Super Bowl XLVII, 2013: Baltimore 34 San Francisco 31

Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2012 season. The Ravens defeated the 49ers by the score of 34–31, handing the 49ers their first Super Bowl loss in their franchise history. The game was played on Sunday, February 3, 2013, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. This was the tenth Super Bowl to be played in New Orleans, equaling Miami's record of ten in an individual city.[10] This was the first Super Bowl to be held in New Orleans since Super Bowl XXXVI and it was the first to be played there since Hurricane Katrina struck the city in 2005.

For the first time in Super Bowl history, the game featured two brothers coaching against each other — Jim and John Harbaugh, head coaches of the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, respectively — earning it the nickname Har-bowl. Jim's son and John's nephew, Jay Harbaugh, was also on the Ravens' coaching staff. Super Bowl XLVII was the first to feature two teams that had undefeated records in previous Super Bowl games (Baltimore, 1–0; San Francisco, 5–0). The 49ers, who posted a regular-season record of 11–4–1, entered the game seeking their sixth Super Bowl win in team history (and first since Super Bowl XXIX at the end of the 1994 season), which would have tied the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most by a franchise. The Ravens, who posted a 10–6 regular-season record, made their second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history, having previously won Super Bowl XXXV. Linebacker Ray Lewis, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) from that game, as well as the last remaining member of the inaugural Ravens roster from 1996, also played in this game, his and 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss' last before both retired from professional football.

Baltimore dominated the first half of the game, aided by quarterback Joe Flacco's three touchdown passes that gave the Ravens a 21–3 lead before their lead was cut to 21–6 just before halftime; the Ravens immediately resumed scoring after Jacoby Jones returned the second half kickoff a record 108 yards, increasing their lead to 28–6. However, a partial power outage in the Superdome following the return suspended play for 34 minutes (earning the game the added nickname of the Blackout Bowl). After play resumed, San Francisco began to rally, scoring 17 unanswered third-quarter points to cut the Ravens' lead to 28–23. With the Ravens leading late in the game, 34–29, the 49ers drove down to the Baltimore 7-yard line just before the two-minute warning but turned the ball over on downs.

The Ravens then took an intentional safety in the waning moments of the game to preserve the victory. Flacco, who completed 22 of 33 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns, became the fourth consecutive quarterback to be named Super Bowl MVP, after Drew Brees at Super Bowl XLIV, Aaron Rodgers at Super Bowl XLV, and Eli Manning at Super Bowl XLVI.

CBS broadcast the game in the United States, and charged an average of $4 million for a 30-second commercial during the game, the highest rate for any Super Bowl. According to Nielsen, Super Bowl XLVII was viewed by an estimated average of 108.69 million people in the United States, with a record 164.1 million tuning into at least six minutes of the game. Beyoncé performed in the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, which featured a reunion with fellow Destiny's Child alumni Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.

Game summary
First quarter
San Francisco was hurt by penalties and turnovers early in the game as the Ravens built a 21–6 first-half lead. On their first play of the opening drive, tight end Vernon Davis's 20-yard reception was called back by an illegal formation penalty. The team ended up punting after three more plays, and Jacoby Jones returned the ball 17 yards to the Ravens' 49-yard line. Baltimore then drove 51 yards, scoring on Joe Flacco's 13-yard touchdown pass to receiver Anquan Boldin. Flacco had previously thrown a third-down incompletion, but an offsides penalty against linebacker Ahmad Brooks gave him a second chance.

San Francisco responded on their next possession, moving the ball 62 yards in a 12-play drive, with quarterback Colin Kaepernick completing a 19-yard pass to Michael Crabtree and a 24-yarder to Davis. David Akers finished the drive with a 36-yard field goal to cut the score to 7–3. Baltimore responded with a drive to the 49ers' 37-yard line, featuring a 30-yard catch by Boldin, but came up empty after Flacco was sacked on third down for a 5-yard loss by defensive tackle Ray McDonald, pushing the Ravens out of field goal range.

Second quarter
Five plays into the 49ers' next drive, linebacker Courtney Upshaw forced a fumble from running back LaMichael James, and Baltimore's Arthur Jones recovered it on the Ravens' 25-yard line. Baltimore drove 75 yards on 10 plays, 52 of those came from a 23-yard and a 14-yard pass to tight end Ed Dickson, the second followed by a 15-yard facemask penalty on Donte Whitner. Dennis Pitta caught a 1-yard touchdown catch on the final play of the drive and the extra point made the score 14–3.

On the first play of the next drive, Ed Reed intercepted a pass by Kaepernick and returned the ball 6 yards to the 49ers' 38-yard line. This was the first interception thrown by San Francisco in any of their six Super Bowl appearances. Unnecessary roughness charges were called after the play on players from both teams so the charges offset. Baltimore reached the red zone on their next drive, but was unable to score. Following a one-yard run by Bernard Pierce and two incomplete passes, rookie kicker Justin Tucker was tackled 1 yard short of a first down while running the ball on a fake field goal play.

San Francisco was forced to a three-and-out on the drive. Jones muffed the punt, but recovered the ball and returned it 11 yards to the Ravens' 44-yard line. Two plays later, Jones made a falling catch deep down the field, then got back up and eluded two 49ers defensive backs en route to a 56-yard touchdown reception, making the score 21–3 with less than two minutes to go in the first half. On the second play of San Francisco's next drive, tight end Delanie Walker caught a 14-yard pass from Kaepernick, which was extended by a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty against Haloti Ngata. After an incomplete first down attempt, Walker received another 28-yard pass, putting San Francisco on the Baltimore 17-yard line. San Francisco reached the 9-yard line, but were unable to convert on three plays. On the last play of the half, Akers kicked his second field goal to cut their deficit to 21–6.

Third quarter
On the second-half kickoff, Jacoby Jones fielded the kick and promptly returned it 108 yards for the longest play in Super Bowl history. It broke the previous 104-yard record for the longest kickoff return in the playoffs (set by Trindon Holliday of the Denver Broncos in the divisional playoff game earlier that year against Baltimore), and it tied an NFL record already held by Jones and shared with Ellis Hobbs and Randall Cobb for the longest kickoff return. With the extra point, Baltimore was now leading 28–6.

Shortly into the 49ers' next drive, a power outage caused the lights to go out in half of the stadium, stopping play for 34 minutes. The outage was caused by equipment failure at the stadium.

After play resumed, both teams punted once. Then San Francisco drove 80 yards, with Kaepernick rushing for 15 yards and completing an 18-yard pass to Davis before finishing the drive with a pass to Crabtree, who broke through two potential Ravens tacklers on the way to a 31-yard touchdown reception. Then Baltimore was forced to punt from their own 9-yard line following Brooks' 8-yard sack of Flacco on third down, and Ted Ginn Jr. returned the ball 32 yards to the 20 before being shoved out of bounds by punter Sam Koch. Kaepernick completed a 14-yard pass to Davis on the next play, and Gore followed it up with a 6-yard touchdown run, cutting the score to 28–20.

On the second play of the fourth quarter, Baltimore committed their first turnover when defensive back Tarell Brown forced and recovered a fumble from Ray Rice on the Ravens' 25-yard line. Three plays later, Akers missed (went wide left) on a 39-yard field goal attempt, but Baltimore's Chykie Brown was penalized for running into the kicker, and Akers' second attempt was good from 34 yards, trimming the lead to 28–23.

Fourth quarter
The Ravens responded on their ensuing possession, moving the ball 77 yards and advancing to the San Francisco 1-yard line, with Boldin catching two passes for 39 yards. But they were unable to reach the end zone and settled for Tucker's 19-yard field goal to put them back up by 8 points, 31–23. San Francisco stormed back, scoring in just five plays. Following a 32-yard reception by Randy Moss and a 21-yard burst by Gore, Kaepernick took the ball across the goal line on a 15-yard run, the longest touchdown run by a quarterback in Super Bowl history. However, the ensuing two-point conversion failed, so the 49ers were unable to break the deficit, still trailing at 31–29.

On the Ravens' ensuing drive, Boldin caught two passes for 22 yards and Rice rushed for 11 yards as the team moved the ball 55 yards and scored on Tucker's 38-yard field goal, making the score 34–29 with 4:19 left in regulation. San Francisco used up two timeouts on their next drive, but managed to move the ball to a first and goal on the Ravens' 7-yard line following a 24-yard catch by Crabtree and a 33-yard run by Gore.

With four chances to take the lead, San Francisco started out with a 2-yard run by James to the 5-yard line. Then Kaepernick threw two incompletions, bringing up fourth down. On their last chance, Kaepernick tried to throw the ball to Crabtree in the end zone, but it was too far ahead and the pass fell incomplete. Defensive back Jimmy Smith and Crabtree both made contact prior to the ball arriving, but no penalty was called and the 49ers turned the ball over on downs with 1:46 left in the game.

San Francisco managed to force a three-and-out on the Ravens' next drive, but as they had only one timeout remaining, the Ravens were able to run the clock down to twelve seconds. On fourth down, and after the Ravens then called a timeout of their own, punter Sam Koch fielded the snap in his own end zone. In an effort to kill as much of the twelve remaining seconds on the clock, Koch was instructed not to punt the ball but rather hang on to it and scramble around in the end zone. Koch was able to scramble for eight seconds before giving up an intentional safety by running out of the side of the end zone, leaving just four seconds remaining and giving the 49ers one more chance for a game-winning play. On the ensuing free kick, Ginn returned the ball 31 yards, but was tackled at midfield by linebacker Josh Bynes as time expired.

Power outage
Play was interrupted for 34 minutes because of a 22-minute partial power outage. The power failed with 13:22 remaining in the third quarter with the Ravens leading 28–6. Emergency generators provided backup lighting. The New Orleans Fire Department rescued people from elevator seven, but other elevators were brought to the ground uneventfully. Attendees used double the usual amount of data for their cell phones. AT&T reported 78 gigabytes (GB) downloaded from 8 to 9 PM, about double from the peak the year before. NFL chief security officer Jeffrey Miller attributed fans' calmness to their preoccupation with their electronics.

SMG, the Superdome's management company, recently upgraded electrical systems at the facility. In an October 15, 2012 memo, Louisiana officials expressed concern that the equipment bringing electricity into the stadium from utility company Entergy had a "chance of failure". Authorities subsequently spent nearly $1 million on upgrades to the stadium, more than half of that paid to Allstar Electric to upgrade electrical feeder cables.

Entergy and SMG both said the problem was in interconnection equipment, and SMG hired a third party to investigate. Investigations homed in on a newly installed switchgear. Entergy installed a pair of relays made by Rogers Park's S&C Electric Company of Rogers Park, Chicago to ensure continued power supply in case one supply line failed. One of those relays tripped. Subsequent tests showed one of the relays functioned properly and the other did not. S&C Electric Co. claims the relay's trip setting was too low, but Entergy claims that the two were set identically.

Electricity usage during the game was on par with a regular New Orleans Saints game. The halftime show was powered by a generator that did not impact the stadium's power.

CBS-TV viewers were shown the half-lit Superdome interior. The main broadcast booth was off line; sideline reporter Steve Tasker informed the audience that "a click of the lights" had occurred and play had been halted. Ray Lewis later stated in an interview that he believed the blackout was part of a conspiracy, saying "You're a zillion dollar company and your lights go out? No. No way." 49ers CEO Jed York responded to the claim on Twitter in jest, tweeting "There is no conspiracy. I pulled the plug."

Wikipedia

49ers fourth-down toss to Michael Crabtree featured contact but didn't warrant flag.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick crosses the goal line for a touchdown as wide receiver Michael Crabtree reacts in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.

David Akers celebrates his first field goal during the 49ers' loss to the Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII.

Jacoby Jones dives into the endzone during the second quarter.

Ed Reed celebrates following victory.