Super Bowl XLVII was an odd one simply because no-one saw it coming. Super statistician, Nate Silver, who managed to predict the winner of all US states in the 2012 Presidential Election, had his money on a Falcons-Seahawks final. During the playoffs, confidence surrounding Baltimore Ravens was particularly low. There is, after the game, a general consensus that a Ravens-49ers match up was going to lead to an exciting game, even without a 34-minute power failure in the 3rd quarter.
This Super Bowl seemed more like the season finale of a TV show than the final game of the season. For both teams, it was one of storylines and each one was wrapped up rather neatly and with a hell of a lot of gusto. The backstory behind the game made the actual events on the field so much more exciting than they already were, the score at the end only showing half of the story.
The first major story was the Cain and Abel battle between Jim and John Harbaugh, opposing coaches of San Francisco and Baltimore respectively. This is the first time two brothers have ever faced off as opposing coaches in the Super Bowl. Leading to the slightly cringeworthy title of ‘The HarBowl’, it became both a battle to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy but also to decide who is the better child in the Harbaugh family…probably.
It was also a battle of the quarterbacks. Joe Flacco, in his contract year, had a very uneven season. Many commentators were declaring him too unreliable to be of any worth going into the playoffs so he clearly had a lot to make up for in the eyes of the press. Colin Kaepernick, on the other end of the spectrum, had only played in nine previous NFL games, making the Super Bowl his tenth after he replaced Alex Smith who was out with concussion midway through the season. However, Jim Harbaugh had clearly seen that Kaepernick was capable of taking over from a quarterback with one of the best competition percentages in the league this season, so eyes were very heavily on the chosen one.
This Super Bowl saw the end of a seventeen year long career for Baltimore linebacker, Ray Lewis, who announced his retirement before the play-offs began. As one of the most vocal and devoted players for the Ravens, Lewis has had a rocky career after being involved in a double homicide in 2000, yet, over the years, he has turned from a plucky youngster to something akin to an over-the-top preacher making him one of the most notorious players of recent years. Ray Lewis, however, did not make much of an impact in his last game, but he was still prepared to celebrate the Ravens 34-31 victory of 49ers with the rest of his team.
Ultimately, the game itself came down to the decisions of the Harbaughs as well as the skill of the quarterbacks. The first touchdown came four and a half minutes into the first half after the 49ers had failed to make any headway on their first offensive play after they were caught with an illegal formation. After the penalty was given due to 49ers’ Ahmad Brooks stepping offside, Joe Flacco hit Anquan Boldin as he raced and leapt for a touchdown. David Akers responded on the next drive with a 36-yard field goal, but the frustration for the 49ers was palpable, and it would not be their first disappointment. After a promising next drive, their following two drives ended up with turnovers; a fumble at the Ravens 24 (stopping any chance of a field goal and led to Ravens drive that ended in a touchdown from tight end Dennis Pitta, one yard from the end zone) and an interception by Ed Reed making Kaepernick the first 49ers quarterback to be picked off in a Super Bowl. The interception saw an advance from the San Francisco 44 to the 14 before Harbaugh opted for a fake field goal on fourth-and-ninth. It failed, but only just as place kicker Tucker was tackled one yard short of first down.
Surprisingly, this did not knock the spirit of Baltimore, as, on their next drive from their 44, Flacco connected with Jacoby Jones after two incomplete passes. Flacco had underthrown and knocked Jones to the ground as he struggled to adjust, but San Francisco cornerback Chris Culliver failed to take him down and Jones got to his feet and almost danced his way to the end zone for a touchdown. Despite the 49ers responding with another field goal before half time, the score board, at 21-6, was showing a very one sided story, which shocked many.
After a pop-fuelled half time show with the legend that is Beyonce, Ravens were clearly pumped up from hearing the likes of ‘Crazy in Love’ and ‘Halo’, and returned a kick off for a 108 yard touchdown thanks again to Jacoby Jones, a New Orleans native which made his two touchdowns all the more special from playing at home. However, minutes later, the Superdome went into blackout. Unsure why exactly (some say Beyonce’s set was so exciting the electricity could not handle it or Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs joking that Jim Harbaugh gave out “Order 66”), it proved to be very important to the game itself. The momentum completely changed and the 49ers began to dominate. Kaepernick hit Crabtree for a 31 yard touchdown after he broke free from a few tackles on the way. After Flacco was sacked on third down and the teams exchanged punts, a poor punt from Baltimore’s Sam Koch was returned to the Baltimore 20, the drive culminating in a Frank Gore touchdown from the 6.
Things went from bad to worse for Ravens as Ray Rice fumbled at the Baltimore 24, although the 49ers could not turn it into anything other than a field goal. The Ravens offense began to kick in again, with a 12 play drive that ended in a field goal. This did not slow down San Francisco as Kaepernick ran the ball himself for a 15-yard touchdown, but they failed to pick up the two point conversion turning it into a 31-29 game with Ravens responding immediately with a field goal. By the two-minute warning, the 49ers were ready to burst through, but, after three consecutive incompletions, turned over the ball on fourth down. Instead of punting on fourth down, Koch took a safety in his own end zone, a move clearly inspired by John Harbaugh’s Special Teams coach past at Philadelphia Eagles, allowing Baltimore to kick the ball away from their end zone with seconds left on the clock. Unfortunately, the 49ers did not have enough time to respond so the game ended at a close 34-31 to Baltimore.
