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Over 100 million people watched the No. 1-ranked defense take on the No. 1-ranked offense in the National Football League Sunday night in Super Bowl XLVIII. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos 43-8, setting the record for the most-watched television program in the history of the Nielson ratings, the standard for measuring TV ratings and audience size.
Led by fifth-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning, the Broncos were defeated in one of the largest victory margins in the history of the Super Bowl.
Seattle’s defense kept the Broncos to only 27 rushing yards, compared to the Seahawks’ 135 rushing yards. Statistically, Denver had the top offense in the league, but only managed to score once – late in the third quarter when the game was far out of reach for the Broncos.
The first play of the game featured a bad snap for Denver, sending the ball into the end zone where the Seahawks recovered for a safety. Seattle kept this momentum going into the second half, where wide receiver Percy Harvin returned the opening kickoff back for a touchdown.
Bruno Mars’ energetic and soulful halftime show featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers brought in 115.3 million viewers, smashing the previous record of 114 million that Madonna set in 2012 for the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. Twenty-five million tweets were made during the telecast of the game, a noted increase from the 24.1 million during last year’s Super Bowl.
Leading up to the big game all eyes were on Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman, who openly boasted in a post-National Football Conference Championship interview with FOX sportscaster Erin Andrews that he was “the best corner in the game.” Sherman also infamously slammed on San Francisco 49ers’ Michael Crabtree, calling him a “sorry receiver.”
Andrews sat down again with Sherman before the Super Bowl in a televised interview, which aired on FOX prior to the pre-game festivities Sunday night, where she asked Sherman if there was anything that he regretted from their previous interview.
“Just the way I attacked [Crabtree],” Sherman said. “That was uncalled for.”
Sherman battled injuries during the Super Bowl, compromising his leg in the third quarter. Sherman missed one play while the Seahawks maintained their 29-point lead. Early in the fourth quarter, however, Sherman went down again, and this time he was carried off the field via stretcher.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Twitter account, Sherman suffered a high ankle sprain in the third quarter and then aggravated it during the fourth, causing him to celebrate Seattle’s win on crutches.
This was the franchise’s first Super Bowl win and Seattle’s first major-sport championship since the Women’s National Basketball team, the Seattle Storm, won titles in 2004 and 2010. The men’s sports championship drought spans back to 1979, when the Seattle Sonics claimed the National Basketball Association’s championship title.
Fittingly for Seattle’s acclaimed defense, defensive linebacker Malcolm Smith was named the game’s most valuable player.
Seattle’s after-game press conference security, however, did not boast the same caliber defense. During Smith’s interview, an uncleared 9/11 conspiracy theorist charged the stage, grabbed the microphone and began ranting about the U.S. government’s supposed involvement in the attacks on September 11.
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