bowl is in some ways a testament to just how weak the AFC was at this time. They earned an 11-5 record, good for the #2 seed, then went on a remarkable playoff run where they mounted two second half Miracle Rally upsets won by a single play, first beating the Dolphins by a single point thanks to a potential game-winning field goal sailing far right, then deflecting a potential game-winning TD pass in the AFC Championship against the Steelers. These narrow wins, dependent on luck as much as skill, and the team's poor pass defense set them up as a huge underdog.
• First Super Bowl to have two teams with home stadiums in the same state (in this case, California).^note XXV had the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants, who are both technically based in New York State, but the Giants play in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This might have contributed to the disproportionate number of appearances of this game on television: Full House (notably set in San Francisco and airing on ABC), Home Improvement (also on ABC), and Seinfeld all aired episodes about or set at this game.
• Ratings took a massive dive due to the predicted blowout, though not nearly to the extent of XXIV's; average audience was around 83.4 million, down nearly seven million from last year.
• Frank Gifford's last of five appearances in the Super Bowl broadcast booth (and Dan Dierdorf's last of three); Gifford's wife performed the national anthem.
• Pre-game festivities celebrated the league's 75th anniversary.
• Lots of interesting player-related records in this game. Sanders became the only person to ever play in both a Super Bowl and baseball's World Series (having done so with the Atlanta Braves in 1992). LB Ken Norton Jr became the only player to ever win Super Bowls in three straight years after jumping ship from Dallas. Finally, Chargers backup QB Gale Gilbert became the first person to appear in (and lose) five straight Super Bowls, having been a backup on the Bills roster through their whole run.
• The highest combined score in any Super Bowl, at 75 points, and first Super Bowl in which both teams scored in all four quarters. The total of ten touchdowns between the two teams is also a record. Those numbers just serve to further emphasize how dominant the Niners' offense was, as the game still wasn't even close.
• The scoring bonanza started less than two minutes into the game when Young threw a 44-yard TD pass to Jerry Rice. Barely three minutes later, he threw a 51-yard TD. The Chargers responded with a TD drive of their own, which chewed more time off the clock than the Niners' first two combined; Young responded with a third TD early in the second quarter, then a fourth. San Diego managed to score a field goal and lucked out when an San Fran FG attempt soared right, but Humphries threw an end zone interception before time expired, leaving the score 28-10 at the half.
• Disney provided one of the most elaborate and bizarre halftime shows ever to promote the opening of the Indiana Jones Adventure ride and stunt show. It was the first Super Bowl halftime show to attempt a plot, as Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood parachute into the stadium to attempt to retrieve the Lombardi Trophy from tribespeople (even setting one Man on Fire), traps, and various very loosely connected music performers before ending it all with everyone singing "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" (The Lion King had been released last summer).
• The Niners stacked up two more TDs after the half, including Young's fifth scoring pass. The Chargers at least had something to celebrate when Andre Coleman returned a kickoff 98 yards for a TD, which they followed up with the first 2-point conversion in Super Bowl history (the NFL having only introduced that option this season). Young responded with another TD pass early in the fourth, putting the Chargers in too deep a hole to recover from; Humphries and Gilbert both threw an interception (one to Sanders, who proceeded to line up on offense the next possession), and Humphries eventually managed another 8-point TD in the game's final minutes.
• Young won game MVP after throwing six touchdown passes, his first game ever with that number, breaking the Super Bowl record of five thrown by Montana in XXIV; he was also the team's leading rusher with 49 yards on the ground. Rice posted three receiving TDs, tying his own Super Bowl record (still yet to be tied by anyone else). The sole bright spot for San Diego was Coleman, who had a total of 244 yards thanks to having to return eight kickoffs.
• The Chargers made the playoffs the following year but slumped pretty hard after that, enduring an eight-year playoff drought. They still have yet to return to a Super Bowl and have only even reached the AFC Championship once. In hindsight, this team is now known more for one of the NFL's most infamous curses; eight members of this Super Bowl roster (including their sole Hall Famer, LB Junior Seau) died before reaching 50.
• The Niners' victory gave them the most Super Bowl wins of any franchise at five; this record was tied by the Cowboys the following year and eventually passed by the Steelers and Patriots, as San Francisco hasn't been able to add another title since (though no other franchise has won five straight appearances). Sanders got out of town right away, signing a huge contract with Dallas. This was not quite the end of the Niners' '80s-'90s dynasty, as they remained very competitive for another four years until injuries forced Young into retirement. It was, however, an End of an Age for their run as league champions; while they later returned to three more Super Bowls, they still have yet to win another.

XXX — January 28, 1996 / Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe (Phoenix), Arizona / Dallas Cowboys def. Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-17

MVP: Larry Brown, CB
Network/Announcers: NBC (Dick Enberg, Phil Simms, Paul Maguire)
National Anthem: Vanessa Williams
Coin Toss: Joe Montana, 3-time Super Bowl MVP and Hall of Fame QB, on behalf of the previous MVPs of the past three decades
Halftime: Diana Ross

• Ranked the 21st best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The Cowboys and Steelers become the first (and so far only) two teams to face one another three times in the Super Bowl (after X and XIII). Like the last time they met, the winner of this match would claim the most Super Bowl wins of any franchise at that time (five, tied with the 49ers).
  • The Cowboys were named the #47 Greatest Team of the league's first century by NFL Films. After Jimmy Johnson was fired as head coach following their last Super Bowl victory, owner Jerry Jones hired another championship-winning college coach, Oklahoma's Barry Switzer. The team fell one game short of a third straight Super Bowl appearance and a chance at a threepeat the previous season, which many Dallas fans blamed on the unnecessary disruption of the winning team's coaching staff. In the off-season, they picked up CB Deion Sanders from the 49ers for a massive contract, though he wound up struggling with injuries through most of the year. Even still, they managed a 12-4 record and the #1 seed thanks to their #3 offense led by QB Troy Aikman (#2 on the ground thanks to league-leading rusher Emmitt Smith) and #3 defense. The Boys demolished the Eagles and bested the Packers in a hard-fought NFC Championship.
  • After dominating the '70s, the Steelers had mostly regressed to the middle of the pack in the '80s. After coach Chuck Noll's retirement after 1991, his replacement Bill Cowher helped to revitalize the team. With a solid ground-focused offense capably managed by QB Neil O'Donnell and a stout defense (#2 in yards allowed thanks to talents like Kevin Greene and Greg Lloyd), the Steelers managed an 11-5 record, good for the #2 seed. While they wiped the floor with the Bills 40-21, the AFC Championship game against the Colts turned out to be both close and controversial, as the Steelers won by 4 against an expected underdog thanks to an officiating error where Pittsburgh was awarded a TD despite the receiver stepping out of bounds. Since the Steelers still ultimately won only thanks to the Colts dropping a Hail Mary pass (and because Cowher was the youngest HC ever to reach a Super Bowl at the time), Vegas pinned the Cowboys as 13.5-point favorites.
• The excitement around the return of this classic matchup—and the likelihood of seeing "America's Team" defeat and surpass their old Super Bowl rivals—led to a massive ratings boost and the largest audience ever for a Super Bowl at the time (around 94 million).
• Former Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms makes his first of eight appearances as a Super Bowl commentator. (Paul Maguire makes his first of two.)
• The pre-game featured celebrations of The Wild West; the flyover featured a Missing Man formation, honoring the tenth anniversary of the Challenger disaster.
• While the Cowboys did pull out a win, the game turned out to be much closer than most had anticipated. Things kicked off in the Boys' favor, as they opened up with a field goal, then scored a touchdown that was set up by an impressive 47-yard reception from Sanders (who became the only person to ever record both a reception and interception in a Super Bowl). Pittsburgh got into field goal range on their next possession, but a misaimed snap by future Hall of Fame center Dermotti Dawson that flew over O'Donnell's head cost them 13-yards and the chance to score.
• In the second quarter, Dallas scored another field goal after a pass interference penalty nullified a potential Michael Irvin touchdown. O'Donnell led a successful TD drive right before halftime, leaving the score 13-7 at the half.
• While Michael Jackson is widely attributed as the Trope Maker for the modern artist-centered halftime show, Diana Ross's might be the Trope Codifier, as she assembled a Greatest Hits medley encompassing her 20+ year career featuring dramatic costume changes, a massive dance ensemble provided by Radio City Music Hall, and a grand finale exit in which a helicopter landed in the stadium and flew Ross off into the sunset as she sang "Take Me Higher".
• In the third quarter, Dallas CB Larry Brown intercepted an O'Donnell pass and returned it for 44 yards, setting them up to score another TD. Pittsburgh managed to score another field goal early in the fourth, then executed a surprise onside kick and launched another TD drive, bringing the score to 20-17 with over six minutes remaining. The Steelers defense forced the Cowboys to punt, and Pittsburgh was in position to retake the lead and potentially win the game... only for Brown to pick O'Donnell off again and return the ball 33 yards, setting up another Dallas TD and allowing the Cowboys to run out the clock. Notably, both of these critical INTs were thrown in Brown's direction with no Steelers receivers in his vicinity by a passer who for years had the lowest INT percentage of any QB; he threw a third pick on a pointless Hail Mary attempt to end the game.
• Despite losing the game, the Steelers outplayed the Cowboys in numerous metrics, with more yards (310-254, with 201-61 in the second half) and first downs (25-15), and their defense greatly limited the Dallas run game to just 56 yards. However, O'Donnell also threw nearly twice as much as Aikman only to just slightly overtake his yardage, and Dallas was just able to put up more big plays on both offense and defense, particularly with those interceptions, and allowed only two sacks to Pittsburgh's four.
• First Super Bowl in which the Lombardi Trophy was presented on-field at the end of the game.
• Brown remains the only cornerback to receive the game MVP for his critical game-sealing INTs. He spun this success off into an immensely lucrative contract with the Raiders the following season, but he would start a grand total of one game for the rest of his NFL career, going down as one of the biggest free agency busts ever.
• Cowher kept the Steelers generally competitive for several more years and eventually took the team back to a Super Bowl a decade later with an almost entirely different roster. Despite melting down under the bright lights, O'Donnell signed a massive contract with the Jets in the following offseason only to go down as one of the other biggest free agency busts ever and never return to the success he saw with the Steelers, though he would return to the Super Bowl as a backup with the Titans a few years later.
• The End of an Age for the '90s Cowboy dynasty, the first team to win three Super Bowls in just four years. Dallas remained competitive the following year, but locker room drama and a decline in performance the following season led Switzer to retire, and most of the Cowboys stars likewise retired early due to injuries. In the decades since, Jerry Jones has struggled to recapture his early success, throwing into question the idea that he was more responsible for the team's success than Johnson. Dallas has yet to even revisit an NFC Championship, let alone another Super Bowl, and in that time the franchise has lost their lead in both Super Bowl appearances (to the Patriots and Broncos) and Super Bowl wins (to the Pats and Steelers).

Super Bowls XXXI to XXXV

XXXI — January 26, 1997 / Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana / Green Bay Packers def. New England Patriots, 35-21

MVP: Desmond Howard, KR/PR
Network/Announcers: Fox (Pat Summerall, John Madden)
National Anthem: Luther Vandross
Coin Toss: Hank Stram, Mike Ditka, Tom Flores, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, and George Seifert, winning coaches from Super Bowls that were held in New Orleans
Halftime: The Blues Brothers (Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, and James Belushi) with guests James Brown and ZZ Top

• Ranked the 26th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The Packers were named the #20 Greatest Team of the league's first century by NFL Films. Since their last Super Bowl win over a quarter century prior, Green Bay had wavered between mediocrity and worse without Lombardi at the helm, leaving the historic publicly-owned team and all of "Titletown" in seemingly dire straits. Coach Mike Holmgren and QB Brett Favre helped restore the team to playoff contention in the early '90s, and their success and the savvy of GM Ron Wolf helped the small-market franchise take great advantage of free agency by signed the great "Minister of Defense" DE Reggie White. Despite Favre entering rehab for opioid addiction during the preceding offseason, the Pack rolled over the rest of the league in '96, posting the league's #1 offense and defense (a first since the perfect '72 Dolphins). They even excelled on special teams thanks to efforts of return specialist Desmond Howard, who set several still-standing records. The Packers secured a 13-3 record and the #1 seed, and Favre won his second straight MVP. The team cruised to clear victories over the 49ers and Panthers and were favored by 14 points in the Big Game.
• In the decade since their last Super Bowl appearance, the Patriots had mostly languished in the NFL's basement, and poor attendance, facilities, and ownership seemingly threatened the team's very existence. However, the hiring of Bill Parcells as head coach (along with his old Giants DC Bill Belichick), the purchase of the franchise by Robert Kraft, and the emergence of star QB Drew Bledsoe and RB Curtis Martin helped turn the franchise around. With the #2 offense and a decent defense (though weak against the pass), the Pats posted an 11-5 record, good for the #2 seed, and cruised past the Steelers and Jaguars (the latter the only AFC title game ever played at Foxboro Stadium).
  • Parcells became the second head coach (and first since Don Shula) to guide two different teams to the Super Bowl, having previously led the Giants to victories in XXI and XXV. However, word leaked in the leadup to the game that Parcells, who had an acrimonious relationship with Kraft and was seeking more roster control, was planning on leaving New England and had been in communication with the New York Jets to become their HC. This perceived lack of commitment, coupled with the perception of the Pats as a Cinderella team, was another reason the Packers were so heavily favored.
  • The only one of their eleven Super Bowl appearances where the Patriots wore their white-on-gray Nineties-era away uniforms.
• First Super Bowl televised by Fox, bringing back iconic broadcasting duo Pat Summerall and John Madden. As a result, it was also the first Super Bowl broadcast to feature a constant updating graphic for the score, time, down, and distance, an innovation pioneered by Fox that quickly became the norm across all sports broadcasts.
• Ratings dipped once again without "America's Team" in the bout: 87.87 million, down over six million from last year.
• The extravagant pregame show featured indoor fireworks and Los del Rio conducting a massive dance performance of the "Macarena" (ah, the '90s).
• The game got off to an exciting start, with the highest-scoring first quarter ever seen in a Super Bowl. The Packers built an early 10-point lead, with Favre throwing a 54-yard TD on Green Bay's second offensive play, the Packers intercepting Bledsoe on the next possession, and a fortunate New England sack holding Green Bay to a field goal. The Patriots quickly rebounded with some great plays and the help of a sizable pass interference penalty, racking up two TDs to end the first quarter at 14-10.
  • This was the last time that a Patriots team scored a touchdown in the first quarter of a Super Bowl. They would post scoreless first quarters altogether in eight of their following nine appearances, with Super Bowl LII as the only exception. In that sense, Drew Bledsoe once again defined himself as the photonegative of Tom Brady, playing his best football in the beginning rather than the end.
• The Packers responded by scoring 17 unanswered points. In the second quarter, Favre threw a then-Super Bowl record 81-yard TD pass to Antonio Freeman. A second interception from Bledsoe allowed the Packers to string together FG and TD drives; they were only blocked from another score by a timely sack on Favre before halftime, leaving the score 27-14.
• The Blues Brothers halftime show attempted to follow the model of the Indiana Jones stunt show two years prior to disastrous results. A few days before the game, a stuntwoman named Laura Patterson died while practicing for a planned bungee jumping stunt, putting a seemingly permanent end to the trend of stunts in halftime shows before it could even get started. The show was widely criticized as a messy attempt by Dan Aykroyd to promote both his new House of Blues chain of music venues and the upcoming Blues Brothers 2000, which didn't come out for a full year after this show and was a Box Office Bomb. Even Fox itself got its own share of criticism when it tried to shoehorn in a fake news broadcast to promote the new Fox News Channel. But hey, at least ZZ Top drove onto the field on motorcycles.
• The Pats entered the second half with some promise, as their defense managed to stifle Green Bay and TD drive brought a win within reach. However, New England's hopes were quickly squashed when Howard ran back the subsequent kickoff for a 99-yard TD, then the longest play ever in the Super Bowl, and Favre threw a two-point conversion. Green Bay's defense carried the team the rest of the way, with Bledsoe throwing two more interceptions after receiving three devastating sacks from White, the first two on back-to-back plays.
• Howard remains the only special teamer to win Super Bowl MVP. While he did have a great game, breaking or tying many return records, this did notably rob Favre and White of the award in their sole Super Bowl wins despite strong performances^note For Favre: 14/27 passes complete for 246 yards, 2 TDs, and no INTs for a 107.9 rating, plus a third TD on the ground; for White, three sacks.
• The Patriots returned to the Superdome five years later to win their first Lombardi, but they would have a new starting QB (Bledsoe stayed the starter for a few years despite his poor performance in this game,^note 25/48 for 253 yards, 2 TDs, 4 INTs, 46.6 rating only to be replaced after an injury by some kid named Brady) and head coach (Parcells did indeed quit the Pats and hop over to the Jets after the game). Still, a number of Patriots from this team^note Tedy Bruschi, Willie McGinest, Troy Brown, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, Ted Johnson, Otis Smith, and Adam Vinatieri played in that game, making this an interesting prelude to the eventual Patriots dynasty. It was also the only championship contested by a Boston area team in the 1990s, in contrast to the ubiquity of Boston teams both before and after.
• The Packers' victory revitalized a franchise that had been dire since the late '60s, snapped a twenty-nine-year championship drought, and seemed to set up the Packers as next NFC dynasty. However, while the Packers stayed one of the league's most consistently winning teams in the decades that followed, this would be the only championship title of the Favre-Holmgren era, though the team did return to the Big Game the following year.

XXXII — January 25, 1998 / Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California / Denver Broncos def. Green Bay Packers, 31-24

MVP: Terrell Davis, RB
Network/Announcers: NBC (Dick Enberg, Phil Simms, Paul Maguire)
National Anthem: Jewel
Coin Toss: Doug Williams and Joe Gibbs, Washington player (and MVP) and coach, respectively, who won the last Super Bowl held in San Diego, joined by Eddie Robinson, longtime coach of the Grambling State University Tigers
Halftime: Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Queen Latifah, Martha Reeves, and The Temptations^note with the lineup containing only one member from the group's original lineup, Otis Williams, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Motown.

• Ranked the #27 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary. After over a decade of NFC dominance with only two close games in that timespan, the Broncos pulled off a storybook upset over the defending champions. John Elway's "Helicopter Dive" was ranked the #33 Greatest Play; the Broncos were the #50 Greatest Team. Ranked the 12th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
  • All year long, Mike Holmgren's Packers seemed destined to successfully defend their title. QB Brett Favre remained the league's top QB, winning his record third (straight) MVP award while leading the league's #2 offense. With a powerful defense backing it up, the Pack earned another 13-3 record (good for the #2 seed) and dominated the Buccaneers and 49ers in the playoffs.
  • The Broncos, on the other hand, entered the Super Bowl as 11-point underdogs, and not just because of the franchise's four prior blowouts in the Big Game (three with a now-37-year-old Elway under center). After the team appeared to stagnate following their Super Bowl stretch, new coach Mike Shanahan had reinvigorated the Broncos after his hiring in 1995. For the 1997 season, the franchise attempted to shed its old identity as chokers by adopting a new uniform and putting together the league's #1 offense, with Elway's somewhat diminishing skill as a passer being offset by a powerful run game led by Terrell Davis. However, their 12-4 record was only good enough for a wild card #4 seed. After demolishing the Jaguars, who had upset them in the playoffs the year prior, the Broncos just barely eked out a win against the Chiefs and Steelers. Vegas had seen too many examples of dominant NFC teams dogwalking questionable AFC teams, and a Packer win was seen as almost certain.
• Last Super Bowl announced by Dick Enberg and the last Super Bowl to air on NBC until XLIII 11 years later, as NBC lost their AFC coverage rights to CBS, who made their return to the NFL after losing NFC coverage to FOX starting in 1994; the NFL would not return to NBC until 2006.
• Despite the predicted blowout, ratings were up slightly from last year, with an audience of 90 million (up over two million).
• The Packers took an early lead on their first possession, with Favre moving the ball quickly down the field for a touchdown to Antonio Freeman. However, the Broncos immediately responded with a TD drive of their own, with Davis running it in for the first and only time that both teams have scored a TD in their first possession in the Super Bowl. Green Bay never regained the lead for the rest of the game. The first quarter wrapped with Denver picking off Favre for an interception.
• In the second quarter, the Broncos had a serious problem: Davis had forgotten to take medication for a chronic condition in the hustle and bustle of Super Bowl Sunday and was experiencing a severe migraine that left him in severe pain and nearly blind. He had to sit out for much of the quarter while waiting for his meds to kick in, but Shanahan put him in as a decoy for one trick play that allowed Elway to sneak in a TD for himself. On the Packers' next possession, veteran Broncos safety Steve Atwater stripped Favre of the ball with a powerful sack, allowing Jason Elam to kick a 51-yard FG. The Packers responded with an impressive 95-yard TD drive right before the half, leaving the score 17-14.
• The halftime show featured a massive collection of talent from throughout Motown's history, up to the current day, but was otherwise a relatively subdued show best remembered for the pre-recorded opening (featuring multiple stars of the '90s singing bits of a Temptations song a cappella; Brett Favre mumbled his way through his section, appearing to not even know the tune let alone the words) and the "Dancing In The Street" finale (featuring dozens of the waving "tube man" balloons typically found outside of car dealerships). The show lineup was initially planned to be even more massive with an appearance from The Four Tops, but they dropped out the day before the performance and left it up to the Temptations to cover their song.
• Davis stepped back in after the half, the worst of his headache having faded, only to fumble the ball away on the very first play while deep in Denver territory. While this initially suggested that the Broncos were once again going to choke spectacularly, their defense played out of their mind to prevent Green Bay from scoring a touchdown or even securing a first down. They then did so again when an offsides penalty on a Packer field goal attempt gave Green Bay back the ball, forcing them to settle for a game-tying FG. After a Denver special teams offsides penalty gave Green Bay the ball back, the defense repeated the feat with two consecutive three-and-outs.
• Elway put up a generally poor performance in this game,^note 12/22 passes completed for 123 yards, 1 INT, 1 rushing TD and 0 passing, 51.9 rating being completely outplayed by Favre,^note 25/42, 256 yards, 3 TD-1 INT, 91.0 but few remember that thanks mainly to one play: the iconic "Helicopter Dive". While leading a crucial 92-yard drive, Elway scrambled to get a critical first down and showed no hesitation when two defenders beared down on him from opposite directions; despite taking a massive hit mid-dive that spun him through the air like a helicopter blade, the 37-year-old got right back on his feet. Even before Davis ran in another TD to break the tie, the broadcasters and everyone on the field immediately recognized after that play that the game was effectively over; after all the disappointments he had endured to get to this point, there was simply no way Elway was going to lose this game.
• No one told the Packers, though, as they fought very hard to through the rest of the game. After Denver recovered a stripped ball from Green Bay, Elway was in a prime position to throw another TD only to be intercepted in the end zone, and the Packers quickly tied the game with TD of their own. After a tense defensive battle, the Packers conceded a TD with 1:45 left on the clock, hoping that it would give them enough time to potentially tie or win the game with a desperation TD drive. An injury to Atwater potentially opened a hole in the secondary for Favre's final pass attempt, but the Broncos held firm, sealing the biggest Super Bowl upset since IV.
• Davis won game MVP after scoring a still-Super Bowl record three rushing touchdowns and running for 157 yards despite being diminished by his headache and benched for a good chunk of the game. The entire Broncos ground game was exceptional, never surrendering negative yardage on a play and controlling the ball and clock despite Favre's passing game more than doubling Elway's. Even still, after receiving the Lombardi, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen held the trophy aloft and said, "This one's for John", and few could disagree that he had earned it.
• The Broncos become the first AFC team in 14 seasons to win the Super Bowl, another fitting accomplishment for Elway considering how many of those losses had been on his teams. The NFL could exhale; Foregone Conclusion Super Bowls with automatic NFC victories would not threaten future ratings. Since this win, no conference has put up a win streak longer than four years. Despite some speculation that Elway would retire on top, the Broncos ran it back for another title run the following season.
• The Packers struggled to recover from this loss. Holmgren retired after the next season to take the HC job in Seattle, where he would eventually return to the Big Game. The team remained competitive with Favre under center for the next decade, but he never returned to the Super Bowl. A different Packers team would make it back years later a month after Favre's retirement from the NFL.

XXXIII — January 31, 1999 / Pro Player Stadium, Miami (now Miami Gardens), Florida / Denver Broncos def. Atlanta Falcons, 34-19

MVP: John Elway, QB
Network/Announcers: Fox (Pat Summerall, John Madden)
National Anthem: Cher
Coin Toss: Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore, Jim Parker, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Frank Gifford, Roosevelt Brown, Don Maynard, Sam Huff, and Tom Landry, alumni of 1958 NFL Championship Game 40 years prior, widely claimed to be the "Greatest Game Ever Played"
Halftime: Gloria Estefan, Stevie Wonder, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, in celebration of soul, salsa, and swing

• Ranked the 5th worst Super Bowl (51st) by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The main storyline of this game was the lingering history between the Broncos and Falcons' coach Dan Reeves, who had led the Broncos to their three Super Bowl losses in the late '80s. Prior to the game, Reeves had mentioned in interviews that Broncos QB John Elway and current HC Mike Shanahan (Reeves' former OC) had conspired to drive him out of the organization years prior. The Broncos were favored by 7.5 to give Reeves his fourth Super Bowl loss.
  • The Broncos were named the #14 Greatest Team of the league's first century by NFL Films. Despite wide speculation that Elway would retire after finally winning a championship, he decided to return to chase one more ring. His age was one contributor to this Broncos' team having the highest average age of any Super Bowl-winning team (28.5 years old); some injury struggles led to him being replaced at starter by Bubby Brister for four weeks during the season. RB Terrell Davis won league MVP after becoming the fourth player to rush for over 2,000 yards in a single season, helping the team post the #2 offense for the year. With a very capable defense, Denver went 14-2 and crushed the Dolphins and Jets in the playoffs.
  • Atlanta's appearance in this Super Bowl remains one of the greatest Cinderella stories in pro football. The Falcons had always been an infamously dysfunctional franchise, failing to put up a single pair of back-to-back winning seasons throughout their entire 30+ year history to this point. In 1997, the Falcons hired Reeves as HC. In his second season, Reeves and his "Dirty Birds", led by veteran journeyman QB Chris Chandler in his sole Pro Bowl season and a likewise mostly anonymous roster, unexpectedly posted a (still) franchise-best 14-2 record, earning the NFC's #2 seed. Reeves almost didn't make it that far, as he had to sit out two games late in the season while recovering from a quadruple bypass surgery. After narrowly upsetting the 49ers in the divisional round, the Falcons delivered one of the biggest upsets in NFL history to the #1 seed Vikings, who had a record-breaking offense and were just one game away from breaking their lengthy Super Bowl drought, in the NFC Championship. Reeves became the third head coach to guide two different teams to the Super Bowl, and his perseverance earned him Coach of the Year honors.
• Ratings saw a sharp decline from last year (83.72 million average audience, down over six million), perhaps due to the perceived Foregone Conclusion outcome and the return of last year's champion.
• The night prior to the game, Falcons safety Eugene Robinson was arrested for soliciting an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute, an extreme embarrassment considering he was a married, devout Christian who had accepted an award for his "high moral character" just a few hours prior.
• The pregame ceremony featured a KISS concert in a show promoting a Caribbean cruise.
• The Falcons got off to a promising start, driving down to the red zone for the first of several visits that ultimately proved to be disappointments; a sack from Bill Romanowski forced Atlanta to settle for a FG, giving them their only lead of the game. The Broncos responded with a TD drive, though the injury of star TE Shannon Sharpe left some Denver fans nervous, a feeling that only grew when Elway threw an interception as the first quarter ended.
• The Broncos needn't have worried; Denver's defense prevented Atlanta from scoring, and the offense scored a FG on their next possession. Atlanta's Hall of Fame kicker Morten Andersen missed a chip-shot FG attempt. On the Broncos' very next play, Elway threw an 80-yard TD pass to WR Rod Smith (covered by a sleep-deprived Robinson), a play that TV audiences missed live due to FOX still playing an ad for The Matrix. Atlanta managed to score a FG before the half, leaving the score 17-6 at halftime.
• The halftime show was a fairly standard performance of two massive stars (Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder) playing their hits. Estefan became the first artist to feature in two different halftime shows, having last appeared in XXVI. Oh, and E.T. is in it for some reason. The show's third act, the swing revival band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, were remembered by The Ringer as the "last niche act" to play halftime, and the band considers their performance to be the height of their career and the swing revival craze in general.
• The Falcons were saved from being completely buried in the third quarter by Broncos kicker Jason Elam missing two straight FG attempts. However, Chandler threw two costly picks, both returned for massive yards, allowing Denver to run in another TD early in the fourth. A third INT was then also returned for massive yardage, setting up Elway to sneak in another TD that essentially put the game away at 31-6. The Falcons attempted to claw back when Tim Dwight returned the kickoff for a TD, but the Broncos scored another FG on their next possession. Chandler finally threw a TD pass in garbage time (with a failed two-point conversion), and a failed onside kick and a later fumble from Chandler allowed Denver to run out the clock.
• Both teams only punted the ball once.
• After four Super Bowls where Elway put up a poor performance on football's biggest stage, the Hall of Fame QB rode off into the sunset with a second straight Super Bowl victory and his first Super Bowl MVP, making him the then-oldest winner of the award. His solid performance^note 18/29 passes completed for 336 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 99.2 rating, plus a QB sneak TD was complimented by Davis,^note 102 yards rushing, 50 receiving Smith,^note 152 yards receiving and a TD, an o-line that didn't allow a single sack, and CB Darrien Gordon, who returned two INTs for a Super Bowl record 108 yards. On the Falcons side, while Chandler put up a poor performance,^note 19/35, 219 yards, 1 TD, 4 turnovers (3 INTs and a fumble), 47.2 rating Dwight had an excellent game as a returner, amassing 210 yards and a TD off of just five kickoffs.
• Fair or not, Elway coming out on top in the end and seeming to prove that he was not the problem in those losses likely put the nail in coffin for Reeves' chances at the Hall of Fame. That said, this was the second time a team he coached in the Super Bowl committed no penalties.
• The pilot episode of Family Guy debuted after the game, and both it and the episode of The Simpsons that followed it had scenes taking place at this game, with the game itself the main plot point of the Simpsons episode.
• The Falcons' bizarre inconsistency streak continued, as they slumped hard the following year to a losing record; of all the teams to appear in the Super Bowl, the Falcons have the worst five-year win record of any team surrounding their visit, with this remarkable run sandwiched between two losing seasons on either side. Reeves lasted a few more years with the Falcons before being fired in the middle of the 2003 season; the Falcons didn't break their franchise curse with consecutive winning seasons until 2009 and didn't return to the Big Game until after 2016, which did little to improve the franchise's reputation.
• The Broncos slumped to a 6-10 record the following year without Elway at the helm and with Davis suffering the first of several serious injuries that eventually brought his exceptional career to an early end. While Shanahan kept Denver competitive for another decade, he never returned the Broncos to the Super Bowl. Denver did not revisit the Big Game until Elway returned to the franchise over a decade later as its general manager and brought Peyton Manning to the Mile High City.

XXXIV — January 30, 2000 / Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia / St. Louis Rams def. Tennessee Titans, 23-16

MVP: Kurt Warner, QB
Network/Announcers: ABC (Al Michaels, Boomer Esiason)
National Anthem: Faith Hill
Coin Toss: Bud Grant, Lamar Hunt, Bobby Bell, Paul Krause, Willie Lanier, Alan Page, and Jan Stenerud, alumni from Super Bowl IV, the last pre-merger NFL-AFL championship game
Halftime: Disney's "Tapestry of Nations", inspired by the same-named attraction from the Epcot park in Florida, featuring Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton, and Edward James Olmos

• Ranked the #16 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary and the eighth highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list. Mike Jones' "One Yard Short" tackle was the #11 Greatest Play and the sixth best in a Super Bowl. The Rams were the #11 Greatest Team and the Titans #91. Ranked the 6th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The climax of the 2021 film American Underdog starring Zachary Levi (though most of the game itself is presented in archival footage).
• The dramatic culmination of two of the most memorable team-based storylines in NFL history. This remains the last Super Bowl in which neither team previously won one; both teams had also just recently gone through a major market move. It was also the tenth Super Bowl to be a rematch of a regular season contest; however, whereas Tennessee won the regular season matchup in Week 3, 24-21, St. Louis won the Super Bowl.
  • Due to their brand new uniforms, name, location, and attitude, more than a few casual viewers who didn't pay close attention to football outside the Super Bowl mistakenly thought the Titans were a brand new team. The Titans had previously been known as the Houston Oilers, but had departed Texas for Tennessee (a state that is not particularly famous for its oil) two years earlier. The Oilers had won the first two AFL Championships in the early '60s but never appeared in a Super Bowl due to a well-known inclination for choking in the playoffs. This long history of disappointments, paired with a collapse to mediocrity and worse in the mid-'90s and the desire for a new stadium, led the team to seek greener pastures in Tennessee. Led by dual-threat QB Steve McNair (assisted in injury for part of the season by Neil O'Donnell), star RB Eddie George, Defensive Rookie of the Year Jevon "The Freak" Kearse, and hard-nosed HC Jeff Fisher, the Titans had a lot to prove in their new market but managed to bounce back and land the #4 wild card seed with a 13-3 record. The Titans shook off some of their old postseason curse by pulling off one of the most memorable wins in NFL history: the Music City Miracle, a desperation lateral on a kickoff return that secured the win on the final play. The Titans proceeded to narrowly beat Peyton Manning's Colts and easily handled the division rival Jaguars in the AFC Championship.
  • For all of the Titans' accomplishments, the Rams had dominated the NFL media landscape for most of the season. The team were likewise relative newcomers in their market, having moved to St. Louis from Los Angeles in 1995 at the behest of owner Georgia Frontiere. The team had fallen far from its earlier position as consistent competitors; it had been a decade since they had reached the playoffs, and many preseason projections placed them dead last in the league. Expectations only worsened when starting QB Trent Green suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason. When HC Dick Vermeil announced that the team was giving the reins of the offense to first year OC Mike Martz and an undrafted free agent QB named Kurt Warner best known for playing arena football (and before that, he'd been released from the NFL in 1994 and spent the rest of the year stocking shelves at a grocery store), most were ready to give up on the entire season. Warner, helped by a host of future Hall of Famers, proceeded to win league MVP while leading an offense that shattered existing records. "The Greatest Show On Turf" notably included multi-threat RB Marshall Faulk, a fresh transplant from Indianapolis who set new yards-from-scrimmage records as an elite runner and receiver. Their defense was no slouch either, leading the league against the run. The Rams went 13-3, good for the #1 seed; however, said schedule was one of the softest ever faced by a Super Bowl contender, facing only one team that finished the year with a winning record—and, as mentioned above, that game ended with a loss to their Super Bowl opponent. After easily besting the Vikings in the first round, the Rams struggled to an NFC Championship victory over the Buccaneers in a low-scoring bout. Even though the Titans' fairly weak pass defense marked them as easy prey, the Rams' regular season victory and the disparities in the conference championship performances meant the Rams were only favored by 7.
• Vermeil, who won Coach of the Year for leading the Rams' remarkable campaign, became the fourth head coach to guide two different teams to the Super Bowl, having previously guided the Eagles to a loss in XV nearly two decades prior; he subsequently entered a 15-year retirement, only to return to coaching with the Rams in '97. This remains the longest gap between Super Bowl appearances for an HC.
• The excitement surrounding the two teams' journeys to the Big Game brought a ratings boost (88.47 million average viewers, up nearly five million). A 30-second ad cost over $2,000,000 for the first time, a fact the general public was made aware of by one of the dozens of commercials paid for by a dot-com company shortly before that bubble burst.
• First HD Super Bowl TV broadcast and the only one to feature recently retired QB Boomer Esiason in the booth. After spending the last two seasons paired with Michaels, where they fought behind the scenes over different standards of professionalism, Esiason left the booth before the end of the broadcast to go be part of the celebrations. This was the last straw for Michaels, and Esiason was subsequently let go by the network, though he'd still end up commentating for a record 18 straight Super Bowls on CBS/Westwood One radio.
• For all of the hype around the Rams' offense, much of the game was dominated by defensive and special teams plays, particularly before halftime. While the Rams utterly trounced the Titans in terms of total yards in the first half (294-89), they struggled to seal the deal and get the ball into the end zone. On their first field goal attempt, the holder fumbled the snap. The Titans missed their next FG attempt and were forced to punt on their following drives; the Rams made it into the red zone on each of their subsequent drives, making three out of four of their kick attempts. While St. Louis led 9-0 at the half, the game seemed very much in reach.
• The last of the Disney halftime shows marked the End of an Era for shows with ambitions of narrative storytelling. This tie-in to Disney's Epcot-based millennium celebration "Tapestry of Nations" featured a disjointed assortment of musical acts performing in, around, and under a (fake) orchestra and giant puppet creatures. Among other bizarre scenes, the show featured Edward James Olmos in a plain business suit reciting New Age cult-y lines he barely seemed to understand moments before Phil Collins in cargo pants sang "Two Worlds" from atop a scissor lift.
• The Rams blocked another Titans FG attempt in the third quarter, then finally sealed their next drive with a TD. Fans and broadcasters initially treated this score like the end of the game—no team had ever recovered from a Super Bowl deficit greater than 10 points — but the Titans quickly responded with a TD drive of their own. While they failed to score on a two-point conversion attempt, the stage had been set for one of the most nail-biting fourth quarters of any Super Bowl.
• The Titans scored another TD and FG in the fourth quarter, erasing their deficit with the then-biggest comeback in a Super Bowl and tying the game with just over two minutes remaining. Things were looking set for the Super Bowl to possibly go to overtime for the first time ever, only for Warner to throw a 73-yard TD pass to Isaac Bruce on the very next play. The Titans attempted to respond with a TD drive of their own to either tie or win the game. Two helpful penalties aided the effort, and McNair pulled off an impressive pass after shaking off two hits from Rams defenders, giving Tennessee just enough time for one more TD attempt. However, it wasn't to be; while McNair completed a pass to Kevin Dyson, LB Mike Jones (still known only for this play) tackled him just a yard short of the end zone, faling to duplicate the Titans' earlier miracle and ending the game by as narrow a margin as possible.
• The Rams became the first and only NFL team to win championships in three separate cities—they had won pre-Super Bowl titles in Cleveland and L.A.—and the only one to bring a Lombardi Trophy to St. Louis, something extremely gratifying to Frontiere, who finally won general support from her fanbase after years of being one of the most criticized owners in sports.
• The game featured many stellar individual performances. This was the second (and so far last) Super Bowl in which neither team committed a turnover. Warner^note 24/55 passes complete, 414 yards, 2 TDs, 99.7 rating won game MVP, capping off his remarkable Cinderella year on the highest note possible. The Rams heavily relied on his arm and only attempted to run the ball 13 times for just 29 yards, both still the lowest for a winning team in the Super Bowl; Faulk only rushed for 17 yards but put up 90 receiving, and star WRs Bruce and Torry Holt also both posted 100+ yards from scrimmage with a TD apiece. McNair's passing performance was less exemplary,^note 22/36, 214 yards, 0 TDs but he set a then-Super Bowl QB record by also rushing for 64 yards.
• The Titans remained strong for the next few seasons as long as McNair stayed healthy, with the star QB even winning MVP in 2003. However, despite coming so close to victory in this Super Bowl, the franchise has yet to appear in another one. Fisher coasted off of his narrow loss by keeping his job in Tennessee for over a decade despite numerous failed campaigns.
• Vermeil became the then-oldest HC to win the Super Bowl, and he retired on top after the game (though he later returned for a brief stint with the Chiefs). Despite this, the team seemed set to become the league's next great dynasty with Martz at the helm and their stars all still in place. That dynasty proved short-lived; while they returned to the Big Game two years later, this remained the Rams' sole Super Bowl win in St. Louis. They wouldn't win again for 22 years, as the Los Angeles Rams.

XXXV — January 28, 2001 / Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida / Baltimore Ravens def. New York Giants, 34-7

MVP: Ray Lewis, LB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Greg Gumbel, Phil Simms)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Backstreet Boys / Ray Charles
Coin Toss: MVP and coach from the last two Super Bowls held in Tampa — Ottis Anderson and Bill Parcells from the Giants (XXV) and Marcus Allen and Tom Flores from the Raiders (XVIII)
Halftime: Aerosmith, *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly

• Ranked the 49th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The Ravens were named the #22 Greatest Team of the league's first century due to their record-breaking defense led by Defensive Player of the Year LB Ray Lewis. The Ravens were technically a very young franchise, having only formed in 1996 and this being their first winning season and visit to the playoffs. However, they were not an "expansion" team in the traditional sense, instead being a rebrand of the Browns after their move from Cleveland, which held onto the rights to the original Browns name. While Clevelanders gnashed their teeth over seemingly just missing out on their first Super Bowl (still yet to be achieved), the Ravens' stellar defense and good ground game carried a weak passing game that saw the team go five straight games without scoring a touchdown. QB Tony Banks was benched in the middle of the season for Trent Dilfer, who was attempting to bounce back after his career with the Buccaneers flamed out. Their 12-4 record helped the Ravens become the last #4 seeded wild card to reach the Super Bowl, as the 2002 season reconfigured the conferences into four divisions; the defense allowed only one TD and three FGs against the Broncos, Titans, and Raiders in the playoffs.
• The Giants likewise reached the Big Game riding a strong defense and ground game with an average passing game led by QB Kerry Collins, who was attempting to bounce back after his career with the Panthers flamed out. Coach Jim Fassel delivered the Giants' own version of "The Guarantee" by promising the team would make the playoffs after a mediocre first half of the season; they went undefeated in the back half to go 12-4, beat the Eagles in the divisional round, and ended their run by shutting out the Vikings 41-0 in the most lopsided NFC Championship ever.
• The Giants' stellar showing in the NFCCG gave Vegas some pause, but the Ravens were ultimately favored by only three points.
• First of two Super Bowls announced by Greg Gumbel, the Super Bowl's first minority play-by-play broadcaster (though not his first Super Bowl appearance; he had worked XXVI as a pregame host, followed by hosting coverage of XXX and XXXII for NBC) and the first Super Bowl airing on CBS since regaining NFL coverage rights starting in 1998. Ratings dipped overall (84.34 million average viewers, down over four million from last year).
• First Super Bowl to feature "America the Beautiful" in the pre-show since the '70s, and first to use it as an reason to loop in one more celebrity to help boost ratings (before, it had either been used instead of the national anthem or sung by the same artist). It remained a common inclusion for the next few years before being solidified as an annual event.
  • Also nicknamed the "Boy Band Bowl" due to the two biggest boy bands of the late '90s, The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, both lending their talents to a Super Bowl hosted in their home region of Central Florida.
• This turned out to be very old-school defensive game, with the fewest total yards of offense ever in a Super Bowl (396 between the two teams). As a result, it's often seen as one of the worst Super Bowls, and it certainly was at the QB position. Both Collins and Dilfer were considered subpar passers carried by their defenses and ground games, and while Dilfer had a decent game as a manager,^note 12/25 completions for 153 yards, 1 TD, no turnovers, and a 80.9 rating Collins had one of the absolute worst meltdowns a QB has ever seen in the Big Game, completing just 15 of 39 passes for 112 yards and zero TDs and throwing four INTs for a total passer rating of 7.1; outside of Craig Morton's 0.0, this remains the worst showing from any Super Bowl starter.
• A less exciting special teams stat: Together, both teams punted a Super Bowl record 21 times (11 for the Giants, 10 for the Ravens, good for #1 and #2 on the Super Bowl record list).
• Neither team could really get much going in the first half, as the first five possessions ended with punts. After Dilfer finally threw a TD pass and Collins threw his first INT, Dilfer seemed to turn the ball over himself with a pick-six that was overturned due to a holding penalty. A Baltimore field goal and another Collins INT left the score a still competitive 10-0 at the half.
• The halftime show was an important one, as it essentially finalized the celebration's transition to a concert-style performance featuring the biggest acts of the era. It was also kinda bizarre, with a pre-filmed framing device starring Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, and Chris Rock setting up Aerosmith and NSYNC facing off in a Battle of the Bands. The other acts didn't step on-stage until the "Walk This Way" finale, with Mary J. Blige having such a small role one could easily blink and miss her entirely.
• Some of the only yards (and excitement) of the game was generated by the defense and special teams, resulting in one of the most memorable sequences in Super Bowl history late in the third quarter. Collins fourth interception was returned for a touchdown by Duane Starks, seemingly putting the game out of reach... until Ron Dixon's 97-yard kickoff return for a TD, which both prevented the Giants from becoming the first team to ever be shut out in the Super Bowl and made it a two-score game at 17-7. Then the Ravens' Jermaine Lewis returned the ensuing kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown. This remains the only Super Bowl to feature two kickoff return TDs, let alone back-to-back. These three consecutive scoring plays in that sequence represent the largest concentration of scoring in Super Bowl history, embedded in one of its least exciting games.
• While the Ravens passing performance was nothing to write home about, they excelled at all other parts of the ball, ironically each led by some guy named Lewis. In addition to Jermaine's special team fireworks, RB Jamal Lewis wrapped up a breakout rookie season with 102 yards and a fourth-quarter TD on the ground. On defense, Ray Lewis won game MVP for leading the defense and putting up three solo tackles, two assists, and blocking four passes (one of them for an interception). However, Lewis was not allowed to say the traditional I'm Going to Disney World! after winning the honor due to still being fresh off of a contentious trial for a murder case.
• The Giants sputtered out somewhat after this crushing defeat, leading to Fassel's firing three years later. Star RB Tiki Barber retired early in 2006, believing the team would never return to the Super Bowl in his peak window. He was incorrect; the Giants returned to and won a Super Bowl before the Ravens could.
• The win made the Ravens the fastest expansion team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl and gave owner Art Modell the Lombardi Trophy that his first team has never come close to winning. However, while the team remained generally very successful in the following years under HC Brian Billick, he would not return to the Big Game during his coaching career, as the AFC came to be dominated by other teams. Dilfer was off of the team far, far sooner; despite doing well enough to win the Super Bowl, the Ravens did not sign him for the following season, a testament to how poorly his performance was perceived. The Ravens returned to the Big Game 12 years later, giving Ray Lewis one last chance to go out on top.

Super Bowls XXXVI to XL

XXXVI — February 3, 2002 / Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana / New England Patriots def. St. Louis Rams, 20-17

Click here to see the original logo for Super Bowl XXXVI.

MVP: Tom Brady, QB
Network/Announcers: Fox (Pat Summerall, John Madden)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Mariah Carey / Mary J. Blige, Marc Anthony, and the Boston Pops Orchestra
Coin Toss: President George W. Bush and Roger Staubach, Hall of Fame QB and MVP of Super Bowl VI, held 30 years ago in New Orleans
Halftime: U2

• Ranked the #20 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary, and the eleventh highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list. The Patriots were named the #51 Greatest Team and the Rams #60. Ranked the 7th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• First Super Bowl played in February, as the 9/11 attacks pushed the entire NFL schedule back a week that year.
• The logo was redesigned to cash in on the wave of Patriotic Fervor that had swept up the country that year. George H. W. Bush became the first US president to participate in a Super Bowl coin toss in person (Ronald Reagan had participated via satellite during Super Bowl XIX while in office).
• Last Super Bowl to be played on the older AstroTurf artificial surface.
• Last game to feature the long-running TV announcing duo of Pat Summerall and John Madden, who worked together for 21 seasons on CBS (1981-94) and Fox (1994-2002), as Summerall retired afterwards (Madden lasted a few more years). Summerall was a sideline reporter in Super Bowl I and announced more Super Bowls on TV than any other broadcaster (15).
• Eleventh Super Bowl to be a rematch of a regular season contest; St. Louis won the regular season matchup in Week 10, 24-17.
  • Third time's the charm: this was the third time that an 11-5 Patriots team contested the Super Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome. Their road to the Super Bowl had been a rocky one, as star QB Drew Bledsoe had been sidelined early in the season by a near-fatal injury and replaced with a young sixth-round draft pick named Tom Brady. Brady proved to be a capable game manager, and head coach Bill Belichick's capable defense helped keep the team afloat as the de facto rookie learned the ropes. However, they faced a number of challenges in the playoffs. First, a snowy divisional game against the Raiders (the last played in Foxboro Stadium) came down to a controversial call that ruled Brady had "tucked" rather than fumbled away the ball, allowing the Pats to maintain possession and win the game with a FG from Adam Vinatieri. A week later, in the AFCCG against the Steelers, Brady injured his ankle and was knocked out of the game, leading to Bledsoe reclaiming the position on the way to a win and creating a legitimate QB controversy. Belichick only announced his decision to go with Brady a few days before kickoff.
  • Regardless of who was under center, the Cinderella Pats were not expected to even compete with their opponent. Though HC Dick Vermeil had retired after the Rams' last Super Bowl win, Mike Martz had been a very capable replacement, and "The Greatest Show On Turf" had continued to dominate the NFL, even despite a massive upset loss to the Saints in the last season's playoffs. With MVP QB Kurt Warner, Offensive Player of the Year RB Marshall Faulk, and a host of future Hall of Famers, the Rams had posted the league's #1 offense and record (14-2), bested the Packers and Eagles in the playoffs, and were favored to win by 14 points.
• After St. Louis scored a field goal in the first quarter, the Patriots shocked the Rams—and the country—by building a commanding 14-3 lead by the end of the first half, primarily through their stingy man-to-man defense, which stifled the productivity of the "Greatest Show". The Patriots scored off of a pick-six by Patriots cornerback Ty Law and a TD reception by David Patten on a drive born from a fumble recovery. It was the biggest deficit the Rams had faced all season.
• The halftime saw a heartfelt tribute by U2 to the victims of 9/11, with Bono (wearing a leather jacket lined with the American flag) singing "Where the Streets Have No Name" on a heart-shaped stage as the deceased's names were projected on a large piece of cloth. It is frequently ranked as one of the best halftime shows in Super Bowl history. The show had initially been scheduled to feature Janet Jackson, but NFL execs rescheduled after seeing a similar U2 performance at Madison Square Garden a few weeks after the attack.
• A third quarter Patriots interception set up a field goal that further extended their lead. An illegal tackle penalty on Patriots LB Willie McGinest negated a 93-yard fumble recovery TD by Tebucky Jones that would have extended their lead to 23-3. Instead, the Rams were able to score two TDs to tie the game. However, with 90 seconds on the clock, Brady led a drive to set up the game-winning FG by Adam Vinatieri, the first and only time to date in the Super Bowl that the winning points were scored on the final play of the game of regulation. With that kick, the Pats securing the greatest Super Bowl upset since the merger.
  • The Patriots' game-winning drive had an important effect on how fourth quarter buzzer-beater situations were game-planned. Before this game, it was standard practice to play for overtime. As Madden expressed from the booth, it was considered foolhardy by many to even attempt it in a tie game — if the ball was fumbled or intercepted deep in their own territory, it could easily mean a disastrous reversal. Belichick had his reasons for making the attempt anyway. The Pats' defense was exhausted, and since the holding call on McGinest, the Rams offense had finally woken up and outscored them 14-3. He was concerned, if they lost the coin toss, that the Rams would just march down the field and win the game. Today, 90 seconds is considered more than enough time to build one last scoring drive, a turnover is statistically much less likely than a lost coin flip, and it's basically expected that a team in this situation would make the attempt.
• Despite putting up fairly middling stats,^note 16/27 passes completed for 145 yards, 1 TD, and an 86.2 rating Brady was named MVP for leading the game-winning drive and, most critically, avoiding the turnovers that cost the Rams the game. The Rams had over 150 more yards of total offense than the Pats (the most of any losing team in a Super Bowl at the time), but Warner's two INTs and Ricky Proehl's fumble gave New England the opportunity to edge them out on the scoreboard. Warner's 365 passing yards were also then the second-most of any QB in a Super Bowl win or lose, behind only himself two years prior.
• This loss derailed "The Greatest Show on Turf"'s apparently assured dynasty. While the Rams remained competitive for a few more years, they never managed another deep playoff run while in St. Louis; after spending over a decade at the bottom of the NFL's standings, the team eventually returned to their original home in Los Angeles in 2016. Warner began to sharply regress after this game, and he never won another start with the Rams. He did return to another Super Bowl years later, this time with another team.
• The Patriots, on the other hand, inherited the Rams' dynasty mantle and went on to greater success under Brady and Belichick than almost anyone could have expected, dominating the AFC and the Super Bowl for the next two decades; they'd be back in the Big Game in just two years. Bledsoe was traded to the Bills in the offseason.

XXXVII — January 26, 2003 / Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California / Tampa Bay Buccaneers def. Oakland Raiders, 48-21

MVP: Dexter Jackson, S
Network/Announcers: ABC (Al Michaels, John Madden)
National Anthem/"God Bless America": Dixie Chicks / Céline Dion
Coin Toss: Don Shula, Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Larry Little, Jim Langer, Nick Buoniconti, and Paul Warfield, alumni of the 1972 Dolphins that enjoyed a 17-0 season, including winning Super Bowl VII 30 years ago
Halftime: Shania Twain, No Doubt, and Sting

• Ranked the 40th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The Buccaneers were named the #45 Greatest Team of the league's first century.
• Last Super Bowl played in January.
• Most recent Super Bowl to have been played in a stadium which no longer exists. After the Chargers left to return to their original home of L.A., the main local college team, the San Diego State Aztecs, continued to play here until the stadium was closed in 2019. The university bought the stadium site and is redeveloping it as a non-contiguous extension of its campus, with the smaller Snapdragon Stadium opened in 2022.
• Known as the "Gruden Bowl" due to the unique circumstances of both teams' coaching situation and recent history (and also the "Pirate Bowl", due to both teams involved having pirate-related logos).
  • The Buccaneers' then-head coach, Jon Gruden, had been Oakland's head coach from 1998-2001 before he was traded to Tampa Bay during the offseason in exchange for draft picks and cash, where he inherited a fantastic defense formed by coach Tony Dungy that had never sealed a title for the long-suffering Tampa franchise. The new hire didn't significantly improve the team's offensive production (guided by journeyman QB Brad Johnson), but the retained the league's #1 defense, went 12-4, and bested the 49ers and Eagles on their way to the franchise's first Super Bowl.
  • The Raiders' new head coach, Bill Callahan, had been Gruden's OC and friend for many years, and their QB Rich Gannon had risen from obscurity as a journeyman backup to a Pro Bowler while under Gruden. His career peaked in this season, as he won MVP for leading the league's #1 passing offense (#2 overall). The Raiders went 11-5 and beat the Jets and Titans in the playoffs to reach the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance in nearly two decades. They were favored by four points entering the game.
• Jerry Rice, who had moved across the Bay from San Francisco to Oakland the year prior, became the oldest receiver ever to play in a Super Bowl at 40 years and 105 days old.
• John Madden's Channel Hop from Fox to ABC allowed him to commentate on two consecutive Super Bowls.
• Only time "God Bless America" was performed in the lengthy pre-show, which consisted of multiple performances from a variety of artists (Santana, Beyoncé, Michelle Branch, Bonnie Raitt, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Bublé).
• Gruden's advanced knowledge of the Raiders' unchanged offensive system has been understood as a key factor in Tampa's lopsided victory over Oakland. Gannon was intercepted a Super Bowl record five times, three of which were returned for touchdowns. Only adding to the Raiders' troubles was the disappearance of their Pro Bowl starting center, Barrett Robbins, the day before the game. Robbins (who would later be diagnosed with bipolar disorder) suffered a left-field manic episode under all of the pressure of the game and traveled across the border to party in Tijuana, apparently thinking that the Raiders had already won the game. While he was eventually found hours prior to the game, he was immediately hospitalized and sent into rehab, forcing Oakland to swap in the back-up.
• Ironically, the game started with the Raiders capitalizing on an interception, with Charles Woodson picking off Johnson on the third play of the game. However, Tampa's defense held Oakland to just a field goal. Even still, the Bucs were only able to score one FG for themselves in the first quarter, suggesting the possibility of a close game... until safety Dexter Jackson picked off Gannon in two straight drives. Tampa capitalized with another FG and two TDs before the half, leaving the score 20-3 at the half.
• The halftime show revisited the concept of bringing together multiple artists of different genres, to middling critical results; Twain did not interact with the other two artists, and her performance was noticably lip-synced. Twain's featured role was one of the country superstar's last major performances before various personal and health issues largely derailed her career.
• Still the highest scoring second half in Super Bowl history (46 points). The Bucs scored a TD apiece on offence and defense in the third quarter. The Raiders finally responded with a trip to the end zone themselves, but they also missed the first of a Super Bowl record three PATs (all 2-point conversion attempts)^note since tied by the Eagles in LII, who missed a kick and two conversions.
• The Raiders began to mount a bit of a comeback in the fourth quarter, with a blocked punt for a TD and Rice posting a memorable final Super Bowl TD catch, bringing the score to 34-21 with six minutes remaining. However, the deficit forced the Raiders to lean into the passing game, and Gannon threw two pick sixes (the last in the final seconds of the game).
• Dexter Jackson being named the game's MVP is often cited as an example of a key flaw in the award's voting process, which concludes before the end of the game. While his two interceptions in the first half helped to set the tempo for the game, his tally was matched by Dwight Smith, who returned both picks for TDs and arguably did more to impact the game. No one was arguing an offensive player should get the award; while Bucs' RB Michael Pittman had a solid showing and helped Tampa keep hold of the ball, Johnson put up pedestrian passing numbers, and the Raiders were putrid in most metrics and couldn't even amass 20 rushing yards.
• Tampa's success in this game was treated at the time as a possible turning point for what had been known for decades as the worst franchise in the league and was especially held up as a sign of Gruden's brilliance as a coach. However, the team slumped quickly in the years after their win, putting up a losing record the very next season and not winning another playoff game until their second Super Bowl run in 2020, keeping them down in the very bottom of the league's all-time win-loss records. Gruden's middling output after this win, which notably contrasted with Tony Dungy's massive coinciding success with the Colts, also led many to question whether he could have won a Super Bowl without the defense Dungy constructed and the unique circumstance of facing off against his former team.
• The Raiders' defeat was so devastating that it effectively broke the organization. Long one of the proudest and most successful teams in the NFL, the Raiders entered a death spiral immediately after their loss, failing to put up a winning season/playoff berth for 14 years, by far the longest drought for a team coming off a Super Bowl appearance, and continuing to struggle even after that. The team posted only four wins in 2003, the worst record for any team coming off a Super Bowl appearance, and Callahan was fired, giving him the shortest head coaching tenure of any Super Bowl HC. This firing came in the midst of many of his players (including Hall of Fame receiver Tim Brown) accusing him of throwing the Big Game, either to help out his friend Gruden or to get back at Al Davis. This precipitous decline could also be attributed to the (relatively) advanced age of much of the roster; Gannon was sidelined with injuries during and out of football entirely within two years, and Brown and Rice would soon retire as well.

XXXVIII — February 1, 2004 / Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas / New England Patriots def. Carolina Panthers, 32-29

MVP: Tom Brady, QB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Greg Gumbel, Phil Simms)
National Anthem: Beyoncé
Coin Toss: Earl Campbell, Ollie Matson, Don Maynard, Y. A. Tittle, Mike Singletary, and Gene Upshaw, Texas-born NFL veterans
Halftime: Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, P. Diddy, and Kid Rock

• Ranked the #37 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary and the fourteenth highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list. The Patriots were the #32 Greatest Team. Ranked the 14th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The second Super Bowl to be played in Houston, and the first in exactly 30 years (plus 18 days).
• The Patriots entered Super Sunday as 7-point favorites to win, a massive three-score swing from their last appearance in the Big Game where they were 14-point underdogs. They would never again be the betting underdog in a Super Bowl during the entirety of the Brady-Belichick era, another way in which this was the prototypical Patriots Dynasty team.
  • The game where the Patriots became the Patriots. Following their Cinderella Super Bowl season in 2001, the Patriots slumped in 2002 and missed the playoffs entirely. At season's start, this trend looked to continue, as the preseason release of safety and team captain Lawyer Milloy caused an immense locker room controversy exacerbated by an opening day 31-0 loss Milloy’s new team, the Bills. The media firestorm around their inauspicious 2-2 start, ironically, helped unite the team, and they did not lose again, notching a franchise best 14-2 record and bookending their regular season by paying the Bills back with a 31-0 shutout victory. New England was anchored by their #1 defense which was upgraded hugely by the addition of hard-hitting former Chargers safety Rodney Harrison and surrendered a league low 14.9 points per game. In the postseason, they finished off both league MVPs (Steve McNair of the Titans and Peyton Manning of the Colts). Bill Belichick earned Coach of the Year award for the first time in his career. To date, it is the last time the award was given to the head coach of that season’s champion.
  • The Panthers, on the other hand, were a Cinderella team two years removed from a 1-15 season in George Seifert’s final year of coaching. Now under the leadership of HC John Fox, the Panthers improved immediately, going 7-9 in 2002 and in 2003 reaching the Super Bowl on an 11-5 record. These Panthers fought past the still-dangerous Greatest Show on Turf Rams in a rare double-overtime game, then triumphed over the red-hot Eagles by way of a career performance by DB Ricky Manning, who intercepted Donovan McNabb three times. The “Cardiac Cats” made a study of the last-second win, playing in five road overtime games and winning a record seven by three points or fewer. Part of this success was fueled by the team rallying around their linebackers coach, future Hall of Fame player Sam Mills, who continued to coach while fighting terminal intestinal cancer; his Rousing Speech calling for the team to "Keep Pounding" became a key part of the young team's mythology.
• Highest total viewership of any Super Bowl to this point at 144.4 million.
• Second and last Super Bowl called by Greg Gumbel, as the following season saw him trade jobs with The NFL Today host Jim Nantz.
• The first quarter played out in fulfillment of the expectation of a close-fought duel. Neither team could put points on the board as no one scored for the first 27 minutes (a Super Bowl record). Carolina was shut down by New England’s defense, punting the ball on their opening drive and never really progressing downfield on any possession. New England had an opportunity to score a field goal at one point, but in a moment of forgotten misfortune for placekicking ace Adam Vinatieri, the kick missed its mark. The second quarter was mostly no better, with yet another field goal missed by New England thanks to a block.^note Part of the issue here was that the Patriots were on to their third long snapper in Brian Kinchen, brought on because of injuries to starter Lonie Paxton and backup Sean McDermott (not to be confused with the head coach). The Panthers were no better: Jake Delhomme completed just one of nine passes, was sacked three times, and finally fumbled the ball. Patriots LB Mike Vrabel knocked the ball from Delhomme’s hand and it was recovered at the Panthers 20-yard line. This was the first turnover of the game, and all the Panthers had to show for the twenty offensive snaps was a net yardage loss of nine yards.
• The last three minutes of half turned into a sudden shootout, with a total of 24 points scored. The Patriots advanced 12 yards on a run by Brady, then scored the game’s first touchdown by way of a pass to Deion Branch. On the next drive, the Panthers thundered downfield, driving 98 yards in just eight plays and scoring on a 39-yard reception by Steve Smith. The Patriots answered with their own 78-yard drive, including a 52-yard gain from Branch, ending with a TD that put New England up 14-7, 18 seconds remaining in the half. On the ensuing kickoff, the Pats attempted a squib kick, but this backfired as the ball was recovered and carried to the 47. A 21-yard run put Panthers kicker John Kasay in position to add three points and shorten Carolina’s deficit 14-10 as time expired.
• The halftime show- and the game itself, to a large degree- was almost completely overshadowed by the original Wardrobe Malfunction at the very end of the show involving Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. The "malfunction", in which Timberlake tore off part of Jackson's top after singing "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song" and revealed her breast on national television.^note The lacy bra she was visibly wearing throughout the performance was meant to cover her breast, but it slipped or ripped. Conspiracy theorists have speculated that Jackson had intended this outcome due to the large piercing that covered her nipple, but both performers have insisted that it was an accident. This event had massive ramifications in popular culture. Jackson's career was essentially ended by the incident; Timberlake's was barely impacted at the time, though it may have contributed to a decline in his popularity a decade later due to evolving cultural attitudes.^note The fact that his performance consisted of entirely of him making advances on Jackson just after she sang "Rhythm Nation", a song about fighting bigotry, only added to the Dramatic Irony. More significantly, the incident led to Viacom having to pay out millions in public indecency settlements and the FCC greatly strengthening its regulatory measures for several years. The NFL, for its part, would never again partner with MTV to produce a halftime show and wouldn't feature a woman or hip-hop performer in the halftime show for the next seven years.^note Mostly forgotten in all of this was that the Moral Guardians were already pissed by the time of the incident by the performances of the other two acts before Jackson and Timberlake: Kid Rock's American-flag outfit was seen by some as disrespectful, and Nelly and Diddy's scantily clad backup dancers already had people submitting indecency complaints after they had sung about taking off women's clothes. The fact that this was also supposed to be a halftime show about getting Americans to vote (with Jessica Simpson opening the festivities by telling the crowd to "Choose... to PARTY!") only added fuel to the culture war fire.
• The third quarter settled back into a defensive stalemate, but the Patriots ended the quarter by constructing a 71-yard drive all the way to the Carolina 9. Cue the 4th quarter and another round of fireworks; at 38 total points, XXXVIII also featured the most prolific fourth quarter in the history of the Super Bowl. New England struck first with a rushing TD by Antowain Smith, and Carolina responded with their own, where RB DeShaun Foster scurried past a crashing wave of four Patriots defenders to carry the ball 33 yards and leap into the end zone. The Panthers attempted a 2-point conversion but missed, leaving the score 21-16. The Patriots responded on their next possession by driving all the way back to the Panthers’ 9. However, Brady was picked off in the end zone by Reggie Howard. Delhomme wasted no time in taking advantage, launching a Super Bowl record 85-yard touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad. The 2-point conversion again failed, but the Panthers claimed their first lead, 22-21.
• The Patriots weren’t closed to beaten, however, and drove to retake the lead. Brady connected with Mike Vrabel for a 1-yard TD pass on 3rd down.^note One of two Vrabel would score in the Super Bowl, ironically putting the defensive player in rarefied air as one of the Patriots’ highest scoring pass catchers in the Big Game. Their two-point try succeeded off a direct snap to Kevin Faulk, putting the game at 29-22 with a little less than three minutes on the clock. Carolina drove right back and rumbled the now exhausted and mismatched Patriots defense with a touchdown pass from Delhomme to Ricky Proehl (of Super Bowl XXXVI fame). The score was tied at 29-29, with 1:08 on the clock. Where have we heard this story before?
• This time, John Kasay botched the opening kickoff, sending it careening out of bounds and placing the Patriots at their own 40. Brady threw darts to advance the Pats downfield, Vinatieri was brought in for an encore of the game winner of XXXVI, and like in that game, his aim was true. The 41-yarder split the uprights, and the Patriots were champions once more.
• Carolina accrued 12 penalties, tying the record number of the Cowboys in XII. New England also earned eight, thus also matching the total of 20 in XII.
• This was Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady's first truly great playoff game. His 32 completions set a Super Bowl record, and his 48 attempts were the most by a winning QB. It was also the first playoff game in which he had a QB rating above 100. Delhomme actually had the better passer rating at 113.6,^note 16/33, 323 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs but the fumble and his inability to keep his offense on the field (barely half of New England's time of possession) contributed to the Patriots' victory. Branch and Muhammad were the first receivers from opposing teams to both put up over 100 yards.
• The Panthers had to endure the body blow of a Super Bowl loss, but in retrospect they put up a valiant effort and did better than anyone could have predicted versus the Patriots. The now mostly-forgotten Delhomme had a career night with three TDs, no INTs, and 323 yards, matching Brady point for point and setting a couple records of his own along the way. Fox's Panthers remained inconsistent but generally good for several seasons before declining down to the bottom of the league's standings, setting the stage for a rebuild and a return to the Super Bowl over a decade later.
• The Patriots remained dominant and returned to the Big Game the next year to further extend their dynasty. This was the last time the Patriots won the Super Bowl as the designated home team. In addition, this Super Bowl started a string of nine consecutive contests, and 15 of the next 16, where the AFC's representative would be led by Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, or Peyton Manning, inaugerating a distinct era of the NFL where the AFC was a top-heavy outfit dominated by a few elite teams, unlike the more diverse NFC.

XXXIX — February 6, 2005 / ALLTEL Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida / New England Patriots def. Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21

MVP: Deion Branch, WR
Network/Announcers: Fox (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Combined choirs of the United States Military, Naval, Air Force and Coast Guard Academies, together with the United States Army Trumpet Herald / Alicia Keys (with a tribute to Ray Charles)
Coin Toss: Tyler Callahan, Tyler Deal, Lawrence McCauley, and Jacob Santana, youth players, accompanied by their coach Tamaris Jackson
Halftime: Paul McCartney

• Ranked the 27th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Joe Buck and former Super Bowl MVP Troy Aikman announce their first of six Super Bowls; Cris Collinsworth commentates his first of four, but his only one on Fox with this duo. Buck is the only son of a former Super Bowl broadcaster, IV announcer Jack Buck, to follow their father's footsteps.
• To meet the hotel space requirements for the Super Bowl, the organizing committee had to dock five cruise ships in the Jacksonville harbor; notably, the Big Game hasn't been hosted in the city since.
• The Patriots didn't miss a beat after their Super Bowl victory from the prior year, winning their first six games to compile a (still-record) 21-game win streak. They returned to the Big Game off of a powerful offense (boosted by the acquisition of RB Corey Dillon from the long-suffering Bengals) and defense (whose performance was made all the more impressive by the number of injuries it accumulated over the season). Brady and Belichick's squad posted a 14-2 record and bested MVP Peyton Manning's Colts and Offensive Rookie of the Year Ben Roethlisberger's Steelers in the playoffs. Their only two defeats came from the aforementioned Steelers, delivering a Halloween night beatdown to snap New England's winning streak, and in a classic Week 15 trap game in Miami.
• The Eagles, led by HC Andy Reid and QB Donovan McNabb, had been competitors throughout the early 2000s but had developed a reputation for choking in the playoffs, losing the last three straight NFC Championship games. The acquisition of star WR Terrell Owens in a trade had energized the offense, and his presence combined with a stout defense took the Eagles to a 13-3 record (with two of the losses coming in the last two weeks after they had already clinched the #1 seed). Owens was taken out of commission by an ankle injury late in the season, but they still cruised through the Vikings and Falcons in the postseason. The diva receiver insisted on playing through the injury in order to play on football's biggest stage.
• Ratings were down slightly from the prior year, with possible explanations being the repeat appearance of the Patriots and continued backlash from the prior year's halftime fiasco.
• The first quarter went scoreless, in part due to a red zone INT thrown by McNabb and TE L.J. Smith fumbling the ball. They both made up for it with a TD in the second quarter. Brady committed a fumble himself, but he still managed to put together a drive to tie the game at halftime for just the second time in Super Bowl history.
• In response to the "Nipplegate" incident from the last year, Paul McCartney, kicked off many years of the halftime performers being old male classic rock stars. He delivered a typically strong performance of a number of his and The Beatles hits, made most notable by his video-screen stage and his repeated addressing of the audience as "Super Bowl".
• The teams exchanged TDs in the third quarter (the Pats' coming from defensive player Mike Vrabel lined up as tight end), meaning the score was tied at the end of each of the first three periods of play. However, the Pats pulled ahead soon after when Dillon ran in a TD and Brady led a 4th quarter drive to set up the (eventual) game-winning field goal by Adam Vinateri to make the score 24-14. While McNabb was able to throw a TD in the last two minutes to make it a much closer game on paper, a failed onside kick and two more INTs from the Eagles QB gave the Patriots control of the clock to finish the game.
• While Brady posted excellent numbers in this win^note 23/33 passes completed, 236 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, and a 123.5 passer rating, game MVP went to WR Deion Branch, who posted 133 yards without scoring, accounting for 56% of the Patriots' passing yardage. McNabb put up far more yards than Brady (though his three INTs, four sacks for a combined 33 yards lost, a middling 59% completion on a relatively high volume of 51 passes, and a lost fumble on his very first drive all contributed to the Eagles' loss). Owens nearly matched Branch's numbers while playing on a still-broken leg — an exemplary performance which would have guaranteed him MVP honors if the Eagles had won. The Patriots had a better rushing game, with both Corey Dillon and Kevin Faulk netting at least 4 yards per carry on 26 combined plays for 75 yards and 38 yards, respectively. On the other side, Brian Westbrook netted 44 yards on 15 carries — however, precisely half of that yardage came from a single long gain which alone nearly doubled his YPC number from 1.57 to 2.93. This was another contributing factor to McNabb's woes — without a run game to back him up, he was forced to rely too much on his arm.
• The Patriots would be the last back-to-back Super Bowl champions until the 2022–23 Kansas City Chiefs. The triumphant conclusion of this season, following the Patriots' prior Super Bowl victory and the Boston Red Sox's long sought-after World Series win, confirmed 2004 as the annus mirabilis of Boston sports. Boston was Title Town again, and it seemed like there was nothing her teams could not do, no heights they could not reach. The Patriots would remain one of the NFL's most dominant teams for many years to come, but their dynastic run took a pause from winning further Lombardis for another decade. Apart from Tom Brady, only nose tackle Vince Wilfork remained on the team to bridge the gap in Super Bowl XLIX. Ironically, because of how tidily this season progressed and ended, the 2004 Patriots remain somewhat obscure in fan lore and in NFL retrospectives.
• This exciting Eagles team flamed out in dramatic fashion, with some of the tensions coming from the events of this game. McNabb was visibly exhausted in the final moments of the bout, with some observers believing he was vomiting on the sidelines. This contributed to Owens, long known for his proclivity to critique teammates, to publicly feud with his own QB throughout the next season while attempting to negotiate a new contract with the Eagles. Reid would suspend and later cut Owens as a result of this drama, which contributed to the Eagles posting a losing record, and while the team bounced back in subsequent years, Reid and McNabb never returned to the Big Game while in Philly. Reid would return to the Super Bowl 15 years later as HC of a different team.
• Mimicking the successful launch strategy of Seth MacFarlane's first hit show, the pilot episode of American Dad! debuted after the game, and like last time, it was paired with a football-themed episode of The Simpsons, though this time the Simpsons episode would air first.

XL — February 5, 2006 / Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan / Pittsburgh Steelers def. Seattle Seahawks, 21-10

MVP: Hines Ward, WR
Network/Announcers: ABC (Al Michaels, John Madden)
National Anthem: Aaron Neville, Aretha Franklin, and Dr. John
Coin Toss: Tom Brady, 2-time Super Bowl MVP and the first active player to officiate the ceremony, on behalf of all past MVPs of the past four decades
Halftime: The Rolling Stones

• Ranked the 39th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Take a look at that eXtra Large logo! Also of note, this logo started a short-lived trend of adding a red star (representing the AFC) and a blue star (representing the NFC) to the logo.
• The Steelers were named the #90 Greatest Team in the league's first century. The year after an extraordinary rookie campaign from QB Ben Roethlisberger that came one game short of a Super Bowl appearance, coach Bill Cowher's squad finally got back over the hump to return to the Big Game after a decade-long absence. Roethlisberger put up a servicable performance, but the Steelers' were mostly carried by a strong defence and run game, the latter of which featured veteran (and Detroit-native) Jerome "The Bus" Bettis. Their 11-5 record earned them the #6 seed in the wild card slot, but they earned the right to compete for Pittsburgh's fifth NFL championship by beating the AFC's top three seeded teams (the Bengals, Colts, and Broncos), all on the road. Their division round victory over the #1 seed Colts in particular entered into NFL lore as an all-time upset and a real nailbiter, as Roethlisberger salvaged what might have been a game-winning fumble recovery TD with a game-saving tackle.
• The Seahawks reached their first Super Bowl ever thanks to head coach Mike Holmgren (who became the fifth HC to guide two different teams to the Super Bowl, previously guiding the Packers to XXXI and XXXII, winning the former) and their #1 offense, led by QB Matt Hasselbeck and record-breaking MVP RB Shawn Alexander. The Hawks secured the NFC's #1 seed with a 13-3 record and beat Washington and Carolina pretty handily in the postseason. However, the Steelers were still favored by 4, in part due to the mettle they showed against strong competition in their playoff run.
• Last Super Bowl televised by ABC prior to Disney moving football broadcasts to ESPN. Also the last NFL game overall carried by ABC until the 2015 NFL playoffs, when ABC simulcasted ESPN's coverage of that season's AFC wild-card game between the Texans and Chiefs; the Super Bowl is slated to return to ABC in this format in 2027. Also the first Super Bowl to be entirely broadcast in HD.
• First Super Bowl to be played on a modern artificial surface (e.g., FieldTurf).
• The first half was largely a defensive struggle. The Steelers failed to gain a first down through the whole first quarter; the Seahawks appeared to have scored a TD, only to have it called back for offensive pass interference and be forced to settle for a field goal. Roethlisberger threw a costly pick a few possessions later, but the Steelers eventually responded with a drive that saw them make the longest first down conversion in history, a 3rd-and-28 off of a scrambling pass to WR Hines Ward. Roethlisberger scored a TD on a QB sneak, and Seattle missed a FG attempt before halftime, leaving the score 7-3.
• The ripples of Nipplegate continued, with the Stones being forced to censor two songs during their halftime show to fend off the Moral Guardians. The three-song set, performed on a stage shaped like their iconic Hot Lips logo, notably featured two of their massive hits... and the much less notable "Rough Justice", a then-recent single mostly forgotten to time and a rare Super Bowl aversion of Nothing but Hits.^note Allegedly, the Stones had wanted to make the setlist primarily feature their new material and had to be talked down to just one song.
• Two plays into the second half, Steelers RB Willie Parker breaks through for a 75-yard TD run, beating Marcus Allen's previous Super Bowl record by one yard. Seahawks kicker Josh Brown missed his second long FG of the night on their next drive, but Seattle was able to rally when Kelly Herndon picked off Roethlisberger and ran the ball back 76 yards, giving them great field position to score their first TD and make it a one-score game at 14-10 entering the fourth quarter.
• The Seahawks seemed primed to take the lead when they drew within one yard of the end zone, only to be drawn back by a holding penalty. Hasselbeck threw a pick, and his attempt to stop it from being run back (not dissimilar from Big Ben's memorable save just a few weeks earlier) was penalized as a low block, giving the Steelers great field position. Thankfully for Pittsburgh, other Steelers were able to make up for Big Ben's passing issues; on a flashy trick play, Pittsburgh WR (and former college QB) Antwaan Randle El was given the ball and threw a 43-yard TD pass to Ward, sealing the win. NFL Films named this the #80 Greatest Play in NFL history for the league's 100th anniversary. Seattle was unable to score again through the final minutes of the game as the Steelers ran down the clock.
• Roethlisberger becomes the youngest QB (23 years, 11 months, 4 days) to start and win a Super Bowl. His performance was much less impressive: his 22.6 passer rating^note 9/21 passes completed for 123 yards, zero TDs, and two INTs remains the absolute worst of any starting QB to win a Super Bowl (though he made up for this showing a few years later). Because of the trick play, game MVP Ward ironically had as many receiving yards as Big Ben had passing yards. Hasselbeck's performance was better, but not by much.^note 26/49, 273 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 67.8 rating
• Don't ask Seattle fans to comment on the quality of the officiating. Or its lack thereof. While most fanbases of Super Bowl losers hold some kind of belief that refs influenced the outcome, many of the calls against Seattle were called into question by media after the game, particularly the call against Hasselbeck's block.
• Seattle remained competitive for a few more years, but Holmgren, Hasselbeck, Alexander, and company never got back to this level. The Seahawks that later returned to the Super Bowl a few years later would have a very different roster and coaching staff.
• The Steelers become the first #6 seed team to win the Super Bowl, and Cowher finally earned a ring. As promised, Bettis would retire after this game, and Cowher retired after the team fell back to 8-8 the following year. However, they would quickly bounce back to Super Bowl competition under Cowher's successor.

Super Bowls XLI to XLV

XLI — February 4, 2007 / Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens (Miami), Florida^note The same stadium as the one used in SB XXIII, XXIX, and XXXIII; Miami Gardens was made into a separate city in 2003.) / Indianapolis Colts def. Chicago Bears, 29-17

MVP: Peyton Manning, QB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)
National Anthem: Billy Joel
Coin Toss: Dan Marino, former Hall of Fame QB for the Dolphins, and Norma Hunt, widow of Lamar Hunt, former Chiefs owner who gave the name "Super Bowl"
Halftime: Prince, joined by Florida A&M University's Marching 100

• Ranked the 28th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022; the Colts were named the #37 Greatest Team of the league's first century.
• The logo has a subtle shape of Florida, with the 4-point star representing the Panhandle, the pylon representing North and Central Florida, and the football representing South Florida.
• First of six Super Bowls for announcer Jim Nantz.
• First Super Bowl played in rainy conditions, resulting in some pretty messy play on the field.
• Featured the end of two Super Bowl appearance droughts: The Colts' first since Super Bowl V, when they were the Baltimore Colts, and the Bears' first since Super Bowl XX. The Colts' Tony Dungy and the Bears' Lovie Smith became the first black coaches to coach in the Super Bowl, with Dungy becoming the first to win one.^note Smith had actually been Dungy's protégé early in his career. Geographically, also the shortest distance between two home cities (hence the nickname "The Fort Wayne Bowl").
  • Following decades of struggle before and after their move from Baltimore to Indy, the Colts had been one of the most dominant teams of the decade with Dungy and star QB Peyton Manning, but they had developed such a reputation for playoff choke jobs that they became the Trope Namer for Every Year They Fizzle Out. That finally changed in 2006; despite having the league's worst run defense and return teams, their high powered offense, speedy passing defense, and the addition of kicker Adam Vinatieri helped lift Indy to a 12-4 record. After defeating the Chiefs and Ravens in the playoffs, the Colts faced off against the Patriots and came back from a 21-3 deficit to secure a trip to the Super Bowl for the first time in 36 years. They were favored to win by 7.
  • The Bears had largely struggled in mediocrity in the two decades since their last Super Bowl appearance. Like that memorable season, they were carried there by an extremely potent defense that covered up the weaknesses of QB Rex Grossman. This time, the Bears were further boosted by the electrifying performance of return specialist Devin Hester, which helped the team actually score more than the Colts during the regular season despite lower offensive ratings overall. In the playoffs, the Bears beat the Seahawks in an overtime thriller before defeating the Saints in the NFCCG.
• Taking advantage of the Colts' extremely poor record on returns all season, Hester becomes the first player in Super Bowl history to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown. The return takes a mere 14 seconds, making it the quickest the first TD had ever been scored in a Super Bowl and the quickest a team had ever taken the first lead in a Super Bowl, at least until XLVIII. The Colts did not kick to Hester for the rest of the game.
• After throwing an early INT, Manning connected with Reggie Wayne on a 53-yard TD pass, though the Bears held on to a one-point lead after the team's punter fumbled the snap on the PAT attempt, the first of a number of rain-influenced errors; the Colts almost immediately got the ball back when the Bears fumbled away the kick return, only to themselves fumble the ball right back on the very next play. Bears RB Thomas Jones pulled off a 52-yard run on the next play, setting up a TD that extended their lead to 14-6 by the end of the first quarter.
• After another Chicago fumble, however, the Colts gained the momentum and the lead with a FG and TD. In the final minutes of the half, the teams again traded turnover fumbles on consecutive plays, and the normally clutch Vinatieri missed a 36-yard kick to leave the score 16-14.
• Prince's halftime show is considered one of, if not the best ever. Despite warnings that the heavy rain could cause Prince or a dancer to slip or even be electrocuted on the stage shaped like the artist's famous symbol, Prince powered through and delivered an iconic show comprised of a mix of his hits and some covers before playing "Purple Rain" in the purple(-lit) rain at the end.
• The Colts scored two FGs to the Bears' one in the third quarter, then picked off Grossman twice in the fourth, returning one for a TD and putting the game out of reach.
• Manning took home game MVP despite putting up a fairly pedestrian performance by his standards.^note 25/38 completions, 247 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 81.8 rating It helped that he led that effort in the rain and did a little better than his opponent.^note 20/28, 165 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 68.3 rating Besides the QBs and Hester, other standout performances on offense came from Colts RBs Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai, who both compiled over 100 yards from scrimmage and helped the Colts nearly double the Bears' time of possession.
• After this game, the Bears once again regressed into general mediocrity, posting a losing record the following season. Though Smith's Bears revisited the NFC Championship in 2010, the franchise has since regressed to the middle of the pack and have not posted a playoff victory since, let alone an appearance in the Super Bowl.
• The Colts remained dominant in the regular season for several years, though Dungy retired after two more one-and-done playoffs, leaving it to his successor to take Indy back to the Super Bowl.
  • A fun fact of note: as of the 2021 season, these Colts remain the last team to be the "last undefeated" in the regular season (they won their first nine games while every other team dropped at least one) to actually go on to win the Super Bowl. Since their 2006 run, every team that has been the most dominant to start the year has not been able to keep the momentum going all the way through the playoffs. And that includes teams that were truly undefeated in the regular season, as we shall see with our next entry...

XLII — February 3, 2008 / University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale (Phoenix), Arizona / New York Giants def. New England Patriots, 17-14

MVP: Eli Manning, QB
Network/Announcers: Fox (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman)
National Anthem: Jordin Sparks
Coin Toss: Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice, and Steve Young, 49ers veterans, in honor of their recently-deceased Hall of Famer coach Bill Walsh, accompanied by Bill's children Craig and Elizabeth
Halftime: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

• Ranked the #5 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary, and the highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list; David Tyree's "Helmet Catch" was ranked the #3 Greatest Play and is likewise the highest ranked Super Bowl play. The Patriots were ranked #7 and the Giants #53, the only Super Bowl opponents where the loser ranked higher (even in victory, the Giants are underdogs). Ranked the 2nd best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• When 18-1 gets you second place.^note And, depending on what you believe about the Patriots stretching the rules of videotaping the opposition for an advantage, Laser-Guided Karma. The Patriots were coming off of posting the first 16-0 record in NFL history and were one game away from matching (and, in many ways, besting) the '72 Dolphins' perfect season. They did so with a record-breaking offense that saw QB Tom Brady win league MVP while he and new acquisition Randy Moss shattered several individual records; Brady became the first player to throw 50 TDs in a season, of which Moss caught a still-record 23. After beating the Jaguars and Chargers, the Pats went into the Super Bowl already crowned by many as the greatest team in NFL history and were favored by 12 over their opponents.
• Since their last Super Bowl appearance, the Giants had a few decent years under Peyton's younger brother Eli Manning at QB, Tom Coughlin at HC, and a veteran defensive unit. However, they had built up a reputation as playoff chokers, to the degree that star RB Tiki Barber retired shortly before the season to take a media job. The Giants shrugged off the doubters and built their reputation as "road warriors", winning an NFL record 10 straight road games on their path to the Super Bowl. The G-Men posted a 10-6 record to secure a wild-card #5 seed and, after beating the Bucs, delivered massive upset wins against the Cowboys and Packers.
• This was a rematch of the week 17 game between the two teams (and the twelfth overall regular season Super Bowl matchup), which the Patriots won 38-35. This was one of the most widely watched games in league history. Since viewers eager to see if the Pats could complete their perfect regular season, the Saturday night game's broadcast rights were purchased from the NFL Network by both CBS and NBC, marking the first time multiple networks had carried a game since Super Bowl I. As a result, most of the country had already seen these two teams face off fairly recently, though the outcome of that first match didn't actually matter for either team's playoff seeding.
• Anticipation over seeing either seeing the Pats seal a perfect season or see a massive upset gave this game the largest average and total audience numbers of any Super Bowl to that point (97.45/148.3 million).
• The Giants' strategy became apparent early on: Keep the ball away from the greatest offense in NFL history. At just a second shy of ten minutes, the Giants' opening drive is the longest ever in a Super Bowl, and yet it only covered 63 yards and resulted in a field goal. The Pats couldn't even finish their first drive in the first quarter, scoring a TD early in the second. The G-Men marched right back down the field, only for a pass to bounce out of a rookie receiver's hands into New England's. The rest of the half devolved into a physical defensive battle, with neither team scoring and Brady surrendering the ball in a strip sack shortly before halftime, leaving the score 7-3 in New England's favor.
• Tom Petty delivers one of the more (relatively) lowkey halftime shows of the modern era, delivering one of his standard concerts with little added flash beyond the music itself.
• New England caught a break in the third quarter when coach Bill Belichick successfully challenged that New York had too many players on the field during a Patriots punt. However, the drive ended with no points when Belichick elected to go for it on fourth down rather than attempt a 49-yard field goal.
• Things truly got exciting in the fourth quarter, one of the most memorable endings in Super Bowl history, with the lead changing three times (the only time that's happened in the Big Game). After little-known WR David Tyree scored a TD to give the Giants back the lead, the Patriots woke back up, with Moss finally getting in the end zone to score one of his own with just over 2 minutes left. Down three points, Manning responded with the drive of his life, which peaked when he evaded a sack (despite multiple defenders grabbing his jersey) to throw a deep pass to Tyree, who somehow caught the ball by pressing it against his helmet. This kept the drive alive, ultimately resulted in the game-winning touchdown to Plaxico Burress. The Giants defense didn't surrender a single yard to the explosive Pats offense in the game's final 30 seconds, delivering a massive upset victory to the NFL's "Evil Empire" and ensuring the Dolphins got to keep their perfect record.
• Manning was awarded MVP, establishing Eli as more than just Peyton's baby brother; while his overall numbers^note 19/34 completions, 255 yards, 2 TD-1 INT, 87.3 rating weren't stellar, he was nearly perfect in the last quarter when it counted most. The New York defense had just held arguably the greatest offense in history to 14 points and went unrecognized, particularly Justin Tuck^note 5 solo tackles, 2 sacks, 2 QB hits, and a forced fumble and Michael Strahan^note 1 sack, 1 deflected pass, 2 QB hits. The Mannings become the first brothers to be named Super Bowl MVPs (back-to-back, no less).
• The Giants become the first NFC wild card team (in their case, #5 seed) to win the Super Bowl.
• This loss threw a major wrench in New England's plans to continue dominating the league; while they remained very strong for years to come, an injury early the following season sidelined Brady for a year, and the loss of many of the key pieces of their offense ensured that they were unable to reach another perfect season (though, to their credit, no other team in the 16-game era was able to match their regular season feat).
• The Giants remained generally strong-to-decent in the following years under Manning and Coughlin, though the departure of veteran defensive captain Michael Strahan to a lucrative TV career after winning a ring hurt them somewhat. They still managed to make another push to the Super Bowl a few years later, setting up a rematch in which the Giants remained just as big of underdogs against the Patiriots, save only for the fact that the team had managed the upset before.

XLIII — February 1, 2009 / Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida / Pittsburgh Steelers def. Arizona Cardinals, 27-23

MVP: Santonio Holmes, WR
Network/Announcers: NBC (Al Michaels, John Madden)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Jennifer Hudson / Faith Hill
Coin Toss: Gen. David Petraeus, former CIA director
Halftime: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

• Ranked the #12 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary, and the sixth highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list. Santonio Holmes' game-winning catch and James Harrison's "Immaculate Interception" were ranked the #6 and #7 Greatest Plays (and third/fourth best in a Super Bowl). The Steelers were the #62 Greatest Team. Ranked the 5th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The fourth Super Bowl featuring two quarterbacks who had each previously won a Super Bowl, and the first with that distinction since XVIII 25 years before. The Cardinals and Steelers had actually once played a season as a merged team ("Card-Pitt") in 1944 to get through a player shortage. However, the main storyline entering the game was the face off between the two head coaches; Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt had been the offensive coordinator of the Steelers during their last Super Bowl win but was passed over for the HC job in favor of Mike Tomlin.
  • Tomlin and QB Ben Roethlisberger had kept the Steelers consistent competitors, and they went 12-4 this season thanks in no small part to Defensive Player of the Year LB James Harrison leading the NFL's #1 defense. They beat the Chargers and Ravens in the playoffs to return to their second Super Bowl in four seasons.
  • The 2008 Cardinals were one of the biggest Cinderella stories in NFL history, making their first Super Bowl appearance after decades as a league bottom-feeder. The Cardinals had last won a championship in 1947 and had changed markets twice since then, and they had seen next to no success since coming to Arizona in the late '80s. That all changed with the help of star WR Larry Fitzgerald and a once-undrafted QB named Kurt Warner, who sprung back up in the desert after a few years as a middling starter and backup to once again post an excellent out-of-nowhere season. Their powerful passing offense was offset by a worst-in-the-league running game and a very poor defense. The Cards' 9-7 record was sufficient to win their weak division, and they became the second 9-win team to reach the Super Bowl after beating the Falcons, Panthers, and Eagles^* themselves a Cinderella team, upsetting the Dallas Cowboys in the final week of the season and requiring two other teams (Chicago and Tampa Bay) to suffer upset losses (to Houston and Oakland, respectively) to grab the final wild card spot at 9-6-1, a run that provided part of the backdrop for Silver Linings Playbook, helped by Fitzgerald posting still-record postseason receiving numbers. They remained 7-point underdogs.
• The 11th and final Super Bowl (and final NFL game) to feature John Madden as a TV commentator. This also made Madden the only broadcaster to work at least one Super Bowl for all four major networks.
• While not the first time a sitting President was interviewed during the pregame show^note Super Bowl XX had Ronald Reagan interviewed by NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw; the interview of newly-inaugurated President Barack Obama by Today host Matt Lauer marked the first time a Presidential interview became a regular event.
• Average and total viewership were reached new heights (98.73/151.6 million). Ads were considered at the time to be a marker of the depths of the Great Recession, with almost every major automaker opting out and now-defunct Cash4Gold.com (a mail-order/internet pawn service) running an ad featuring one of the last public appearances of Ed McMahon.
• Hudson's performance of the national anthem was notable as her first public appearance since the highly publicized murder of the singer's mother, brother, and nephew.
• A game fought much more in the air than the ground, its 91 total yards rushing remains a Super Bowl low.
• The Steelers took a 10-0 lead in their first two drives with a FG and TD. The Cardinals responded with a TD, picked off Big Ben, and drove right back down the field... only for Harrison (with the help of some perfectly timed blocks) to return an end zone interception a Super Bowl record 100 yards (then the longest play ever, now the just the longest INT return) right before halftime . This also broke the Steelers' oldest franchise record; their previous longest return was a 99-yard play back in 1933. This play was, by some advanced metrics, the most significant in any Super Bowl, turning a scenario where the Cardinals were very likely to score and even pull ahead of the Steelers into a 17-7 halftime lead for Pittsburgh.
• The most memorable moments of the halftime show (from the TV viewers' perspective) was Springsteen pointing at them to tell them to "step back from the guacamole and chicken fingers", getting flagged by a ref for going overtime, sliding into the camera crotch first, and appropriating I'm Going to Disney World!. The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You from the power of the Boss and the E-Street Band.
• After a third quarter FG extended Pittsburgh's lead, Arizona started an admirable fourth quarter comeback. A touchdown catch by Fitzgerald and a safety caused by a Steelers holding penalty in their own end zone made it a three-point game; two plays later, Fitzgerald broke away for a second, 64-yard TD, giving the Cards their first lead of the entire game with just over two minutes to go. However, any celebrations in Arizona came too early: Big Ben threw four completed passes to Santonio Holmes in a game-winning drive, culminating with a game-winning catch made while standing on his tiptoes just within the back corner of the end zone. Warner's attempt at a Hail Mary was foiled by a strip sack, and the Steelers kneeled out the game to surpass the Niners and Cowboys for the most Super Bowl wins of any franchise in the league.
• The recipient of the game-winning catch was named game MVP after a stellar showing (131 receiving yards). Several have speculated that the man who threw it was passed over at least partially due to his off-field legal issues, as Big Ben had a pretty solid game,^note 21/30 completions, 256 yards, 1 TD-1 INT, 93.2 rating though Warner surpassing him in many categories^note 31/43, 377 yards, 3 TD-1 INT, 112.3 likely didn't help.
• Kurt Warner at this point had been to the Super Bowl three times, and had put up the three highest individual passing yardage totals in Super Bowl history. Some of the totals have since been surpassed, but as of the end of the 2023 season he still has three of the top six.
• Tomlin became the then-youngest head coach (aged 36 years, 10 months, 17 days) to win the Super Bowl. He kept up the Steelers' record of consistent success for the next decade and beyond, taking them back to the Super Bowl in two years and proving that Pittsburgh had made a good choice with his hire. However, this remains the Steelers' last championship win, and the Patriots have since surpassed their tally of Lombardi Trophies.
• While the close finish of this game suggested that the Steelers might have still done well with Whisenhunt at the helm, subsequent seasons seemed to suggest they may have dodged a bullet by going outside their own organization. The Cardinals declined back out of relevance after one more playoff season and Kurt Warner's retirement. After a disastrous showing with the Titans, Whisenhunt ultimately posted the worst career win percentage (52-73, .416) of any HC to reach the Super Bowl. The Cardinals have had relatively more success after this Super Bowl than they have in the decades preceeding it, but they still have yet to return to another.

XLIV — February 7, 2010 / Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens (Miami), Florida / New Orleans Saints def. Indianapolis Colts, 31-17

MVP: Drew Brees, QB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Carrie Underwood / Queen Latifah
Coin Toss: Emmitt Smith, 2010 Hall of Fame inductee, on behalf of all his fellow 2010 inductees
Halftime: The Who

• Ranked the #97 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary. Tracy Porter's game-winning interception was the #32 Greatest Play. The Saints were the #30 Greatest Team and the Colts #75. Ranked the 19th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Last to use a uniquely designed logo.
• A match-up of two #1 seeds who had both won their first 13 games.
  • In their first season after the retirement of coach Tony Dungy, the Colts returned to their second Super Bowl in four seasons under the leadership of new HC Jim Caldwell and QB Peyton Manning, the latter fresh off of his fourth MVP season. Despite having a running game that ranked worst in the league in several metrics, Indy dominated their competition, posting a 14-2 record before beating the Ravens and (in a Super Bowl III rematch) Jets in the playoffs. They were favored to win by 5.
  • Since practically their formation in 1967, the Saints had been known as the absolute worst franchise in the NFL. It took them two full decades to even put up a winning season, and it took over a decade to even scrape a playoff win. When Hurricane Katrina decimated the city in 2005 and forced the Saints to play outside their city for a year. It seemed entirely possible for a time that the team would leave the Big Easy entirely. Then the Saints hired Sean Payton and picked up QB Drew Brees from the Chargers, and suddenly the team transformed seemingly overnight into one of the strongest in the NFL, greatly boosting the morale of the still-recovering community and ensuring the team's security. This season, the team went 13-3 with the league's #1 offense (and a somewhat paltry defense), easily beat the Cardinals in the playoffs, and narrowly beat the Vikings in the NFC Championship with a field goal in overtime^note the last game before the NFL changed the overtime rules so that a field goal on first possession is not an automatic win. With that, the Saints became the most recent franchise to make their debut in the Big Game.
• Interest in the Saints inspiring run brought a lot of attention to the game, which again attracted the largest average and total audience yet by a pretty sizable margin (106.48/153.4 million). However, thanks to the recession the prior year's advertising scarcity, and the major auto companies' commitment to not buying advertising, the price for an ad slot actually went down. One of the ads helping to fill in that space was the Super Bowl's first explicitly political ad, a Focus on the Family-funded prolife slot featuring college football star Tim Tebow.
• The Colts scored a field goal and touchdown in the first quarter, leaving the score 10-0 and setting up the Saints to have to tie the then-biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. They began their comeback with two field goals in the second quarter, leaving them still trailing 10-6 entering halftime with the Colts set to receive the next kickoff.
• The Who's performance atop a massive video stage was the last of a long streak of legacy male rock acts for the post-Nipplegate halftime show. With enough complaints from the public about acts featuring also-seniors from the same genre and enough distance from the FCC fiasco, future shows would begin dipping their toes back into contemporary acts.
• To start the second half, the Saints famously pulled off a risky move that they called "Ambush" by having kicker Thomas Morstead try an unexpected onside kick that bounced off the facemask of Colts wide receiver Hank Baskett. The Saints successfully recovered the ball after many players piled on it, which took officials over a minute to separate. They then drove it to the end zone to take the lead.
• The Colts then took the lead back with a TD of their own, but the Saints completed another field goal to narrow it down to 17-16 by the fourth quarter. Afterwards, they scored another 15 unanswered points, helped by the Colts missing a 51-yard field goal attempt, a two-point conversion that was initially called no good until Payton successfully challenged the ruling, which included the game-winning 74-yard pick six by New Orleans CB Tracy Porter, bringing the state of Louisiana its first major sports championship with the game's only turnover.
• With two all-time great passers facing off, it should come as no surprise that this game set the Super Bowl record for most completed passes (63). Brees competed a record 32 of 39 passes, amounting to 288 yards, 2 TDs, no turnovers, a 114.5 passer rating, and a Super Bowl MVP trophy.^note Manning threw for more yards, 333 off of 31/45 passes, 1 TD-1 INT, 88.5 rating.
• The pilot episode for Undercover Boss debuted after the game; to date, it remains the last show to attempt a successful launch from the post-Super Bowl timeslot, as networks have mostly adopted the strategy of airing a new episode of an already proven popular show to maximize viewership.
• The Colts remained a strong team the following season, only to lose Peyton Manning to a neck injury the next year. The team suffered a terrible regression without him, and though they bounced back in subsequent seasons, they have yet to return to a Super Bowl. Manning, on the other hand, made a remarkable comeback with another horse-themed team and played in two more Super Bowls.
• The Saints joined the Jets (and, at the time, the Buccaneers) as being the only franchise to win their single appearance in the Super Bowl; while the team remained very competitive with Payton and Brees for the next decade, they never managed to return to the Big Game. Part of this was due to several heartbreaking playoff losses, but one major reason that hangs over this game in hindsight is the fallout of "Bountygate". In the years following their Lombardi win, whistleblowing backed up with recordings from the Saints locker room revealed that defensive coordinator Gregg Williams operated a "bounty" program that offered financial rewards to players who caused deliberate injury to opponents. This was terrible PR for not just the Saints but the NFL, who were trying to avert the image of football as a bloodsport as the long-term effects of CTE became more widely known, and resulted in several punishments for the organization, including an unprecedented suspension for Payton for the 2012 season.

XLV — February 6, 2011 / Cowboys Stadium, Arlington (Dallas-Fort Worth), Texas / Green Bay Packers def. Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25

MVP: Aaron Rodgers, QB
Network/Announcers: Fox (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Christina Aguilera / Lea Michele
Coin Toss: Deion Sanders, 2011 Hall of Fame inductee, on behalf of all his fellow 2011 inductees
Halftime: The Black Eyed Peas, with Usher and Slash

• Ranked the 20th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• First to use the standardized logo, much to the dismay of graphic artists.
• A match-up of two prestige franchises; the Packers held the most NFL Championships of any team, while the Steelers (at the time) had won the most Super Bowls. This resulted in another viewership record (111.04 million average/162.9 million total); the Cowboys' new stadium was also installed with thousands of temporary seats to make this the most widely attended game since XXI.^note Efforts to break the attendance record ultimately fell short and led to a class action lawsuit as thousands of fans had their tickets cancelled.
  • The 10-6 Packers became the first #6 seed NFC team to win the Super Bowl. They were ranked the #87 Greatest Team of the league's first century by NFL Films. Green Bay had continued to be generally successful under Brett Favre but had failed to return to the Big Game in over a decade. After he "retired" only to change his mind in 2008, Cheeseheads were enraged by the team's decision to stick with Aaron Rodgers at QB rather than give the starting spot back to the aging legend. This season quieted those doubters, as Rodgers truly emerged as one of the league's elite talents. Paired with an elite defense led by CB Charles Woodson, Green Bay coach (and Pittsburgh native) Mike McCarthy's team won out over the Eagles, #1 seed Falcons, and archrival Bears in the playoffs. The Packers were favored by 3.
  • The 12-4 Steelers had started their season without a QB, as Ben Roethlisberger was suspended for four games due to his second accusation of sexual assault. His absence had little impact, as the Steelers went 3-1 during the suspension and continued to win after his return thanks in large part to their #1 defense, led by Defensive Player of the Year Troy Polamalu. Coach Mike Tomlin's team beat the Ravens and Jets on the way to their second Super Bowl appearance in three years.
• The music aspects of the game are considered to be some of the worst since the NFL started putting effort into that part of the spectacle, and that's despite being the first since Nipplegate to feature a then-popular artist rather than a well-past-their-prime star. It began with "America the Beautiful" being performed by a star of Fox's hit Glee rather than a more high-profile artist, then was followed by Christina Aguilera messing up the lyrics to the national anthem. This all peaked (or, rather, bottomed out) with the halftime show, which is widely considered to be one of the worst of the modern era and to have helped kill the A-list career of headliners the Black Eyed Peas thanks to numerous audio issues and some awkward performances (most notably Fergie's... interesting cover of "Sweet Child of Mine" while grinding on a very disinterested Slash).
• The Packers pulled out to a very early lead, scoring a touchdown on both offense and defense in the first quarter. The Steelers managed to score a field goal in the second quarter, but Roethlisberger's second interception set Green Bay up for another TD. Pittsburgh narrowed the gap with a TD of their own before the half, leaving the score 21-10, though their bigger advantage was likely removing Woodson from play with a broken collarbone.
• The Steelers narrowed the gap in the third quarter with a TD and prevented the Packers from scoring, but a lost fumble early in the fourth set Green Bay up for a TD of their own. A two-point conversion TD from Pittsburgh brought the score to just a three-point gap, and their defense held Green Bay to just a field goal with just over two minutes left. This opened a window for Roethlisberger to lead a final drive to win the game with a TD, but the Packer defense held firm even without their biggest star and brought home another trophy to Titletown.
• Like the Rams in XXXIV, the Packers won while only running the ball 13 times, the stellar passing performance of their MVP QB^note 24/39, 304 yards, 3 TDs, no turnovers, 111.5 rating proving sufficient for their win. In fact, this game featured the fewest rushing attempts in a Super Bowl on both sides of the ball (only 36).
• This was the first time since XXXI, the final game of the NFC's Super Bowl winning streak, that the NFC won consecutive championships.
• In retrospect, this Super Bowl match-up has become more unique within the context of the 2010s. Though both teams remained perennial playoff fixtures and reached their conference championship at least once, neither appeared in the Big Game again that decade. Green Bay reached four more NFC title games in the 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2020 seasons, but lost each; McCarthy wound up getting the ax in 2018, as the team's regression whenever Rodgers was knocked out by injury indicated that his QB had more to do with Green Bay's success than his own coaching. Pittsburgh posted a winning record throughout the decade but was never quite good enough to go for another ring; while their persistent post-season nemesis, New England, reached eight AFC title games over the next decade, Pittsburgh reached only one.

Super Bowls XLVI to 50

XLVI — February 5, 2012 / Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana / New York Giants def. New England Patriots, 21-17

MVP: Eli Manning, QB
Network/Announcers: NBC (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Kelly Clarkson / Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert
Coin Toss: John Parry, referee
Halftime: Madonna, featuring LMFAO, M.I.A., Nicki Minaj, and Cee Lo Green

• Ranked the 18th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022. The Giants unexpected victory earned them the #93 spot on NFL Films' Greatest Teams list.
• A rematch of four years prior with another Giants win. Plus, like the lead-up to Super Bowl XLII, this game was also a rematch of a regular season game between the two teams (as well as the thirteenth overall regular season Super Bowl matchup). This time, the Giants won the regular season game 24-20, but both times the visiting team won.
  • The Patriots had remained strong competitors since their last Super Bowl defeat by the Giants. This year, Brady and Belichick were aided by the "Boston TE Party", the dominant tight-end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez that helped keep New England a dominant offensive power. Unusually for a Belichick-led team, their defense was a weakness, particularly their secondary. Still, the Pats rolled to a 13-3 record, decimated the Tim Tebow-led Broncos in the divisional round, and eeked out a narrow victory over the Ravens in the AFCCG. This, their defensive struggles, and the memory of their last Super Bowl may have contributed to the team only being favored by 3.
  • The Giants became the third team to reach the Super Bowl with less than 10 wins and the first to actually bring home the Lombardi. Despite boasting the worst rushing offense in the league and a fairly weak defense, Eli Manning posted some of the best passing numbers of his career with Victor Cruz breaking out as his #1 target. Coach Tom Coughlin's 9-7 team secured a #4 seed thanks to a weak division, dominated the Falcons in their only home playoff game, and went back on the road. Just as they had in the 2007 postseason, these "Road Warriors" upset the 15-1 Packers and MVP Aaron Rodgers, then salvaged a narrow win over the 49ers in OT thanks to a fumbled punt return.
• The fifth Super Bowl between two quarterbacks who had each previously won a Super Bowl. Also the first Super Bowl since Super Bowl XXVIII to be a rematch between two teams featuring the same starting QB and head coach on both teams.
• Another record-setting average viewer count (111.35 million).
• First Super Bowl announced by Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.
• Despite an impressive showing by the Pats' defense in New York's opening drive, where they pushed the G-Men out of field goal range with three straight negative-yardage play, the Giants took an early lead when they forced Brady to take a safety. A TD pass to Cruz widened their lead to nine points in the first quarter. However, the Patriots surpassed the Giants' success in the second quarter with a field goal and touchdown, leaving the score 10-9 at the half.
• Madonna's extravagent halftime performance featured a diverse array of dancers and staging for the artist's decades of hits. It set a then-record for halftime show viewership, but it is perhaps most notable for featuring an array of then-popular guest stars who never had another hit after this performance:
  • British-Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. flipped off the camera instead of singing a swear in one of the songs. The fallout and litigation from that incident dragged on for several years but didn't become a national controversy the way that Nipplegate did eight years before. The NFL and M.I.A. ultimately settled out of court in 2014, and while M.I.A. never had another major hit in America after this show, there were likely other factors that contributed to her One-Hit Wonder status.
  • Two-Hit Wonder LMFAO performed parts of both of their major hits, only to dissolve their group mere months after shuffling with Madonna on national TV due to Creative Differences.
  • CeeLo Green was fresh off a Career Resurrection that saw him chart a major hit song ("F*ck You") and become a popular host on The Voice, and he was heavily featured in the show's finale (complete with a rapid costume change from a marching band regalia to gospel choir robes). Just a few months later, various legal issues would sharply decrease his popularity.
• The Pats extended their lead with a Hernandez TD in the third quarter. However, after putting up 17 unanswered points, this turned out to be New England's last score of the game, and New York scored two more field goals to make it 17-15 entering the fourth.
• The sole turnover of the game was a Brady interception early in the fourth quarter; the Giants failed to capitalize on it on the subsequent drive, but their defense continued to hold firm and gave the ball back to the offense in the game's final minutes. Manning's 38-yard pass to Mario Manningham on the game-winning drive threaded the needle between two defenders; NFL Films ranked it the #31 Greatest Play in NFL history for the league's 100th anniversary.
• One of the most bizarre plays in Super Bowl history resulted in the last Giants touchdown. The Giants had the ball at the six and chose to just run the ball; even if they failed to score a TD, they were in position to burn lots of clock and set up a game-winning chip-shot field goal. Knowing this, the New England defense intentionally let RB Ahmad Bradshaw through to score, which would give the Patriots the ball back with time to score a TD and win. When Bradshaw recognized what was up, he had too much momentum to stop and fell ass-forward into the end zone (the Giants failed to score a two-point conversion). Ultimately, the Pats failed to score again, giving the Giants the win.
• Manning was once again awarded MVP for a solid overall performance^note 30/40 completions, 296 yards, 1 TD, no turnovers, 103.8 rating with key passes when it mattered most. Brady set a Super Bowl record for consecutive completions (16) but ultimately failed to elevate the team to a victory; his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, infamously stated after the game that he couldn't throw and catch the ball. Coughlin became the then-oldest coach to win a Super Bowl at 65 years old.
• The Giants managed to replicate their 9-7 record the next year, but a stronger performance by Washington kept them from reaching the playoffs and attempting another Cinderella run. The Giants have remained mediocre to bad ever since, only managing to reach the playoffs once since this victory.
• No other franchise before New England had seen the same QB and coach reach five Super Bowls, and many predicted that this second defeat by the underdog Giants might signal the end of the Pats dynasty. This proved to be far from the truth, as Brady and Belichick were merely launching the second half of their legendary dynasty:
  • The Patriots made it at least as far as the AFC Championship Game for the next seven seasons and would add three more Lombardis to the trophy case in that time.
  • Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez would complete one more season in New England before being arrested, tried, and convicted for the murder of his brother-in—law-to-be Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player. He would be cut from the team immediately after being arrested and charged. His touchdown celebration in this game became the defining image of his career and a major Harsher in Hindsight moment, as his celebrated reputation was tarnished irreparably as darker elements of his character were revealed during the trial.
  • There would be a changing of the guard on both offense and defense in New England. OC Bill O'Brien would leave the Pats for a head coaching job in Houston, paving the way for the eventual return of Josh McDaniels. Danny Woodhead, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Deion Branch, and Wes Welker would all leave the team by 2012, leving behind a core consisting of Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Shane Vereen to be built out in the coming years. On defense, their struggles would at last be over, as they struck gold in 2012, picking Chandler Jones and Dont'a Hightower in the first round. The unit would be coached by Matt Patricia, a longtime Belichick acolyte from the first championship run who would stay with the team until 2018.
• The Patriots and Giants would meet once more with the same HC/QB tandems in 2015, ending in a last second New England victory. By that point, the Patriots had secured their coveted fourth championship, were mounting a 10-0 start, and would be a Super Bowl fixture for the next three years. The Giants, by comparison, were ailing at 5-5 and would finish eliminated at 6-10, ending Coughlin's tenure as head coach. Eli Manning continued on until 2019, when injuries and years of declining performance forced him to the bench and then to retirement. At the end of that same season, Tom Brady would leave the Patriots in free agency, and by 2021, both teams had starting quarterbacks named Jones.

XLVII — February 3, 2013 / Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana / Baltimore Ravens def. San Francisco 49ers, 34-31

MVP: Joe Flacco, QB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Alicia Keys / Jennifer Hudson with the Sandy Hook Elementary Chorus
Coin Toss: Larry Allen, Cris Carter, Curley Culp, Warren Sapp, Bill Parcells, Jonathan Ogden, and Dave Robinson, 2013 Hall of Fame inductees
Halftime: Beyoncé and Destiny's Child

• Ranked the #30 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary, and the thirteenth highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list. The Ravens were the #97 Greatest Team. Ranked the 17th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Best known as the "Harbaugh Bowl" or simply the "HarBowl", as opposing coaches Jim and John Harbaugh are brothers.^note They had previously faced off on Thanksgiving Day the year prior, which was the first instance of such a sibling battle. Also notable as the only Super Bowl to feature teams that had gone undefeated in all prior Super Bowl appearances.
  • The Ravens had remained one of the league's more consistent teams since their last Super Bowl win over a decade prior, coming close to but not quite reaching the Super Bowl a number of times. Their original owner, Art Modell, died just four days before the start of the 2012 regular season. While the start of the year seemed shaky for the Ravens, they rebounded after firing their OC mid-season. QB Joe Flacco had the best season of his career, and after going 10-6 in the regular season and earning the #4 seed, led a remarkable playoff run. After beating the Colts at home, the Ravens beat the #1 seed Broncos in a highly-memorable double-overtime bout known as the "Mile High Miracle" thanks to WR Jacoby Jones' 70-yard game-tying TD. They finally defeated the Patriots in Tom Brady's sole at-home AFCCG loss, marking the first time in a decade that the AFC hadn't been represented by Brady, Manning, or Roethlisberger in the Super Bowl.
  • The 49ers had not been one of the league's more consistent teams. In the years since their dynastic '80s-'90s run, the Niners had fallen off to be one of the NFL's most lackluster teams. That turned around immediately after the arrival of former NFL QB Jim Harbaugh as head coach in 2011, who immediately took the team out of an eight-year playoff drought to a NFCCG in his first year. In his sophomore season, he made the controversial decision to replace starting QB Alex Smith mid-season with inexperienced backup Colin Kaepernick. However, Kaepernick's athleticism and talent supported the rest of his talented roster, taking them to a 11-4-1 record and the #2 seed. In the playoffs, Kaep set QB postseason rushing records in a win over the Packers before leading a 17-point comeback against the Falcons, securing the Niners' sixth Super Bowl trip and making Kaep one of the least experienced QBs to take a team to a Super Bowl. San Francisco was 5-0 in Super Bowls, and they were 4-point favorites entering the game.
• The Superdome hosted its seventh Super Bowl, the most of any stadium. At the time, the New Orleans area also tied with the Miami area for most Super Bowls hosted at ten each.
• Set new record for total viewers (164.1 million).
• Baltimore took the lead with an early TD, but San Francisco kept the first quarter close with a field goal. The game got away from the Niners in the second quarter, starting with a costly fumble by rookie RB LaMichael James. After another Raven TD, Kaepernick threw the first 49er Super Bowl interception ever to the legendary Ed Reed. This ultimately didn't result in a score; for the first and only time in a Super Bowl, the Ravens attempted a fake field goal, with kicker Justin Tucker attempting to run in a first down (he was tackled a yard short). However, on their next possession, Jacoby Jones made another spectacular play, getting up off the turf after a falling catch (his only one in the game) and evading two defenders for a 56-yard TD. The Niners were only able to post a FG before the half, leaving the score 21-6.
• Beyoncé's halftime performance received widespread critical acclaim (despite a few technical issues) and drew attention for reuniting her with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child.
• Jones made another massive play, becoming the first player in Super Bowl history to return the second half's opening kickoff for a touchdown. The 108-yard return remains the longest play in Super Bowl history, and he remains the only player in Super Bowl history to have a receiving and return touchdown in the same game.
• The power went out for about half the stadium in the middle of the 3rd quarter, delaying the game by 34 minutes and making it easily the longest Super Bowl (4 hours and 14 minutes from start to finish).
• Despite being down 28-6 at this part of the game, the 34-minute interruption to the game seemed to energize the 49ers, scoring 2 TDs and a FG in just over four minutes of game time in the third quarter thanks to a fumble recovery. This made it a one-score game (28-23) entering the fourth quarter.
• Ultimately, however, the Niners couldn't overcome their pre-blackout deficit. The Ravens extended their lead with a FG, and after completing a 15-yard TD run (still the longest for a QB in the Super Bowl), Kaepernick missed a 2-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game at 31 points. Tucker then scored again, requiring the Niners to score a TD to win, which they could not. On their final possession, in order to burn as much time off the clock as possible and avoid a possible blocked punt, Ravens punter Sam Koch held onto the ball and scrambled out of the back of the end zone for a rare intentional safety (in the process making this just the second Super Bowl where both teams scored over 30 points). With just four seconds left, the Ravens halted the Niners' final kick return, sealing the game.
• Despite Jones' individual effort in two touchdowns giving Baltimore the required margin to keep their lead, game MVP went to Flacco for his efficient passing.^note 22/33 passes completed, 287 yards, 3 TDs, no turnovers, 124.2 rating Kaepernick passed for more yards, though with less efficiency,^note 16/28, 302, 1 TD-1 INT, 91.7 and also ran for 62 yards and a score.
• The Ravens' legendary defender Ray Lewis retired on top after this game; he was the last remaining player from both the team's first season and its past Super Bowl roster. He was the first of several key parts of the roster that departed soon after this victory, from veterans like Reed to young stars like RB Ray Rice, whose career ended due to a recording of him committing domestic abuse. Flacco was unable to match his performance from this season, never even being named to a Pro Bowl. While John Harbaugh has mostly kept the Ravens competitive, the team has yet to even reach the AFCCG after their second Lombardi win.
• Though this iteration of the Niners made it to a third-straight NFC Championship appearance the following year, it ultimately fell apart almost as quickly as it came together; few of its players and coaching staff were present when the team returned to the Super Bowl seven years later:
  • All-time great WR Randy Moss missed his last chance for a Super Bowl ring and retired after this game.
  • Star DE Aldon Smith started facing suspensions for off-field legal issues starting the next season, derailing his career.
  • Despite never putting up a losing record with the Niners, Jim Harbaugh was pushed into resigning and returning to the college ranks less than two years after reaching the Super Bowl due to a power-struggle with management; the Niners went through three different head coaches over the next three years, dropping to the bottom of the league's standings for a time.
  • Amidst all this administrative/coaching dysfunction, struggles with injuries, and his off-field activism for Black Lives Matter, Kaepernick's promising career ground to a halt, and he was out of the NFL after 2016.

XLVIII — February 2, 2014 / MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford (New York City area), New Jersey / Seattle Seahawks def. Denver Broncos, 43-8

MVP: Malcolm Smith, LB
Network/Announcers: Fox (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Renée Fleming / Queen Latifah and the New Jersey Youth Chorus
Coin Toss: Joe Namath and Phil Simms, Super Bowl MVPs and Hall of Fame QBs who played for New York teams
Halftime: Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers

• Ranked the worst Super Bowl in history (55th) by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Billed as the ultimate unstoppable force against immovable object game; Denver had set a season record for most points scored with Peyton Manning throwing a record 55 touchdown passes, and Seattle's "Legion of Boom" had the best performing defense since the '85 Bears by several metrics. Both were #1 seeds with 13-3 regular season records. The Seahawks were ranked the #18 Greatest Team of the league's first century by NFL Films; the Broncos #86.
  • Seattle had undergone a brief rebuilding phase since their last Super Bowl appearance and emerged under coach Pete Carroll as a defensive juggernaut loaded with stars. On offense, they were led by one of the youngest QBs to ever reach the Big Game, sophomore Russell Wilson, who was already quickly distinguishing himself as one of the game's best passers. However, the main engine of their of their offense was their ground game; in addition to Wilson's scrambling prowess, the team boasted one of the most powerful (and eccentric) RBs in the league in the form of Marshawn Lynch. The 'Hawks beat the Saints and Niners in the playoffs, with star corner Richard Sherman sealing the NFCCG with a pass deflection that he loudly argued made him "THE BEST CORNER IN THE GAME!"
  • Denver was narrowly favored by two; while the Seahawks had been very good, the Broncos boasted what remains, even years later, the most explosive offensive the league has ever seen. The Colts traded away their 4-time MVP quarterback in 2012, believing he would never again reach the incredible level of performance he had offered Indianapolis for over a decade due to a neck injury that took him out of commission for a full year. Manning responded by playing the best football of his career, shattering passing records and winning his fifth MVP. In the postseason, the Broncos beat the Chargers and Manning's old rival, the Patriots, to bring Denver back to the Super Bowl for the first time since Elway's retirement. The Broncos' biggest weakness was their defense, which was depleted all year thanks to the suspension and injury of star Von Miller, and they also had one of the league's worst return defenses while Seattle had one of the league's best return teams. Their offensive production also seemed to stall somewhat in both playoff games, perhaps due to the colder weather or just the wear and tear of the season catching up to their aging passer. Still, none of that would be a problem under the bright lights... right?
  • This is the only Super Bowl between two former division rivals. The Broncos and Seahawks were AFC West teams between 1977-2001, when Seattle made the jump to the NFC. This was also the second playoff meeting between these two franchises; they previously clashed in the 1983 AFC Wild Card playoffs where Seattle thumped Denver with a score of 31-7.
• First northern Super Bowl to be subject to cold outdoor conditions (though it was 49°F (7°C) at kickoff, only the third-coldest in Super Bowl history after VI and IX), and the first to be officially hosted by two states (New York, the location of the nearest major city, and New Jersey, where the stadium actually is). Also First Super Bowl to officially be hosted by two teams, the Giants and the Jets. Rather than sharing facilities during the preparation phase, the Broncos used the Jets' headquarters while the Seahawks used the Giants'. The NFL lucked out, as the game landed just a day before a major snow storm.
• Also jokingly called the "Super 'Bowl'" (get it?),^note From a meme featuring Dr. Evil doing his "airquotes" thing "Bud Bowl", "Weed Bowl", and variants, as Washington and Colorado were the first two states, and the only ones at the time, to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
• Another year, another viewership record, with 112.19 million average viewers (even as the game very quickly became a Foregone Conclusion).
• The game was practically over before it started: On the very first post-kickoff play, Denver center Manny Ramirez snapped the ball too early, causing it to fly past Manning. Denver recovered the ball in the scramble but got tackled in their end zone, resulting in a safety and the earliest score in Super Bowl history at 12 seconds. As Seattle never relinquished the lead, they hold the Super Bowl record for longest continuous time in the lead at 59:48. They extended that lead to 22-0 by halftime with two field goals, an offensive touchdown, and a 69-yard pick-six by LB Malcolm Smith (off Manning's second and last INT of the game); this marked the biggest Super Bowl halftime deficit since Elway's Broncos in the '80s.
• The halftime show is very interesting in hindsight, featuring a lineup of Mars' then-greatest hits shortly before the release of his most popular song ("Uptown Funk") and several more years of hits. (The NFL would make up for this miss a few years later.) The energetic throwback performance was relatively short on the dramatic staging gimmicks of the past few years, mainly focusing on displaying Mars' broad musical talents (down to opening with him performing a lengthy drum solo).
• One year after the aforementioned Jacoby Jones becomes the first player in Super Bowl history to return the second half's opening kickoff for a touchdown, Seattle's Percy Harvin duplicated the feat. Harvin's return was merely 87 yards due to the Broncos intentionally kicking the ball short to prevent such a return, only for Harvin to scoop the ball up and run it anyway. Things kept rolling downhill from there for the Broncos; a fumble recovery set Seattle up for another TD, giving them a 36-0 lead, and Denver didn't make their only touchdown and two-point conversion that night until the last play of the third quarter. Seattle scored another TD to put the last nail in the coffin, and the last ten minutes went scoreless, with the only notable play being Manning fumbling away the ball after the only sack made by either team all game.
• Smith was named game MVP for his pick-six, as Seattle's defense was the undisputed star and no one on offense put up an especially great performance. Wilson was highly efficient but didn't need to put up flashy numbers.^note 18/25, 206 yards, 2 TDs, no turnovers, 123.1 rating Manning^note 34/49, 280, 1 TD-2 INTs, 78.5 and main receiver Demaryius Thomas both set Super Bowl records for completions (34) and receptions (13), respectively, but that was mainly because of their desperate need to catch up to Seattle's lead for most of the game (Denver posted only 27 rushing yards) and they both struggled with ball security.
• Broncos coach John Fox became the sixth head coach to guide two different teams to a Super Bowl appearance, previously guiding the Panthers to a loss in XXXVIII. Conversely, Carroll became only the third HC (and the only one not associated with the '90s Cowboy dynasty) to win both a college national championship and a Super Bowl.
• This is the most recent Super Bowl to feature a Scorigami (a football game boasting a final score that has never before been achieved). Fittingly, this was a game with a team coached by Carroll, who SB Nation's Jon Bois has dubbed the "wizard of Scorigami" for repeatedly finishing games with unique final scores.
• This one-sided defeat brought the Broncos franchise to a record five Super Bowl losses. Manning's performance declined precipitously in the following years, but the team managed to fix their problems on defense to run it back in another Super Bowl two years later. However, this visit would be without Fox, who would be let go after an early postseason defeat the following season.
• The Seahawks also remained very strong entering the next season and returned to the Super Bowl the following year. Unfortunately for Seattle, they lost that bout, and this remains the franchise's only Super Bowl win.
• This marked the fourth NFC Super Bowl win in five years, the most successful period for that conference since the ending of their 15-game winning streak in 1998.

XLIX — February 1, 2015 / University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale (Phoenix), Arizona / New England Patriots def. Seattle Seahawks, 28-24

MVP: Tom Brady, QB
Network/Announcers: NBC (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Idina Menzel / John Legend
Coin Toss: Tedy Bruschi, linebacker and two-time All-Pro, and Kenny Easley, one of the best safeties in NFL history, representing the Patriots and Seahawks, respectively
Halftime: Katy Perry with Lenny Kravitz, Missy Elliott, and the Arizona State University Sun Devil Marching Band

• Ranked the #8 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary and the third highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list; Malcolm Butler's game-winning interception was ranked the #5 Greatest Play and the second best in a Super Bowl. The Patriots were the #46 Greatest Team. Ranked the best Super Bowl ever by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Billed as a clash of titans, this game was the first and only Super Bowl to be a toss-up with no betting favorite; also the sixth Super Bowl featuring two starting quarterbacks who had each previously won a Super Bowl. This was second time in a row that the #1 seeds of each conference went face-to-face, with Seattle leading the NFC both these times.
  • On one side, the Patriots were looking to finally claim their fourth championship after two failed attempts and a decade since their last win. The 12-4 team posted the best point differential in the league. They overcame two 14-point deficits in their first playoff match against the Ravens, then defeated the Colts in the AFC Championship, aka "Deflategate", a controversy over whether or not New England deliberately deflated their provided footballs for the AFC Championship Game to gain an advantage. (The Patriots beat the Colts 45-7 in that game, with the offending footballs being removed at halftime, when the Patriots were ahead 17-7.) Brady's sixth trip to the Super Bowl surpassed John Elway for the most Big Game appearances.
  • On the other side, Seattle was again buoyed by their record-setting Legion of Boom defense and the quarterbacking of Russell Wilson, hoping to make their mark as the new dynasty of the 2010s by becoming the first team since the Patriots to repeat as champions. Wilson was efficient but didn't need to be especially productive, as the team also boasted the #1 rushing offense in the league led by Marshawn Lynch (remember that). The 12-4 team defeated the Panthers handily before narrowly defeating MVP Aaron Rodgers' Packers in the NFC Championship, posting a comeback from a 12-point deficit in the last five minutes to win in overtime.
• In retrospect, features something of an All-Star Cast of players from the NFL's 2010s All-Decade Team: for the Patriots: Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Stephen Gostkowski, Chandler Jones, Darrelle Revis, and head coach Bill Belichick; for the Seahawks: Lynch, Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner, Earl Thomas, and head coach Pete Carroll. That's not including the rest of the Legion of Boom — Kam Chancellor, Byron Maxwell, Brandon Browner (this time as a Patriot) — and fixtures of the Patriots teams that played in three of the next four Super Bowls such as Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Dont'a Hightower, and Devin McCourty, making this game an impressive cross-section of the top shelf of the NFL in the middle of the decade.
  • The game notably featured the coach of one team who had replaced the other as head coach; Belichick was hired in 2000 to succeed Carroll, who went on to become the coach of the Seahawks starting in 2010.
• The most-watched Super Bowl ever at the time, with 114,442,000 people tuning into the NBC broadcast. The 47.5 rating was also the highest since XX. Subsequent TV broadcasts gradually declined in numbers, most likely because of cord-cutting and the proliferation of alternate ways of viewing the game, but would bounce back to new heights in the 2020s.
• The events of the final quarter were so memorable that many of the events that led up to it were quickly forgotten. Let's briefly rewind:
  • The first quarter was scoreless thanks in large part to a red zone INT by Seattle corner Jeremy Lane. Lane's play came at great cost, however, as he broke his wrist and tore his ACL after being tackled by Edelman on his return attempt and was knocked out of the rest of the game.
  • In contrast, the second quarter was a flurry of scoring. The two team's first exchanged TDs (Seattle's coming off of a short-yardage run by Lynch; remember that). Brady led a second TD drive in the half's final two minutes, but Seattle blazed back down the field themselves in just 30 seconds. Faced with just six seconds on the clock, Carroll gambled and had Wilson go for a TD to tie the game rather than settle for the points on a chip-shot FG. The gamble paid off, leaving the score 14-14 at the half.
• Katy Perry halftime show stands as the most watched in the event's history and is notable for its numerous guests and elaborate effects (which included Perry riding a kaiju-sized lion and a shooting star). But let's face it: you just remember Left Shark.
• The second half was Down to the Last Play incarnate; buckle up.
  • Seattle dominated the third quarter, scoring a FG before picking off Brady a second time and scoring another TD. Historically, this ten-point lead should have sealed their victory; only two previous Super Bowls (XXII and XLIV) had ever featured comebacks from double-digit deficits; both of those started in the second quarter, not the third...
  • No one told the Patriots that, as Brady led a TD drive early in the fourth quarter. That drive still likely should have cost the Pats the game, as Edelman was left visibly concussed after converting on third-and-14. However, officials seemed to look the other way from the staggering player, allowing him to stay in the game and score another TD, giving the Pats a 28-24 lead entering the final two minutes of the game.
  • This left it up to Seattle to again assemble a rapid touchdown drive in order to win the game. For a moment, that seemed all but guaranteed, especially after the Seahawks posted their own David Tyree-esque moment; WR Jermaine Kearse made an improbable juggling catch for a 33-yard gain. A four-yard run from Lynch brought Seattle one yard from the end zone.
  • What came next was one of the single most critiqued and analyzed plays in NFL history. Seattle dialed up a pass, calculating that if it was incomplete, the stopped clock would give them time for two more plays (they had one timeout left). Wilson threw a slant to Ricardo Lockette in the shallow end of the end zone, but it was diagnosed and intercepted by rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler, who had just surrendered the throw to Kearse a few plays prior, thus giving New England possession on their own 1. Many, including those on the broadcast, were in disbelief that Carroll hadn't just called another short-yardage run from Lynch, feeling like it would have given them a surer chance of scoring and keeping the ball, regardless of the time management issues.
  • Even then, the game was not over. New England had the ball but were trapped in the shadow of their own end zone; Brady could not kneel to run the clock without resulting in a safety, and any "safe" running play could result in the same, giving Seattle two points, possession, and a chance to win with a field goal. Taking the field, Brady used a hard count^* A stilted, accented voice to call the cadence of the next play, usually with no intention of actually conducting a play. which drew a Seattle lineman into an encroachment penalty, giving New England wiggle room to kneel and run out the clock. A frustrated Seahawks LB, Bruce Irvin, started a shoving match that resulted in him becoming the first player to ever be ejected from the Super Bowl and putting the ball another fifteen yards away from the end zone.
• The Patriots win their first Lombardi Trophy in exactly a decade. Also, in a way, the win helped exorcise the demons of seven years ago, when what was supposed to be their perfect season was spoiled by the Giants at the same venue. Despite how close they came to losing, this was actually the first time the Patriots won a Super Bowl by more than 3 points and the only one where they won without scoring a field goal.
• While many would argue that Butler deserved the MVP trophy, this game saw Tom Brady^note 37/50 completions, 328 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs, 101.1 rating tie his childhood idol Joe Montana for most Super Bowl MVPs, join Montana and Terry Bradshaw for most Super Bowl wins at four, and set new records for Super Bowl completions (37) and career touchdown passes (13). Wilson actually had Brady beat on both passing efficiency^note 12/21, 247 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 110.6 and on the ground with 39 rushing yards, but that crucial INT and the final score kept him from the trophy. That being said, Brady did give the MVP Award prize car, a 2015 Chevrolet Colorado, to Butler with Chevrolet's approval. (Though let's face it, Brady probably has more than enough money to buy multiple cars.)
  • The other standout player of the game not mentioned above: Seahawks WR Chris Matthews, an undrafted rookie who had never caught an NFL pass before this game (though he had recovered a critical onside kick in the NFC Championship) but led the Seattle receiving corps with 109 yards and a TD. He would score exactly one more TD and compile barely as many yards for the rest of his short NFL career.
• Madden NFL made its first-ever exact final score prediction with this game, with the bonus of predicting that New England would be down 14-24 in the third quarter. The person on the cover of the game used (Madden NFL 15)? Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman.
• This win reinvigorated the Patriots, kicking off a second wave of Super Bowl dominance for Brady and Belichick; they'd be back in the Super Bowl two years later for an even more thrilling ending.
• The Seahawks, on the other hand, saw their hopes at a dynasty snuffed out. While they remained one of the most competitive teams in the league since this loss, the Legion of Boom dissipated in subsequent seasons and they have yet to return to a Super Bowl.

50 — February 7, 2016 / Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara (San Francisco Bay Area), California / Denver Broncos def. Carolina Panthers, 24-10

MVP: Von Miller, LB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Lady Gaga / U.S. Armed Forces Choir (with Marlee Matlin performing ASL for both)
Coin Toss: Joe Montana, three-time Super Bowl MVP
Halftime: Coldplay with Bruno Mars^note With Mark Ronson cameoing and Beyoncé

• Ranked the 47st best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The Broncos were named the #58 Greatest Team of the league's first century, the Panthers #68.
• While the Roman numeral for 50 is 'L', the NFL broke tradition and went with Arabic numeral; the association with the letter to "Loss"/"Loser" is too strong, and it's rather hard to make an aesthetically pleasing logo with a single letter. Also dubbed the "Golden Bowl", a triple pun on California's nickname of the Golden State, the fact that the San Francisco 49ers (home tenant of Levi's Stadium) are named after the miners of the 1849 Gold Rush, and that 50th anniversaries are known as golden anniversaries. Oh, and there was also a 18-karat gold-plated "50" trophy to go with the standard Vince Lombardi Trophy.^note And the corporation whose name is on the stadium got its start making durable pants for the 1849-50 gold miners... too much?
• The third year in a row that the Super Bowl featured the two #1 seeds in each conference. Also the first ever Super Bowl matchup between two #1 overall draft picks at quarterback (spaced another record 13 years apart).
  • The Broncos reached their 12-4 record in a completely different manner than their last Super Bowl run. Peyton Manning was, at the time, the oldest ever QB to start a Super Bowl^note aged 39, taking the record from 38-year-old John Elway, the last QB to win the SB with Denver, and his performance showed it. Despite setting many career passing records this season, he had fallen far from the record-setting offensive production of a few years prior, being bothered by injuries the whole year and even getting benched in the last few games of the regular season behind Brock Osweiler after posting a 0.0 passer rating; while he was brought back for the postseason, many believed that he would hang up the cleats when the year was done regardless of the game's outcome. Fortunately, the Broncos' new-for-2015 coaching staff, consisting of NFL veterans Gary Kubiak at head coach and Wade Phillips at defensive coordinator (who had both coached GM John Elway during his playing career in Denver, with Kubiak having also spent his entire playing career as Elway's backup), had built up the #1 passing defense in the league, nicknamed the "No Fly Zone", around stars like LB Von Miller and CB Aqib Talib. Phillips won Assistant Coach of the Year for his efforts in reshaping a former Glass Cannon into a Stone Wall that accrued a 12-4 record and blocked out Pittsburgh and Manning's old rivals in New England, setting the stage for one last rodeo for the Sheriff.
  • However, Vegas remained skeptical that a dominant defense alone was sufficient to win the Big Game in the 21st century NFL, instead favoring Carolina by 5.5. The Panthers were the far more exciting team in the regular season: led by Coach of the Year Ron Rivera and league MVP Cam Newton at QB, the Panthers put up a 15-1 record thanks to having the #1 offense and one of the best defenses in the league and posted dominant playoff wins over Seattle and Arizona. Since Newton was known for his exceptional running ability (and they'd had all that offensive success despite a relatively poor passing game to begin with), many questioned whether the "No Fly Zone" defense would even be particularly effective against the Panthers.
• Despite the viewership (111.86 million) and ratings being slightly down from the last year's record high, the household share (72) was the highest of any Super Bowl since XVI. It remains the highest rated program in the history of CBS.
• Last of eight Super Bowls announced by Phil Simms, who had been widely criticized as one of the dullest "color" commentators in the game for years.
• The Broncos took a lead with a field goal in their first possession, giving the Panthers their first deficit of the postseason. After an exchange of punts, a deep pass from Newton was controversially ruled incomplete on the field and not overturned. Two plays later, the QB was strip sacked by Von Miller, setting up a fumble recovery touchdown later named it the #77 Greatest Play in NFL history for the league's 100th anniversary. While the Panthers eventually managed to run in another TD, a then-Super Bowl record 61-yard punt return from Jordan Norwood, set the Broncos up for a field goal. The teams ended the quarter by exchanging turnovers (an INT from Manning and a fumble from FB Mike Tolbert), leaving the halftime score 13-7.
• This halftime nominally featured Coldplay as the headliner, but the British rock band turned out to be largely upstaged at their own performances by lengthy and high-profile guest appearances; Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson performed their megasmash "Uptown Funk", and Beyoncé making a surprise appearance and a political statement with a performance of her new song "Formation", and the show ended with a mashup/montage of prior Super Bowl halftime show performances projected on the stage.
• The Panthers returned to the field seemingly reenergized, but their promising opening drive sputtered when their field goal attempt bounced off the uprights. The Broncos extended their lead with another FG, and another promising Panthers drive was again extinguished when Denver intercepted a deflected ball deep in their own territory.
• Carolina eventually managed to strip the ball from Manning early in the fourth quarter, setting up a field goal to make it a one-possession game. However, on their next potential game-winning drive in the final minutes of the game, Miller again stripped Newton deep in Carolina territory, setting up the Broncos to recover the ball with great field position and secure a TD (and two-point conversion) to put the game away. Newton would face the greatest criticism for his reaction to this play, as the cameras clearly indicated that he had thought twice of diving to recover the ball himself and risk injury.
• Five seasons before this game, Von Miller had been the second pick in the draft after Cam Newton; now he was the Super Bowl MVP thanks to his two critical forced fumbles on said QB (though some argued that the less flashy T.J. Ward also deserved credit for recovering one of those fumbles for a TD and for securing an additional INT).
• This game saw Peyton Manning becoming the first quarterback to win 200 total games (including playoffs), one more than Brett Favre, and the first to win the Super Bowl with two different teams (having previously won XLI with Indianapolis), and the oldest to start and win a Super Bowl. His performance in the game wasn't spectacular (13/23 completions, 141 yards, no TDs, 1 pick and two fumbles, 56.6 rating) and contributed to the Broncos having the fewest total yards of offense by any Super Bowl-winning team (194). Manning announced his retirement a month later.
  • Manning's poor performance was mostly overshadowed by the win and the rest of his incredible career. The same could not be said for Newton, who also put up a poor performance^note 18/41, 265 yards, 0 TD-1 INT, 55.4 rating that contributed to this being, by many metrics, the worst quarterbacked Super Bowl ever. Part of that can be explained by the Super Bowl-record sack count: the Broncos tied the '85 Bears' seven sacks on Newton, and Manning was brought down five times himself.
  • Several other records were tied: most sacks by a single player in a Super Bowl (3 by Kony Ealy, tied with SB XXVI), most fumble recoveries by a single player in a Super Bowl (2 by Danny Trevathan), most penalties to a single team (12 to Carolina, tying their tally from their last appearance), and most Super Bowl games played (8 by Denver, with a 3-5 record, tied with Pittsburgh at 6-2, Dallas at 5-3, and New England at 4-4 at the time).
• Kubiak became the first HC to win a Super Bowl with the same team he had played for.
• There was a heartwarming Ironic Echo during the postgame festivities. During Super Bowl XXXII's Lombardi Trophy presentation; Broncos owner Pat Bowlen - in honor of John Elway finally winning a Super Bowl after three previous defeats - famously announced "This one's for John". Fast-forward to this game, and Elway dedicated that Super Bowl victory to Bowlen, who by this time was suffering from Alzheimer's disease by declaring "This one's for Pat".
• While the Broncos' performance in this game seemed to indicate that a strong enough defense was still all you needed to win a Super Bowl, their performance in subsequent seasons suggested otherwise, as they have yet to find a steady replacement at QB or return to the playoffs. Kubiak and Phillips both left Denver after the following 9-7 season, and the team hasn't seen a winning record since.
• After putting up a run in 2015 that had many wondering if the Panthers were set to be the NFL's next great dynasty, injuries to many of the stars (including Newton) led the franchise to soon decline back to mediocrity. While it is likely an exaggeration to attribute their upset loss here to that decline, many believe that the harsh criticism Newton faced after the game for the mistakes made under the bright lights at least partially contributed to the dimming of his star power.