Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of 31–17, earning their first Super Bowl win. The game was played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on February 7, 2010 for the fifth time (and in South Florida for the tenth time), the latest calendar date for a Super Bowl yet.
This was the Saints' first Super Bowl appearance and the fourth for the Colts franchise. The Saints entered the game with a 13–3 record for the 2009 regular season, compared to the Colts' 14–2 record. In the playoff games, both teams placed first in their respective conferences, marking the first time since Super Bowl XXVIII (16 years previously) that both number one seeds have reached the Super Bowl. The Colts entered the Super Bowl off victories over the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets, while the Saints advanced after defeating the previous year's runners up the Arizona Cardinals in their first game and the Minnesota Vikings in the second.
Down 10–6 at halftime of Super Bowl XLIV, in what many consider the turning point of the game, New Orleans successfully recovered a surprise onside kick on the second half kickoff, and subsequently took the lead on Pierre Thomas' 16-yard touchdown reception. The Colts responded with Joseph Addai's 4-yard touchdown run, but the Saints then scored 18 unanswered points, including Tracy Porter's 74-yard interception return for a touchdown, to clinch the victory. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, who completed 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns, was named the Super Bowl MVP. His 32 completions tied a Super Bowl record set by Tom Brady in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
The live broadcast of the game on CBS was watched by an average US audience of 106.5 million viewers, making it the third most-watched Super Bowl. The National Anthem was sung by Carrie Underwood and the halftime show featured the British rock band The Who.
Read more about Super Bowl XLIV: Statistics, Starting Lineups, Officials, Game Time and Weather Conditions
Famous quotes containing the word bowl:
“It all ended with the circuslike whump of a monstrous box on the ear with which I knocked down the traitress who rolled up in a ball where she had collapsed, her eyes glistening at me through her spread fingers—all in all quite flattered, I think. Automatically, I searched for something to throw at her, saw the china sugar bowl I had given her for Easter, took the thing under my arm and went out, slamming the door.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)