Super Bowl XXXIV
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Super Bowl XXXIV took place on January 30, 2000 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, home of host team the Atlanta Falcons, the previous year's defending NFC champions.
The final result was Saint Louis Rams 23, Tennessee Titans 16.
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The game
The Rams, who shocked the NFL in 1999 with an NFC-best 13-3 regular-season record, were making their first playoff appearance in 10 years and only the second Super Bowl appearance in team history. They were led by undrafted and former Iowa Barnstormers quarterback Kurt Warner, who was originally the backup to Trent Green, lost to an injury suffered in the preseason. The Titans were led by two veterans, quarterback Steve McNair and running back Eddie George, who helped the Titans achieve an 13-3 regular-season record, a wild-card berth in the AFC playoffs, and the first Super Bowl appearance in Titans/Oilers franchise history.
Although St. Louis drove inside the Titans' 20-yard line on every possession during the first half, they weren't able to score a touchdown. Instead, they settled for three Jeff Wilkins field goals. However, the Titans punted on every single possession except one, which led to a missed field goal attempt by Al Del Greco in the first quarter. The halftime score was 9-0, in favor of St. Louis.
Both teams' offenses started to get going in the second half, though. With 7:20 remaining in the third quarter, the Rams scored on a 9-yard pass from Warner to Torry Holt, making it 16-0. Tennessee scored for the first time when George fought his way into the end zone from one yard out for a touchdown, a play set up by a 23-yard scramble by McNair. When a two-point conversion failed, the score was 16-6, St. Louis.
The Titans then fought back, scoring on a 2-yard run by George and a 43-yard field goal by Del Greco to tie the score at 16 with 2:12 remaining, as Tennessee became the first team to come back from such a large deficit to tie the game. After the kickoff, on St Louis's first play, Warner threw a long pass that was caught by Rams reciever Isaac Bruce at the Titans' 38, who then was able to run it into the end zone and make the score 23-16 for St. Louis.
The Titans tried to capitalize on the 1:54 the Rams had left on the clock to tie the score one last time. The frenzied drive eventually led to Tennessee using their final timeout with 6 seconds left with the ball at the Rams' 10-yard line, setting up one final play. McNair threw a short pass to Kevin Dyson down the middle which looked certain to tie up the game until Mike Jones, a Rams linebacker, tackled Dyson at the one-yard line as time expired. Dyson tried to stretch his arm and the football across the goal line, but he had already gone down, so it was too late. Jones had preserved the Rams' first Super Bowl win and their first NFL championship since 1951.
ABC televised the game in the United States with Al Michaels & Boomer Esiason serving as the announcers.
The adverts
The game was held during the height of the dot-com boom, so it is unsurprising that many of the adverts during half time were for dot-com companies. Pets.com famously paid millions for an advert featuring a sock puppet.
Scoring Summary
- STL - FG, Wilkins 27 Yd
- STL - FG, Wilkins 29 Yd
- STL - FG, Wilkins 28 Yd
- STL - TD, Holt, 9 Yd pass from Warner (Wilkins kick)
- TEN - TD, George, 1 Yd run (pass failed)
- TEN - TD, George, 2 Yd run (Del Greco kick)
- TEN - FG, Del Greco 43 Yd
- STL - TD, Bruce, 73 Yd pass from Warner (Wilkins kick)
See also
| NFL Super Bowls I 1967 | II 1968 | III 1969 | IV 1970 | V 1971 | VI 1972 | VII 1973 | VIII 1974 | IX 1975 | X 1976 XI 1977 | XII 1978 | XIII 1979 | XIV 1980 | XV 1981 | XVI 1982 | XVII 1983 | XVIII 1984 | XIX 1985 | XX 1986 XXI 1987 | XXII 1988 | XXIII 1989 | XXIV 1990 | XXV 1991 | XXVI 1992 | XXVII 1993 | XXVIII 1994 | XXIX 1995 | XXX 1996 XXXI 1997 | XXXII 1998 | XXXIII 1999 | XXXIV 2000 | XXXV 2001 | XXXVI 2002 | XXXVII 2003 | XXXVIII 2004 | XXXIX 2005 | XL 2006 |