It will go down as one of the strangest and most exciting games in Super Bowl history.
Super Bowl XLVII had a little bit of everything – exciting kick returns, close plays, clutch defense, lots of scoring…and a blackout.
When the dust had settled on the gridiron at the New Orleans Superdome on Sunday, Feb. 3, the Baltimore Ravens had survived a maddening rally by the San Francisco 49ers to win Super Bowl XLVII, 34-31.
The big game opened with a quick strike from the Ravens as Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco hit wide receiver Anquan Boldin with a touchdown pass from 13 yeards out.
The Niners responded with a David Akers field goal before the end of the first quarter.
Flacco, an Audubon, N.J. native, really showed his skill in the second quarter. Midway through the quarter, he finished off a 75-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown pass to Dennis Pitta.
Five minutes later, Flacco completed a pass to Jacoby Jones. Jones used quick thinking and avoided a couple of tackles while sprawling to make the catch before jumping to his feet and scampering in to the endzone for a 56-yard touchdown.
Another Akers field goal made the score 21-6 at halftime.
The Ravens struck immediately off the second-half kickoff. It was Jones again, this time taking the ball eight yards deep in his own endzone and racing upfield leaving the Niners’ defense in the dust for a Super Bowl-record 108-yard touchdown return.
That’s when things got crazy.
As the third quarter started to progress, half of the Superdome lost power, forcing a 34-minute delay.
When the lights returned, so did the 49ers.
In the ensuing seven minutes, the Niners scored three touchdowns – one on a 31-yard pass to Michael Crabtree from Colin Kaepernick, another on a six-yard run by Frank Gore – and added third field goal to cut the deficit to five.
After a Justin Tucker field goal early in the fourth quarter extended the Ravens’ lead, Kaepernick raced into the endzone for a 15-yard run to cut the lead to two.
But after the Niners failed to convert on the two-point conversion, the Ravens added another field goal to extend the lead to five.
Kaepernick led a drive from the Niners’ own 20-yard-line to within five yards of the go-ahead score. But Kaepernick failed to connect with Crabtree on fourth-and-goal giving the Ravens the ball.
The Ravens ran the clock down to four seconds left, took a safety and celebrated when the ensuing kick return for the Niners failed as time ran out.
Flacco was named MVP of the game, completing 22 of 33 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns.
