Super Bowl XXXII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1997 season. The Broncos defeated the Packers by the score of 31–24. The game was played on January 25, 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, the second time that the Super Bowl was held in that city.
This was Denver's first league championship after suffering four previous Super Bowl losses, and snapped a 13-game losing streak for AFC teams in the Super Bowl (the previous being the Los Angeles Raiders win in Super Bowl XVIII in 1984). The Broncos, who entered the game after posting a 12-4 regular season record in 1997, became just the second wild card team to win a Super Bowl and the first since the Raiders in Super Bowl XV. The Packers, who entered the game as the defending Super Bowl XXXI champions after posting a 13-3 regular season record, were the first team favored to win by double digits to lose a Super Bowl since Super Bowl IV.
The game was close throughout much of the contest. The Broncos converted two turnovers to take a 17-7 lead in the second quarter before the Packers cut the score to 17-14 at halftime. Green Bay kept pace with Denver in the second half before tying the game with 13:32 remaining. Both defenses stiffened until Broncos running back Terrell Davis scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:45 left. Despite suffering a migraine headache that caused him to miss most of the second quarter, Davis (a San Diego native) was named Super Bowl MVP. He ran for 157 yards, caught 2 passes for 8 yards, and scored a Super Bowl record three rushing touchdowns.
Read more about Super Bowl XXXII: Background, Television and Entertainment, Starting Lineups, Officials
Famous quotes containing the word bowl:
“It seemed a long way from 143rd Street. Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus going into downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Dancing with the Duke of Devonshire was a long way from not being allowed to bowl in Jefferson City, Missouri, because the white customers complained about it.”
—Althea Gibson (b. 1927)