Super Bowl XLI
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Super Bowl XLI was an
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
game played between the
American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...
(AFC) champion
Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...
and the
National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is a conference of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference (AFC), each h ...
(NFC) champion
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
to decide the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL) champion for the 2006 season. The Colts defeated the Bears by the score of 29–17. The game was played on February 4, 2007, at Dolphin Stadium in
Miami Gardens, Florida Miami Gardens is a city in north-central Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of Miami and located north of Greater Downtown Miami, downtown Miami with city boundaries that stretch from Interstate 95 in Florida, I-95 and N ...
. This was the first, and to date only, Super Bowl win for an
AFC South The American Football Conference – Southern Division or AFC South is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created before the 2002 NFL season, 200 ...
team. This was the first Super Bowl since
Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...
in which neither team was seeking its first title; however, it featured two teams ending long
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
appearance
droughts A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
. The Colts, who finished with a 12–4 regular season record, were making their first Super Bowl appearance since winning
Super Bowl V Super Bowl V was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1970 Baltimore Colts season, Baltimore Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1970 Dallas Cowboys season, Dallas Cowboys ...
in the 1970 season during the team's tenure in
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
; they had moved to
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
in
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
. Meanwhile, the Bears, who posted an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record, were making their first appearance since winning
Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...
in the 1985 season. The Bears'
Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach. He has served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL) and the Illinois Fighting Illini. Smith has be ...
and the Colts'
Tony Dungy Anthony Kevin Dungy ( ; born October 6, 1955) is an American former professional football safety and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts ...
became the first
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
head coaches to coach in the Super Bowl, with Dungy the first to win. It was also only the second championship game or series in any of the four North American major professional sports leagues to feature two African-American head coaches or managers, the other being the 1975 NBA Finals. In the first Super Bowl played in rainy conditions, the Colts overcame a 14–6 first-quarter deficit to outscore the Bears 23–3 in the last three quarters. Chicago posted the then-earliest lead in Super Bowl history when returner Devin Hester ran back the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown after 14 seconds had elapsed (a record later broken in
Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2013 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2013 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks to ...
when the Seattle Seahawks scored a
safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...
12 seconds into the game). The Colts forced five turnovers, including cornerback Kelvin Hayden's 56-yard interception return for a touchdown. Indianapolis kicker
Adam Vinatieri Adam Matthew Vinatieri (born December 28, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 24 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. Vinatieri is the ...
also scored three field goals. Colts quarterback
Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...
was named the game's
Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...
(MVP), completing 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown, with one interception for a
passer rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...
of 81.8.
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
's broadcast of the game was watched by an estimated average of 93.2 million viewers, making it at the time the fifth most watched program in U.S. television history. The halftime show, headlined by the musician
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
, peaked at 140 million viewers, and was widely acclaimed by music critics.


Background


Host selection process

Dolphin Stadium won the bid to host Super Bowl XLI on September 17, 2003, after a campaign against Phoenix,
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
With this game, the
Miami metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area is a coastal metropolitan area in southeastern Florida. It is the sixth-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the lar ...
tied
New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
as the city to host the most Super Bowls (9). This was the fourth Super Bowl at Dolphin Stadium, which has also been known as "Joe Robbie Stadium" and "Pro Player Stadium". The venue previously hosted Super Bowls XXIII (broadcast on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
), XXIX (on ABC), and XXXIII (on Fox). Super Bowls II, III, V, X, and XIII were also in Miami, but held at the
Miami Orange Bowl The Miami Orange Bowl was an outdoor athletic stadium in Miami, Florida, from 1937 until 2008. The stadium was located in the Little Havana neighborhood west of Greater Downtown Miami, downtown Miami. The venue was considered a landmark and ser ...
. This was the first Super Bowl played at the stadium since the city of Miami Gardens where the stadium is located was incorporated on May 13, 2003. In February 2006, the NFL and the South Florida Super Bowl XLI Host Committee unveiled the slogan "one game, one dream" for the game, referring to the entire
South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...
region working together to present the event. The Super Bowl XLI logo was also unveiled, featuring the colors orange (to represent the sun) and blue (for the ocean). The "I" in the
Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...
"XLI" was drawn to resemble a pylon placed at each corner of an
end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on the opposite side of the field ...
because "the goal is to get to the game." The logo had the same shade of orange as the logo of the host city's home team, the
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...
. The "XL" part was similar to that of
Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2005 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...
's logo.


Teams


Indianapolis Colts

The Colts' first trip to the Super Bowl in 36 years set a record for longest time between appearances by a team (since broken by the Kansas City Chiefs). Their return was the culmination of a nine-year-long building process. In
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
, they drafted quarterback
Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...
to lead the team. Over the next four seasons, Manning, along with other stars such as receiver
Marvin Harrison Marvin Darnell Harrison Sr. (born August 25, 1972) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played his entire 13 year career for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for ...
and running back Edgerrin James, turned the Colts into one of the best offensive teams in the NFL, but the team struggled to find consistency on defense and always ended up with either a losing season or elimination from the playoffs in the first round. After the 2001 season, Indianapolis fired head coach Jim Mora and replaced him with
Tony Dungy Anthony Kevin Dungy ( ; born October 6, 1955) is an American former professional football safety and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts ...
. Dungy had developed one of the best defenses in the NFL while coaching the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...
, and it was hoped he could solve the Colts' defensive problems as well. Over the next four seasons, the Colts won 48 of 64 games, but still could not find much success in the postseason. In
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
, they were blown out 41–0 in the Wild Card playoffs by the
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...
. In
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
, they won their first two playoff games behind impressive offensive performances, and reached the AFC Championship Game. There, they lost to the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...
24–14, with Manning throwing four interceptions. In
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
, the Colts had one of the most spectacular offensive seasons in NFL history, scoring 522 points and gaining 6,582 yards, while Manning set NFL records for most touchdown passes and highest
passer rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...
. But again the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...
' defense (and snowy conditions) proved too formidable, as they lost 20–3 in the Divisional playoffs. In
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
, the Colts' defense improved, making the team the clear favorites in the NFL. They won the first 13 games of the season and finished with a 14–2 record, while ranking second in the NFL in both points scored and fewest points allowed. But once again they lost in Divisional playoffs, this time to the #6 seeded
Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...
, 21–18. The Colts' playoff runs ended with a loss to the eventual Super Bowl champions in three consecutive years preceding this season. After another disappointing loss, Manning had developed a reputation of being unable to make it to a championship, a reputation that followed him from college after he was unable to win an NCAA title with the
Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...
(who won a title the year after he graduated). The Colts lost some key players after the 2005 season, including James, who departed the Colts for the
Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...
, and kicker Mike Vanderjagt, the NFL's all-time leader in field goal percentage, who left for the
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
. However, they did gain one key addition: 31-year old special teams returner
Terrence Wilkins Terrence Olondo Wilkins (born July 29, 1975) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He also played wit ...
. Though he had been out of the NFL for three years, Wilkins finished the season with 52 kickoff returns for 1,272 yards (9th in the NFL). Still, the Colts remained one of the AFC's top teams in the 2006 season. Manning made the Pro Bowl for the 7th time in his career, completing 362 of 555 passes for 4,397 yards and an NFL-best 31 touchdowns, with an additional 4 rushing touchdowns and with only 9 interceptions and 15 sacks. His favorite target was Harrison, who caught 95 passes for 1,366 yards and 12 touchdowns. Receiver
Reggie Wayne Reginald Wayne (born November 17, 1978) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver for 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football f ...
was also a major deep threat with 86 receptions for 1,310 yards and 9 touchdowns. Tight ends Ben Utecht and
Dallas Clark Dallas Dean Clark (born June 12, 1979) is an American former professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unq ...
were also reliable targets, each recording over 30 receptions for over 300 yards. On the ground, rookie running back Joseph Addai led the team with 1,081 yards and a 4.8 yards-per-carry average despite not starting any games in the regular season. He also caught 40 receptions for 325 yards and scored 8 touchdowns. Running back Dominic Rhodes was also a major contributor, rushing for 641 yards and catching 36 passes for 251 yards. The offensive line was led by Pro Bowlers Jeff Saturday and Tarik Glenn. On special teams, the Colts signed kicker
Adam Vinatieri Adam Matthew Vinatieri (born December 28, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 24 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. Vinatieri is the ...
to replace Vanderjagt. While Vinatieri's career field goal percentage was lower, the Colts considered him to be an improvement because of his reputation for making "
clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...
" kicks, a reputation aided by his game winning field goals in Super Bowl XXXVI and
Super Bowl XXXVIII Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2003 Carolina Panthers season, Carolina Panthers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2003 New England Patriots season, New E ...
. Indianapolis' defense ranked second in the NFL in fewest passing yards allowed. Dwight Freeney (5.5 sacks and 4 forced fumbles) and Robert Mathis (9.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries) were widely considered to be among the best pass-rushing
defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...
s in the NFL. Behind them, linebacker Cato June led the team in tackles (142) and interceptions (3). Cornerback Nick Harper added 3 interceptions and 75 tackles. The Colts' run defense, however, was a major problem, giving up 2,768 yards on the ground, an average of 173 per game and last in the NFL. Another major issue for the Colts was their coverage teams, as they ranked 30th out of 32 teams in average kickoff return yardage allowed and 31st in average punt return yardage allowed. One key issue for the team was the loss of safeties Mike Doss and Bob Sanders, who had missed most of the seasons with injuries. Indianapolis started out the season winning their first nine games, but ended up losing four of their next seven and finished with a 12–4 record, giving them the #3 playoff seed. Therefore, they had to play in a wild card playoff game. In the Wild Card playoffs, they defeated the
Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...
23–8, then defeated the
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...
15–6 in the Divisional playoffs, and advanced to Super Bowl XLI with a 38–34 win over the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...
in the AFC Championship Game after rallying from a 21–3 deficit.


Chicago Bears

Chicago finished the season with an NFC best 13–3 record and advanced to the second Super Bowl in franchise history. They defeated the
Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...
27–24 in overtime in the divisional round of the playoffs, and the
New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...
39–14 in the NFC Championship game to advance to Super Bowl XLI. The team excelled on defense, ranking third in fewest points allowed (255) and second in fewest points allowed per drive. They also ranked second in scoring (427 points), although only tenth in points per offensive drive thanks to a league leading 65 points scored on defensive or special teams plays. The Bears offense was led by quarterback Rex Grossman, the team's first round draft pick in
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
. Over the previous three seasons, Grossman had played in just 8 regular season games due to injuries, but he recovered to start in all 16 games in 2006. By the end of the season, he finished with 3,193 yards and 23 touchdowns, the most by a Bears quarterback since 1995. Grossman had difficulty avoiding turnovers, however, and threw 20 interceptions and lost five fumbles during the year. In the last seven games of the season, he turned the ball over 18 times. Many fans and sports writers expected head coach
Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach. He has served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL) and the Illinois Fighting Illini. Smith has be ...
to bench him at some point, but Smith insisted that Grossman would be the starter throughout the entire season. Receivers Muhsin Muhammad (60 receptions, 863 yards, 5 touchdowns) and Bernard Berrian (51 receptions, 775 yards, 7 touchdowns) provided the main deep threat on the team, along with tight end Desmond Clark, who caught 45 passes for 626 yards and 6 touchdowns. Chicago's running game was led by running backs Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. Jones rushed for 1,210 yards and caught 36 passes, while Benson rushed for 647 yards and scored 6 touchdowns. Chicago's defense allowed the 5th least total yardage, allowed less than 100 yards per game on the ground, and allowed the fewest yards per drive of any NFL team. The line was anchored by Adewale Ogunleye, who had 6.5 sacks, and Pro Bowler Tommie Harris, who recorded 5, along with rookie Mark Anderson, who led the team with 12 sacks. Behind them, two of the three Bears starting linebackers, Lance Briggs, and Brian Urlacher, were selected to the
2007 Pro Bowl The 2007 Pro Bowl was the National Football League's all-star game for the 2006 season. The game took place on February 10, 2007, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The game was held on a Saturday instead of the usual Sunday after the Super ...
. In the secondary, cornerbacks Ricky Manning and Charles Tillman each recorded five interceptions. The defense was also able to make up for the offense's poor performance earlier in the season, as explained in the win against the Cardinals in Week 6. The loss of Harris to injury after the 12th game of the season coincided with a decline in defensive performance. Before his loss, the Bears allowed only two opponents to score more than 20 points (23 points to the
Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...
in week six and 31 to the
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...
in week 9). After his injury, Chicago opponents scored more than 20 points in six of the seven remaining games, including two of three playoff games. Only the
New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...
in the
NFC Championship game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semifinal National Football League playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional Ame ...
were held below 21 points. The Bears' special teams sent three players to the Pro Bowl, including special teams ace Brendon Ayanbadejo, kicker Robbie Gould (who led all NFL kickers with 143 points), and rookie return man Devin Hester, who gained 600 punt return yards with a 12.8 yards per return average, the second highest in the NFL. He also set a league record with 6 touchdowns on special teams.


Regular season statistical comparison

The chart below provides a comparison of regular season statistics in key categories (overall rank amongst 32 teams in parentheses).


Playoffs

Although the Colts' rushing defense looked extremely weak during the season, it ended up being a key factor on their road to the Super Bowl. First, Indianapolis defeated the
Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...
23–8, holding Chiefs running back Larry Johnson (who rushed for 1,789 yards during the season) to just 32 yards on 13 carries. Then, they defeated the
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...
15–6, winning on a playoff record-tying five field goals by Vinatieri and holding running back Jamal Lewis (who rushed for 1,132 yards during the season) to just 53 yards. Then the Colts faced their arch-rival
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...
in the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots jumped to an early 21–3 lead, but the Colts stormed back in the second half, outscoring the Patriots 32–13 with an additional field goal late in the first half. With 2:22 left in the game, the Colts had the ball on their own 20-yard line trailing 34–31. On the first four plays of the drive, Manning completed three passes, moving the ball 69 yards to the Patriots 11-yard line in just 24 seconds. Three plays later, Addai scored a 3-yard touchdown run to put them in the lead, 38–34 with only 60 seconds left in regulation. The Patriots responded with a drive to the Colts 45-yard line, but defensive back Marlin Jackson ended the drive with an interception to give Indianapolis the win. With their 18-point comeback win, the Colts set the record for biggest comeback in AFC-NFC Conference Championship history (since tied by the 2021 Cincinnati Bengals). Meanwhile, the Bears started out their post-season with a 27–24 win over the
Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...
with Robbie Gould's 49-yard field goal in overtime. One week later, they defeated the
New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...
39–14 in the NFC Championship Game. The Bears dominated most of the game, jumping to a 16–0 early lead. Two touchdown passes from Saints quarterback
Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees is sec ...
, cut the score to 16–14, but the Bears responded with 23 unanswered points to propel them to their first Super Bowl since the 1985 season. Thomas Jones finished the game with a franchise postseason record 123 rushing yards and two touchdowns. It was the first time since the 1996 postseason that the home team won both of the conference championship games. The Colts were the first dome team to win the Super Bowl in an outdoor game (the
St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...
were the first dome team to win a Super Bowl, XXXIV inside the
Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a Stadium#Types, domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown Atlanta, downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of th ...
in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
). The
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
Indianapolis Colts were the first division champion to win a Super Bowl with four postseason wins and the second division champion (
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...
) to win a conference title with three postseason wins. For the Bears, this marked the first time that a Chicago sports team not owned by
Jerry Reinsdorf Jerry Michael Reinsdorf (born February 25, 1936) is an American sports executive and businessman who is the owner of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and MLB's Chicago White Sox. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Re ...
had reached the championship game/series in their league since the Blackhawks lost in the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals.


Super Bowl pre-game practices and notes

The
Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...
held pre-game practices for Super Bowl XLI at the Miami Dolphins Training Facility on the campus of
Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a Private university, private research university in Florida with its main campus in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida, Davie, Florida, United States. The university consists of 14 colleges, offering over ...
in
Davie, Florida Davie is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States, approximately north of Miami. The town's population was 110,320 at the 2020 census, making it the largest town in Florida by population. Davie is a principal town of the Miami metropol ...
. The Colts' "Team and Family" hotel was the Marriott Harbor Beach. At the
2007 Indianapolis 500 The 91st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 27, 2007. It was the twelfth Indianapolis 500 sanctioned by the IndyCar, Indy Racing League and the fifth race of the 2007 IndyCar Series se ...
pre-race ceremonies on May 27, 2007, eventual Super Bowl XLI
MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...
Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...
stated to
ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial America ...
commentator
Brent Musburger Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN). With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was the original host of their ...
the day before the game that two-time
Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...
winner
Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...
gave a pep talk to the Colts team. The
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
held pre-game practices for Super Bowl XLI at the
Miami Hurricanes football The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in college football. The Hurricanes compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Foot ...
facility on the campus of the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...
in
Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida and is located southwest of Greater Downtown Miami, Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...
. Chicago defensive tackle Tank Johnson was required to request a judge's order to leave the state of
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
due to an arrest for unlicensed ownership of six firearms and two assault rifles. On January 23, 2007, the judge granted him permission to travel out of state to play in the Super Bowl. Chicago and Indianapolis are the two closest cities, geographically, to ever play in a Super Bowl; at 182 miles (293 km) apart (connected by a route that is mostly
Interstate 65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway System, interstate highway in the central United States. As with most primary interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between th ...
), they are slightly closer than New York and Baltimore, whose teams played each other at III (207 miles) and XXXV (188 miles). This prompted Colts coach Tony Dungy to joke to Jim Nantz, at the end of the AFC Championship game, that the two teams should split the difference and play the game in
Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 United S ...
. This was the first Super Bowl since
Super Bowl V Super Bowl V was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1970 Baltimore Colts season, Baltimore Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1970 Dallas Cowboys season, Dallas Cowboys ...
that all players on both teams wore black shoes. As the designated home team in the annual rotation between AFC and NFC teams, the Bears elected to wear their home navy uniforms with white pants, while the Colts wore their road white uniforms with white pants. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith had a history with each other. Smith had previously worked under Dungy as linebackers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-2000.


Broadcasting


United States


Television

The game was televised in the United States by
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
in high-definition. Jim Nantz called his first Super Bowl as a play-by-play announcer. He was joined in the booth by
color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...
Phil Simms. Additionally, Solomon Wilcots ( Bears sideline) and
Steve Tasker Steven Jay Tasker (born April 10, 1962) is an American sports reporter and former professional football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He spent the majority of his career with the Buffalo Bills but began his career with th ...
( Colts sideline) reported on the sidelines and Lesley Visser ( Bears sideline) and Sam Ryan ( Colts sideline) in the stands. Extensive pre-game coverage, hosted by '' The NFL Today'' team of
James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
, Shannon Sharpe,
Boomer Esiason Norman Julius "Boomer" Esiason (; born April 17, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football for ...
and
Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. ( ; born September 15, 1961) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He played college f ...
, began at noon ET with
NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces advertisement film, commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentary film, documentaries ...
' "Road to the Super Bowl" year in review (narrated by
Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations fo ...
). This was followed by "The Phil Simms All-Iron Team", and a four-and-a-half-hour ''Super Bowl Today'' pre-game show followed by game coverage at 6:25 PM. Other contributors to the pre-game show included
Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. Since 2016, she ha ...
, anchor of the ''
CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featu ...
'', Armen Keteyian, CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent, Randy Cross, who reported from
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
where U.S. military forces played a touch football game known as "The
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
Bowl" and Dick Enberg, who participated in his 12th Super Bowl telecast as a host, play-by-play announcer, or contributor. The opening title sequence of CBS television coverage featured the composition Lux Aeterna, by artist Clint Mansell, in the background. The
American Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...
(AFN) provided coverage of the Super Bowl for U.S. forces stationed overseas and to all U.S. Navy ships at sea.


Ratings

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
reported 93 million viewers for Super Bowl XLI, making it at the time the fifth most watched program in U.S. television history (trailing only the ''M*A*S*H'' finale and Super Bowls XLIII, XXX, and XLII).


Advertising

Advertising rates were reported as being slightly higher than in the year before, with CBS confirming a price of $2.6 million for some 30-second spots, compared with $2.5 million during
Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2005 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...
. However, CNN reported that after discounts, the average price is likely closer to $1.8 to $2 million. Familiar advertisers in recent years such as
Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
, CareerBuilder,
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
and
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
bought multiple advertising spots, and other popular advertisers like Go Daddy and Emerald Nuts had commercials this year. The only major hype related to commercials in the months leading up to Super Bowl XLI involved various campaigns to allow consumers to be involved in the creation of Super Bowl ads, inspired by consumer-generated content sites like YouTube.
Frito-Lay Frito-Lay, Inc. (; ) is an American food company that manufactures, markets, and sells snack foods. It began in the early 1930s as two companies, Fritos, the Frito Company and Lay's, H.W. Lay & Company, that merged in 1961. Frito-Lay itself merg ...
announced a campaign in September 2006 to allow the public to submit ads for their
Doritos Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The concept for Doritos originated at Disneyland at a restaurant managed by Frito-Lay. In 1966, Doritos became the first ...
brand and vote on the best one, which aired during the Super Bowl. Doritos actually aired two of the ads due to a close voting margin; the winning ad (featuring a chance meeting with a man and a woman that feature the qualities of Doritos) aired in the first quarter, while a second (with a checkout lady overly enamored with the product) aired in the second quarter. The five finalists each received $10,000 in this contest. General Motors announced a similar contest, open only to college students, for their
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...
brand; however, the ad would be produced professionally based on ideas suggested by the public. The winning ad featured men gathering around an HHR model with women in it and stripping off their clothes and giving it a car wash. The NFL itself advertised a similar contest to generate suggestions for a commercial promoting the league, with the winning concept featuring fans' disappointment that their teams' season was over. The annual
USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter The ''USA Today'' Super Bowl Ad Meter is an annual survey taken of television commercials by ''USA Today'' in a live poll during the telecast in the United States of the Super Bowl, the annual professional American football championship game of th ...
survey chose a
Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...
ad featuring crabs worshiping an ice chest with that particular beer inside as the top ad of Super Bowl XLI, followed by another Budweiser commercial featuring a stray dog with mud spots climbing onto the brewery's trademark Clydesdale-drawn wagon in a parade. In all, Anheuser-Busch took seven of the top ten spots in the annual survey, sweeping the top three spots. A YouTube user survey chose the Doritos "Snack Hard" ad (produced for the incredible price of $12, the cost of three bags of the snack product) as their top ad, that ad finished fourth in the USA Today survey. ADBOWL results were slightly different with only 6 of Anheuser-Busch's ads finishing in the top ten. The highest ranked being the
Bud Light Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in oth ...
"Rock, Paper, Scissors" spot. Also in the top ten were
Blockbuster Video Blockbuster may refer to: Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a former video rental chain * Blockbuster (Bend, Oregon), remaining store Arts and entertainment * Blockbuster (entertainment) a very successful movie * Blockbuster (DC Comics ...
's "Mouse", Doritos' "Car Wreck", GM's "Robot" and
Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...
's "Lion's Talk 'Carne'." One ad that drew criticism from the gay community was for the
Snickers Snickers (stylized in all caps) is a chocolate bar consisting of nougat topped with Caramel#Candy, caramel and peanuts, all encased in milk chocolate. The bars are made by the American company Mars Inc. The annual global sales of Snickers is ...
candy bar featuring two men accidentally "kissing" each other after sharing the product in question, then proceeded to rip chest hairs as a manly act as
homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
. The ad proved to be controversial, and the ad was cancelled the next day by Masterfoods USA (
Mars, Incorporated Mars, Incorporated (doing business as Mars Inc.) is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services founded on June 23, 1911, headquartered in McLean, Virgini ...
's snack food division), and three other versions were deleted from the snickers.com web site. The ad was ninth in the USA Today ad survey, and according to a Masterfoods publicist, not intended to harm anyone. A different ad for
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
featured a
laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...
assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...
robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...
contemplating suicide, which drew criticism from the
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is a voluntary health organization that advocates for research and education around suicide, based in New York City, with a public policy office based in Washington, D.C. The organization's s ...
. The group asked for an apology from GM, and that the ad be taken off the air and the company's website. The suicide scene was replaced with a scene of the robot watching a car being crushed at a junkyard when it was shown again during the
79th Academy Awards The 79th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2006 and took place February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m ...
on February 25.


Radio

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...
provided radio coverage of the event, with
Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American former sportscaster. Honored for his work by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he was also know ...
and
Boomer Esiason Norman Julius "Boomer" Esiason (; born April 17, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football for ...
as announcers.


International

The Super Bowl was broadcast live in Canada on CBS (which is available in Canada) as well as Global TV and NTV which both took the main CBS commentary, and on the French cable channel RDS. In the United Kingdom the Super Bowl was broadcast on
ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...
, Sky Sports 1 & Sky Sports HD1 with
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
taking the main CBS commentary and ITV taking the NFL supplied international commentary feed of Spero Dedes and Sterling Sharpe. Super Bowl XLI was broadcast in over 200 countries. Amongst the television networks who broadcast Super Bowl XLI were: * – ESPN Argentina and
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
* – SBS,
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
and
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
broadcast the game live (All International Feed). * – ORF 1, DSF * – Channel 5, Channel 7 (both CBS feed) * – BandSports and
ESPN International ESPN International is a family of Broadcasting of sports events, sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1983, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Current operations Canada ESPN Int ...
;
Bandeirantes ''Bandeirantes'' (; ; singular: ''bandeirante'') were settlers in colonial Brazil who participated in expeditions to expand the colony's borders and subjugate Indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous peoples during the early modern period. T ...
also broadcast a condensed version of the game * –
Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...
, NTV (English) and RDS (French) * – ESPN Latin-America and
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
* – ESPN Latin-America and
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
* –
CCTV-5 CCTV-5 (), also known as the Sports Channel, part of the China Central Television family of networks, is the main sports broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CCTV-5 began broadcasting on 1 January 1995. CCTV-5 now broadcasts 24 hour ...
* – Z1 * – TV2 Zulu * –
MTV3 MTV3 (, ) is a Finnish commercial television channel owned and operated by the media company MTV Oy, originally launched on 13 August 1957 as a programming block, becoming its own channel on 1 January 1993. It had the biggest audience share ...
* –
France 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...
* – ARD (international feed), NASN (international feed), DSF (on tape delay) * – Sport 1 * – Sýn * – TV3,
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
* – Sky Sport Italia (in
HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
) * – ESPN Asia * – NHK BS-1,
Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...
* –
Seoul Broadcasting System Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS; ) is one of the leading Television in South Korea, South Korean television and radio broadcasters. The broadcaster legally became known as SBS in March 2000, changing its corporate name from Seoul Broadcasting ...
* – Sport 4 * –
Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...
,
TV Azteca Televisión Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V., commonly known as TV Azteca, is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as so ...
(in
HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
) * – Elmag RTV * – NASN (HDTV) * –
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
* – Viasat SportN * –
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
* –
Studio 23 Studio 23 (officially Studio 23, Inc. and stylized in all uppercase as STUDIO 23) was a Tagalog television network owned by ABS-CBN Corporation. The network was named for its flagship station in Metro Manila, DWAC-TV and carried on UHF chan ...
,
Solar Sports Solar Sports is a Philippines, Philippine Digital television, digital free-to-air television network based in Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong, Philippines. It serves as the flagship network of Southern Broadcasting Network, a subsidiary of Solar En ...
* – Canal + * – SportTV 1 * – Sport 1 * –
NTV Plus NTV Plus () is the brand name for the Russian digital satellite television provider, transmitted from Eutelsat's W4 satellite at 36.0°E and from Bonum 1 at 56.0°E. Previously a part of Vladimir Gusinsky's MediaMost holding, now it is the ...
* – Canal + * – SportKlub * –
TV6 (Sweden) TV6 is a Swedish television channel broadcasting owned by Viaplay Group. It has origins in the youth channel ZTV that started broadcasting in the early 1990s. In 2004, MTG started repositioning the channel by introducing sports broadcasts and o ...
* – True Vision Super Sport ch.61,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
* – Fox Sports Turkey * – ITV1 (would be their last Super Bowl broadcast until
2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
),
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
and Sky Sports HD (CBS feed and announcers)


Entertainment


Pre-game ceremonies

Before the game,
Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...
, Romero Britto and
Little Louie Vega Luis Ferdinand Vega Jr. (born June 12, 1965), as known as "Little Louie" Vega, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer of Puerto Ricans in the United States, Puerto Rican ancestry. He is one half of the Masters at Work musical production ...
performed as the pre-game act, and
Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...
sang the
National Anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...
, accompanying himself on piano. He also performed at
Super Bowl XXIII Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...
, which was played at the same venue. Joel became the second person to sing the National Anthem twice for a Super Bowl; Aaron Neville sang the national anthem before Super Bowl XXIV, in New Orleans, and Super Bowl XL (along with Aretha Franklin), in Detroit. This was also the last time until
Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television personality. Bryan is a five-time "Entertainer of the Year", being awarded by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Count ...
sang at
Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 NFL season, 2016 season. The American Football Confe ...
that a male artist had sung the national anthem at a Super Bowl. Two days before the game, 4 tornadoes devastated
Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...
, causing over $200 million in damage, and causing numerous of injuries and 21 deaths. A
moment of silence A moment of silence (also referred to as a minute's silence or a one-minute silence) is a period of silent contemplation, prayer, reflection, or meditation. Similar to flying a flag at half-mast, a moment of silence is often a gesture o ...
was held before kickoff, in honor of the victims of the severe weather.
Marlee Matlin Marlee Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an American actress, activist, and author. Deafness, Deaf since she was 18 months old, Matlin is known for her portrayals of deaf women, and for her activism on behalf of deaf individuals in Cinema of the ...
and Jason Hay-Southwell performed the National Anthem in
American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...
. Besides participating in the CBS telecast of the pre-game show, Dan Marino also participated in the
coin toss A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a ...
along with Norma Hunt, who was the widow of
Lamar Hunt Lamar Hunt Sr. (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American businessman most notable for his promotion of football, soccer, and tennis in the United States. With his brothers, he also attempted to corner the silver market. He was t ...
, the former owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and the man who gave the Super Bowl its name.


Halftime show

American singer and musician
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
performed in the halftime show. The setlist for Prince's performance was a short rendition of "
We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album '' News of the World'', written by guitarist Brian May. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it p ...
" by
Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...
; Prince's hit songs " Let's Go Crazy" and " Baby I'm a Star"; covers of
Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...
's "
Proud Mary "Proud Mary" is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, written by vocalist and lead guitarist John Fogerty. It was released as a single in January1969 by Fantasy Records and on the band's second studio album, '' Bayou Coun ...
",
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
's " All Along the Watchtower", and
Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...
' " Best of You"; and finally his signature song " Purple Rain" in the downpour. The 12-minute performance featured Prince accompanied by two dancers he called "The Twinz" (Maya and Nandy McClean) and the
Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...
marching band, the Marching 100. Prince had rehearsed with the drum line for a week before the performance. The performance was on a large, central stage which was shaped like Prince's logo, and was outlined with lights. He played before 74,512 fans at Dolphin Stadium, who had been given flashlights to point at the stage during the performance of "Purple Rain". The event was carried "to the biggest audience of his life" with 140 million television viewers. Overall, the show was energetic and well received by the rain-soaked audience surrounding the stage. Music critics were extremely enthusiastic about his performance, one calling it "arguably the best halftime show in Super Bowl history", and others saying it was one of the best ever. Following the game, controversy emerged about a silhouetted camera shot of Prince, projected against a large sheet by a bright light on the other side of him. The controversy centered around his guitar, which detractors claimed seemed
phallic A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''. Any object that symbo ...
, and critics stating that it "looked embarrassingly rude, crude and unfortunately placed". Though the guitar has been considered by some an extension of a male player's sexuality (especially highlighted by such artists as
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
,
Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...
, and even Prince himself), supporters of Prince say that the show did not, in fact, become any more sexually charged than usual, noting that "a guitar at waist level does look like an enormous phallus". In 2015, ''
Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Par ...
'' listed the silhouetted camera shot, naming it "Prince's Demon Phallus", as one of the top seven Super Bowl halftime moments. In 2016, shortly after Prince's death, the halftime show's producer Don Mischer said that having a silhouetted camera shot of Prince was his idea, but denied it was meant to be a phallic statement.


Post-game ceremonies

Former Colts and Dolphins head coach
Don Shula Donald Francis Shula ( ; January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American professional American football, football player, coach and executive who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. He played seven s ...
presented the
Vince Lombardi Trophy The Vince Lombardi Trophy, also known simply as the Lombardi Trophy or just the Lombardi, is the trophy awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl. The trophy is named in honor of N ...
to the Colts after the game, and
Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...
was named MVP.


Game summary


First quarter

The Bears won the coin toss and elected to receive. For the first time in Super Bowl history, the game was played in the rain, which was continuous throughout the game. The rain did not hinder Chicago return specialist Devin Hester, who ran back the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown to give the Bears the then earliest lead in Super Bowl history, after only 14 seconds. The Colts avoided kicking to Hester for the rest of the game, allowing him only one punt return, and choosing to squib kick whenever Hester was in the deep kickoff return position. On the Colts' first drive of the game, Bears safety Chris Harris intercepted a deep third-down pass from quarterback
Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...
and returned it 6 yards to the Chicago 35-yard line. However, the Bears could not gain a first down on their ensuing possession and they were forced to punt. After several short runs and passes, Manning beat the Bears' defense with a 53-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Reggie Wayne Reginald Wayne (born November 17, 1978) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver for 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football f ...
, cutting the Bears' lead to 7–6 after punter/holder Hunter Smith fumbled the snap on the extra point attempt. The touchdown occurred because of a mental error on the Bears' secondary defense. Cornerback Charles Tillman passed Wayne onto safety Danieal Manning. However, Manning chose to follow tight end Ben Utecht over the middle, leaving Wayne all alone. On the ensuing kickoff, Bears tight end Gabe Reid fumbled
Adam Vinatieri Adam Matthew Vinatieri (born December 28, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 24 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. Vinatieri is the ...
's bouncing kickoff while being tackled by defensive end Robert Mathis; linebacker Tyjuan Hagler recovered the loose ball for Indianapolis on the Chicago 34-yard line. However, on the next play, the Colts gave the ball right back when running back Joseph Addai fumbled the hand-off and defensive end Mark Anderson recovered it for the Bears. On the first play after the turnover, running back Thomas Jones' 52-yard run set up 1st-and-goal at the Indianapolis 5-yard line. Three plays later, quarterback Rex Grossman threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, increasing Chicago's lead to 14–6. After forcing a Colts punt, the Bears turned the ball over again when safety Bob Sanders forced a fumble on running back Cedric Benson, with defensive end Dwight Freeney making the recovery on the Chicago 43-yard line. Indianapolis subsequently advanced to the 36-yard line, but decided to punt rather than risk a 53-yard field goal attempt.


Second quarter

After forcing a Chicago punt, Indianapolis drove 47 yards and scored with Vinatieri's 29-yard field goal to cut their deficit to 14–9. The Bears were forced to punt again on their next drive, and wide receiver
Terrence Wilkins Terrence Olondo Wilkins (born July 29, 1975) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He also played wit ...
returned the ball 12 yards to his own 42-yard line. Manning started out the drive with a 22-yard completion to wide receiver
Marvin Harrison Marvin Darnell Harrison Sr. (born August 25, 1972) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played his entire 13 year career for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for ...
. His next pass went to tight end
Dallas Clark Dallas Dean Clark (born June 12, 1979) is an American former professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unq ...
for 17 yards. Two more completions moved the ball to the Bears' 11-yard line, and then running back Dominic Rhodes took the ball to the end zone with three consecutive carries, the last one a 1-yard touchdown run to give his team a 16–14 lead with 6:09 left in the half. After yet another Bears punt, the Colts advanced to the Bears' 36-yard line before Tillman ended the drive by forcing and recovering a fumble from tight end Bryan Fletcher. But on the next play, Grossman fumbled the snap, and defensive tackle Raheem Brock recovered the ball for Indianapolis. A reception and a run for 18 total yards by Rhodes led the Colts to the Chicago 17-yard line. With two seconds left, Vinatieri attempted a 36-yard field goal, but his kick sailed wide left, and the Colts' lead remained 16–14 at halftime.


Third quarter

Wilkins returned the second half kickoff 26 yards to the Indianapolis 38-yard line. On the ensuing possession, Addai rushed five times for 25 yards and caught four passes for 19 yards as the Colts drove 56 yards in 13 plays and scored on a 24-yard field goal by Vinatieri, increasing their lead to 19–14. On Chicago's next drive, Jones started out with a 14-yard run, and then Muhammad caught a 9-yard pass, bringing up 2nd-and-1 on the Indianapolis 45-yard line. But on the next play, Grossman was sacked for an 11-yard loss by defensive tackle Anthony McFarland. Then on third down, he fumbled the snap and recovered it himself, but the Bears were forced to punt, and Wilkins returned the ball 12 yards to the Colts' 36-yard line. Rhodes then gained 52 yards on three carries, with a face-mask penalty on Danieal Manning adding another 10 yards. Chicago managed to halt the drive at their own 2-yard line, but Vinatieri kicked a 20-yard field goal to increase the Colts' lead to 22–14. Bears tight end John Gilmore picked up Vinatieri's bouncing kickoff and returned it 9 yards to his own 45-yard line, with an unnecessary roughness penalty on Mathis adding another 15 yards and giving the Bears a first down on the Indianapolis 40-yard line. Chicago could only gain 14 yards on three runs by Jones, but they were enough for kicker Robbie Gould to make a 44-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 22–17.


Fourth quarter

After forcing Indianapolis to punt going into the fourth quarter, Chicago started on their own 20-yard line with 13:38 left in the game. But three plays later, cornerback Kelvin Hayden intercepted a pass intended for Muhammad and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown, increasing the Colts' lead to 29–17. From that point on, the Colts held the Bears scoreless for the rest of the game. Four plays after the ensuing kickoff, Sanders intercepted Grossman's pass and returned it 38 yards to the Chicago 41-yard line. The Bears' defense eventually forced a punt, but Smith's 32-yard kick pinned the Bears back at their own 8-yard line. The Bears drove to their own 47, but on a fourth down conversion attempt, tight end Desmond Clark dropped a potential first down reception after being leveled by safety
Matt Giordano Matthew Victor Giordano (born October 16, 1982) is an American former professional football safety who currently serves as the assistant defensive backs coach and safeties coach for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He was ...
. The Colts subsequently called eight consecutive runs by Rhodes before turning the ball over on downs themselves, leaving only 1:42 remaining in regulation. Afterwards, the Bears ran five meaningless plays to reach the Indianapolis 36-yard line before the game ended.


Box score


Statistical overview

This was the third Super Bowl to have two players rush for more than 100 yards as Dominic Rhodes had 113 for the Colts and Thomas Jones had 112 for the Bears. Tony Dungy is the third man to win the Super Bowl as a head coach as well as a player, following
Tom Flores Thomas Raymond Flores (born March 21, 1937) is an American former professional football player in the American Football League (AFL) and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a quarterback for nine seasons in the AFL, primar ...
and
Mike Ditka Michael Keller Ditka ( ; born Michael Dyczko; October 18, 1939) is an American former professional American football, football player, coach, and television commentator. During his playing career, he was UPI NFL-NFC Rookie of the Year, UPI NFL R ...
. For the Colts, Rhodes rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown, while also catching an 8-yard reception. Addai rushed for 77 yards and caught 10 passes for 66 yards. Wilkins returned four kickoffs for 89 yards and 3 punts for 42 yards in what turned out to be his final NFL game. Adam Vinatieri became the first kicker ever to play in five Super Bowls and the first to win four
Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl ring offers a collectible memento for the actual players and t ...
s. Vinatieri's three field goals and two extra points gave him 49 points for the entire 2006 post-season, an NFL record. The Colts' win was the first major professional championship for
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
since the
Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
' ABA title in the 1972–73 season. Hester's touchdown for the Bears on the opening kickoff was the first one in Super Bowl history, and the ninth kick return for a touchdown in a Super Bowl; only three of the nine teams who did this went on to win the game (the
Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...
in
Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...
, the
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...
in Super Bowls XXXV and XLVII, and the
Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...
in
Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2013 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2013 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks to ...
). Hester's return also kept a streak alive for there being a kickoff return for a touchdown in each Super Bowl played at Dolphin Stadium. Hester's and Wayne's touchdowns in the first quarter marked the first time in Super Bowl history the first two touchdowns were scored by players from the same college (
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...
). Jones was the Bears' top rusher with 112 yards, while also catching four passes for 18 yards. Desmond Clark was the Bears' top receiver with six receptions for 64 yards. Grossman completed 20 of 28 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions, leaving him with a QB rating of 68.3 for the game. Muhsin Muhammad became the third player ever to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl for two teams, joining Ricky Proehl and
Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played for 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He won three Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers before two shorter ...
. As mentioned previously, this was only the third time in Super Bowl history to have two 100 yard rushers. In
Super Bowl III Super Bowl III was an American football championship game played on January 12, 1969, at the Miami Orange Bowl, Orange Bowl in Miami, Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the fi ...
, Colts halfback
Tom Matte Thomas Roland Matte (Pronounced: MAT-tee) (June 14, 1939November 2, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) in the 1960s and 1970s and earned a Super Bowl ring. He attende ...
and Jets fullback
Matt Snell Matthews Snell (born August 18, 1941) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the New York Jets of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He was Jets' owner Sonny Werblin's f ...
rushed for 116 and 121 yards, respectively. 22 years later in
Super Bowl XXV Super Bowl XXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...
, Bills halfback Thurman Thomas rushed for 135 yards while the Giants O.J. Anderson (the game's MVP) rushed for 102 yards.


Final statistics

Sources:
NFL.com Super Bowl XLISuper Bowl XLI Play Finder IndSuper Bowl XLI Play Finder Chi


Statistical comparison


Individual statistics

1Completions/attempts 2Carries 3Long gain 4Receptions 5Times targeted


Starting lineups

:Source:


Officials

*Referee: Tony Corrente #99 (first Super Bowl) *Umpire: Carl Paganelli #124 (second Super Bowl, also XXXIX, XLVI and XLVIII) *Head linesman: George Hayward #54 (first Super Bowl) *Line judge: Ron Marinucci #107 (first Super Bowl) *Field judge: Jim Saracino #58 (first Super Bowl) *Side judge: John Parry #132 (first Super Bowl, also XLVI and LIII as referee) *Back judge: Perry Paganelli #46 (first Super Bowl, also LII) *Alternate referee: Jeff Triplette #42 *Alternate umpire: Butch Hannah #40 *Alternate line judge: Carl Johnson #101 *Alternate field judge: Buddy Horton #82 *Alternate back judge: Richard Reels #83


Controversies prohibiting fan parties and presentations


Prohibiting tailgating

The NFL upset many fans by banning the traditional practice of
tailgating Tailgating is the action of a driver driving behind another vehicle while not leaving sufficient distance to stop without causing a collision if the vehicle in front stops suddenly. The safe distance for following another vehicle varies depend ...
at Super Bowl XLI. Originally, spokesmen for Dolphin Stadium announced that tailgating would be permitted as usual. However, the NFL quickly contradicted this statement, announcing an NFL owner-imposed ban on all tailgating and prohibiting non-ticketed fans within a two-block-radius of the stadium.


Prohibiting church display

The NFL upset a large number of fans by threatening churches with lawsuits if they had Super Bowl parties. National Football League assistant
counsel A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with various issues, particularly in legal matters. It is a title often used interchangeably with the title of ''lawyer''. The word ''counsel'' can also mean advice given ...
Rachel L. Margolies sent a letter to the Fall Creek
Baptist Church Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...
in
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, ordering the church to cancel its party and remove the trademarked Super Bowl name from its website. She said that the church could not use the words "Super Bowl" as it violates trademark law, could not charge admission as that violates
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
law, could not use its projection screen (only one television could be used and it could not be over 55 inches), and could not "promote a message" in connection with the game. Regarding the last point, the Fall Creek Baptist church planned to also show an extra video to highlight the Christian testimonies of Colts coach Tony Dungy and Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith. "While this may be a noble message", Rachel L. Margolies wrote, "we are consistent in refusing the use of our game broadcasts in connection with events that promote a message, no matter the content." Sports bars nationwide were allowed to show the game, as were businesses that televised sports as part of their everyday operations because they did not charge admission and they left the message the NFL intended intact. ''
The Indianapolis Star } ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, whe ...
'' picked up the story, and soon pastors across the U.S. were working to cancel their parties. Immediately the NFL received a backlash of bad publicity, with indignant football fans in constant sarcasm (akin to rules imposed about on-field behavior i.e. taunting opposition teams) referring to the NFL as the "No Fun League." For example, the enforcement of this policy earned the NFL a "Worst Person in the World" silver on the edition of February 2, 2007, of ''
Countdown with Keith Olbermann ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' is a weekday podcast that originated as an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program hosted by Keith Olbermann that aired on MSNBC from 2003 to 2011 and on Current TV from 2011 to 2012. The show ...
''. After a long series of bad press, the NFL issued a written statement clarifying their policy, saying that they did not object to churches hosting Super Bowl parties so long as they did not charge admission and showed the game on "a television of the type commonly used at home". This statement did not attempt to forbid coordination of any other message with the game, something typically done by churches, nor did it attempt to forbid the use of the term "Super Bowl."


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
Official Super Bowl websiteHost committee website
at
Pro Football Reference Pro Football Reference (PFR) is an online statistics database for professional American football maintained by Sports Reference. The site provides career statistics for players, teams, and games, as well as records and NFL draft history. PFR was ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Super Bowl 041 2006 NFL season 2007 in American football 2007 in American television 2007 in sports in Florida American football competitions in Florida Chicago Bears postseason February 2007 sports events in the United States Indianapolis Colts postseason Sports competitions in Miami Gardens, Florida Super Bowl Television controversies in the United States