Super Bowl XLI — 2006 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis Colts

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl XLI, played in steady rain that made it the first Super Bowl contested in truly wet conditions, opened with a jolt: Chicago's Devin Hester fielded the opening kickoff and raced 92 yards for a touchdown just 14 seconds in, the earliest score in Super Bowl history at the time. It was the high point of the Bears' night. Indianapolis, which had spent years being unable to get past New England in the AFC playoffs, steadied itself and answered with a field goal, then a Reggie Wayne touchdown catch, and took a 16-14 lead into halftime on Dominic Rhodes's short touchdown run. From there the Colts controlled the game, outscoring Chicago 23-3 over the final three quarters despite the sloppy footing and a heavy Bears running game led by Thomas Jones's 112 yards. Peyton Manning, who had carried the burden of not yet having won a title despite years as the league's best quarterback, was efficient rather than spectacular: 25 of 38 for 247 yards and a touchdown, with an interception, but he protected the ball when it mattered and directed a Colts offense that also leaned heavily on Rhodes, who rushed for 113 yards and a score. Manning was named Super Bowl MVP, finally answering the question that had followed him through years of early playoff exits. Indianapolis's defense, maligned for much of the season as a liability, delivered the game's decisive blow when cornerback Kelvin Hayden returned an interception 56 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 29-17, the final margin. Adam Vinatieri, in his first season with the Colts after years of clutch kicking for New England, added three field goals and became the first kicker to appear in five Super Bowls. For the Bears, quarterback Rex Grossman struggled badly in the rain, and Chicago's championship window, built around a dominant defense under Lovie Smith, would not open again; the franchise has not returned to a Super Bowl since. For the Colts, the win validated the Tony Dungy-Manning partnership and cemented Dungy's legacy as the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl, a historic milestone achieved in a game where his counterpart, Chicago's Lovie Smith, was also Black — the first time two African American head coaches had faced off in a Super Bowl. Dungy's calm, faith-driven leadership style was widely credited afterward as a model for the league. The victory also began a stretch of sustained excellence for Indianapolis, which would return to the Super Bowl again three seasons later. Miami's Dolphin Stadium, hosting its fifth Super Bowl, drew an announced crowd of 74,512 despite the rain that fell throughout the evening, an unusual wrinkle for a league accustomed to warm-weather or dome sites for its championship game.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Super Bowl XLI
• Pro-Football-Reference: Super Bowl XLI box score