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Green Bay 35, New England 21
Super Bowl XXXI
Sunday, Jan. 26, 1997 at Louisiana Superdome
Attendance:72,301
Time: 3:21
Antonio Freeman celebrates his touchdown catch with Andre Rison |
Using several momentum-turning big plays, the Packers held off resilient New England to capture their first world championship in 29 years. For Green Bay, the victory also marked its league-high 12th NFL championship as well as its third Super Bowl triumph.
The Packers jumped to an early 10-0 lead. Brett Favre, sensing a Patriots blitz, audibled on Green Bay's second play from scrimmage, hitting late-season pickup Andre Rison on a wide-open post pattern for a 54-yard touchdown pass. On the ensuing New England possession, Doug Evans intercepted Drew Bledsoe at the Patriots' 28, which led to a 37-yard field goal by Chris Jacke.
New England then was able to turn the tide in its favor, however, as Bledsoe took his club on two long drives for touchdowns. The first, which covered 79 yards and culminated in a short pass to Keith Byars, was aided by two long throws to Pats running backs and a 26-yard pass interference penalty. The second, starting at the New England 43, was spurred by a leaping, 44-yard reception by rookie Terry Glenn. When tight end Ben Coates caught a 4-yard TD pass from Bledsoe, the Patriots momentarily had their only lead of the game and had completed the highest-scoring first quarter in Super Bowl history.
LeRoy Butler sacks Drew Bledsoe with one arm |
Green Bay rebounded to re-take the lead when Favre, seeing Patriots' strong safety Lawyer Milloy at the line of scrimmage in tight coverage on Antonio Freeman, watched Freeman elude Milloy's "bump" and lofted a perfect aerial to Freeman along the right sideline. Freeman, able to outrun New England's late-arriving free safety, covered 81 yards for the longest reception in Super Bowl history at that time. After another Jacke field goal, Favre took advantage of a Mike Prior interception and escorted his troops on a nine-play, 74-yard march just before halftime which ended when, on a bootleg left, he lunged the ball over the goal line as he was rolling out of bounds.
Taking a 27-14 edge out of the locker room at halftime, Green Bay maintained that lead until late in the third quarter, when the Patriots' Curtis Martin made a magnificent 18-yard run up the middle of the Packers' defense to pull New England to within six points at 27-21.
Game MVP Desmond Howard returns a kickoff 99 yards |
That margin was short-lived, though, as Desmond Howard returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a back-breaking touchdown (the longest kick return in Super Bowl history), bursting through the center of the Packers' well-blocked wedge, then juking kicker Adam Vinatieri to bolt free. Howard, who had 244 total return yards in the game including key punt runbacks of 32 and 34 yards, was voted the game's most valuable player, becoming the first special teams player to be so honored. A subsequent, successful two-point conversion, where Favre found Mark Chmura along the back of the end zone, gave the Green and Gold an insurmountable two-touchdown lead.
The top-ranked Green Bay defense, which had four interceptions of Bledsoe, was led by Reggie White, who sacked the New England quarterback a Super Bowl-record three times, including twice in a row on the possession immediately following Howard's scoring return.
Favre, playing less than an hour from his hometown of Kiln, Miss., completed 14 of 27 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, while his counterpart, Bledsoe, threw for 253 yards and two scores on 25-of-48 passing.
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