This Super Bowl drastically changed shape three times. It presented itself first as a blowout, a Baltimore whalloping of San Francisco. It then morphed into a dominant San Francisco counterpunch after a Superdome power outage delayed the game for 34 agonizing minutes. After Baltimore shook off the cobwebs in the 4th quarter, Super Bowl 47 reached it's 3rd and final form: a blow-for-blow thriller that came down to an epic 4-down goal line stand.
The red-hot Ravens offense struck hard and early with a pass-heavy drive capped by the the QB Joe Flacco-to-WR Anquan Boldin postseason special. After an ill-advised fight-for-1-yard fumble by rookie 49er RB LeMichael James, Flacco fired a 2-yard rocket to TE Dennis Pitta that put the Ravens up 14-3 to end the 1st quarter.
Matters grew worse, San Francisco QB Colin Kapernick's over-the-entire offense interception to center fielder Ed Reed offered Baltimore another red zone opportunity. The Ravens would fail to convert a fake field goal but it was a luxury they could afford, Kaepernick responded with a 3-and-out. This time, Flacco made up the difference with a 56-yard down-but-not-touched bomb to WR Jacoby Jones with 1min remaining in the half.
The 49ers faithful were given a halftime Beyonce' break to get the images of WR Jacoby Jones out of their heads but it was the same nightmare to start the 2nd half too. Jones returned the opening kickoff 108 yards to set the Ravens powerfully in control, 28-6. The old nostalgic standby, the Super Bowl blow-out, a staple of the 80s and 90s appeared eminent.
After a 3-yard run from RB Frank Gore on the responding drive, the lights went out.
Radio silence from the broadcasters. It would be 34 minutes before 2nd-and-7 was allowed to resume.
Conspiracy-theories aside, it was the San Francisco 49ers who appeared to greatly benefit from The Power Outage. With nothing to lose, their offense finally clicked. WR Michael Crabtree grabbed a beautiful 32-yard grab neatly bouncing off the feeble hits-not-tackles from two Ravens defenders.
Conversely, with everything to lose, the Ravens offense suddenly lacked explosiveness and was forced into punts and a Ray Rice fumble. San Francisco capitalized with a field goal and another touchdown, this one RB Frank Gore. Barely 8 minutes after the power outage, the 49ers had made up 17 points, a new game 28-23 to start the 4th quarter.
The Ravens dusted the sleep out of their eyes and yet another Super Bowl Classic unfolded before us. Hard-hitting, punch, counter-punch football. The type of which can only be played in the 4th quarter of a Super Bowl between 2 Harbaugh brothers.
The game culminated in a 1st-and-goal for the 49ers with 2:39 remaining, down 29-34. After a non-threatening run from L-James, Kaepernick threw 3 straight incomplete passes to Michael Crabtree on the right side of the field. Maybe there was some 'The Catch'-style potential to Randy Moss on 2nd down, but Kaepernick was clearly looking at nobody but Crabtree for these 3 downs. The 49ers made it a game, but the window had closed.
LB Ray Lewis, Joe Flacco & The Ravens finally found themselves Super Bowl Champions after five years of deep playoff runs. Coach John Harbaugh summed it up perfectly "it's never pretty, it's never perfect, but it is us".
KEY PLAY: In the moment there will be significant hoop-la in San Francisco that the refs "let them play" too much on the final 4th down and that defensive contact of CB Jimmy Smith should have been called. The contact was initiated by Crabtree so while made it seems like a bad call now, it won't go down as one of the bogus no-calls of NFL history. Crabtree and Kaepernick were just not quite on the same page, and lurking right behind Smith was S Ed Reed in double-coverage on Crabtree.
MVP: Joe Flacco. The 2 big plays from WR Jacoby Jones will forever be Baltimore highlights but Flacco was the engine that drove Baltimore through the entire playoffs. His killer instinct in the red zone was championship quality, and it paid off. The running narrative this season 'is Joe Flacco elite?' appears to have been answered.
