Super Bowl XXXII — 1997 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Terrell Davis (RB, Denver Broncos)

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl XXXII delivered one of the most emotionally satisfying results in NFL history, as John Elway, at 37 years old and in his fourth Super Bowl appearance after three prior losses in the late 1980s, finally won a championship, defeating the defending-champion Green Bay Packers 31-24 as an 11-point underdog. Green Bay, at 13-3 during the regular season, was widely expected to repeat as champions and extend the NFC's long run of Super Bowl dominance, but Denver's physical, run-first attack proved a stylistic mismatch that Green Bay could not solve. Running back Terrell Davis was named MVP after rushing for 157 yards and a Super Bowl-record-tying three touchdowns, despite missing much of the second quarter with a severe migraine that briefly caused blurred vision and forced him to the sideline. He returned in the second half and delivered the game's decisive score, a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:45 remaining that put Denver ahead for good. Green Bay's Brett Favre threw for 256 yards and three touchdowns, and Antonio Freeman caught nine passes for 126 yards and two scores, keeping the Packers within striking distance for the entire second half, but Denver's ground game and clock-control approach allowed the Broncos to control the game's pace. Elway completed just 12 of 22 passes for 123 yards and a rushing touchdown, but his most memorable moment came on a third-quarter third-down scramble, dubbed "The Helicopter" by broadcasters, in which he dove for extra yardage and was spun violently through the air by three Green Bay defenders before landing hard, an image that came to symbolize his relentless will to finally win a title. Denver's defense, coordinated to slow Green Bay's passing attack while conceding some ground yardage, forced a key fumble late that sealed the win after Green Bay had pulled to within a touchdown. The victory snapped the NFC's 13-consecutive-season winning streak in the Super Bowl, a dominant run dating back to the mid-1980s, and it gave the AFC its first championship since the 1983 season. Team owner Pat Bowlen, hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy, famously declared "this one's for John," a moment widely replayed afterward that captured the sense that Elway's long, star-crossed championship pursuit had finally been redeemed. The win was transformative for how Elway's career was remembered; a player whose legacy had been shadowed by three lopsided Super Bowl losses (to the Giants, Redskins, and 49ers in the late 1980s) suddenly had a championship to validate his Hall of Fame résumé. Coach Mike Shanahan, in just his third season leading Denver, and Davis's breakout postseason (he would later add MVP honors of the entire league the following season) established the Broncos as legitimate contenders, and the team would return the very next year to repeat as champions, giving Elway back-to-back titles to close out his career in storybook fashion.

Sources

• Pro-Football-Reference: Super Bowl Index
• Wikipedia: Super Bowl XXXII