Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League champion for the 1999 season. The National Football Conference champion St. Louis Rams defeated the American Football Conference champion Tennessee Titans 23–16 to claim their first Super Bowl win and first NFL championship since 1951. It is the most recent NFL championship in which both teams were seeking their first Super Bowl title.
Both teams were returning to the postseason after struggles and relocation. Led by The Greatest Show on Turf offense, the Rams entered their second Super Bowl appearance with an NFC-best 13–3 regular-season record. Their season marked the franchise's first playoff run since 1989 and first since moving from Los Angeles to St. Louis. The Titans also finished the regular season with a 13–3 record and advanced to their Super Bowl debut as a wild card. In their first season after retiring the franchise's Oilers name, the Titans were making their first playoff run since 1993 and first since moving from Houston to Tennessee.
The Rams scored three field goals by halftime and added a third-quarter touchdown to take a 16–0 lead. The Titans responded with 16 straight points to tie the game near the end of regulation, the first time a Super Bowl team had erased a deficit of more than 10 points. On their ensuing drive, the Rams regained the lead with wide receiver Isaac Bruce's 73-yard touchdown. Super Bowl XXXIV is best remembered for its final play, in which the Titans reached the Rams' 10-yard line with six seconds remaining, but linebacker Mike Jones tackled wide receiver Kevin Dyson one yard short of the goal line to prevent a touchdown that could have forced overtime or won the game for the Titans. The play became known as "One Yard Short" and "The Tackle". Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, the first undrafted quarterback to win a Super Bowl, was named Super Bowl MVP after setting Super Bowl records for passing yards and pass attempts without an interception. Warner became the sixth player to win Super Bowl MVP and NFL MVP in a single season, a feat that would go unrepeated for 23 seasons.
The game has been called the "Dot-com Super Bowl" for the large amount of advertisements purchased by dot-com companies. Regarded as one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time, it was featured on NFL's Greatest Games as "The Longest Yard".
Background
Host selection process
NFL owners awarded Super Bowl XXXIV to Atlanta during their October 31, 1996, meeting in New Orleans. A total of five cities submitted bids: Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Phoenix/Tempe, and Los Angeles. The Los Angeles host committee originally was going to partner with Pasadena, but switched their plans to the Coliseum after a renovation plan was announced. However, the Los Angeles bid was dismissed when their delegation failed to convince the owners that planned stadium renovations would be completed in time.Owners initially planned on selecting only two hosts, but decided to name three after strong showings by the respective delegations. Miami, Atlanta, and Tampa were selected to host XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV, respectively. This was the second time that Atlanta hosted the game, the first being XXVIII. Atlanta garnered a sympathy vote as Falcons owner Rankin Smith was terminally ill. Due to logistical conflicts, Atlanta would not be able to host the Super Bowl again until 2005, and some NFL owners desired to award the game to the city before Smith died. Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer protested afterwards, feeling that he had been promised the game after securing funding for a new stadium. As a result, XXXV was added to agenda, and Tampa was selected for that game.
St. Louis Rams
The Rams entered 1999 having been among the league's stragglers for a decade. The reasons are many, including, some suggest, mismanagement by executive John Shaw. The franchise moved to a taxpayer-funded stadium in St. Louis, Missouri for the 1995 season but continued to struggle. In 1997, the team hired Dick Vermeil as their head coach, bringing him back to the NFL after 15 years of retirement. Vermeil had previously turned the Philadelphia Eagles from one of the worst teams in the league into a Super Bowl team in 1980, but his first two seasons with the Rams were hardly stellar, winning just five games in 1997 and four in 1998.Little was expected of the Rams for 1999. Indeed, ESPN The Magazine's 1999 NFL preview predicted the Rams would be the worst team in the NFL, worse even than the Cleveland Browns, who had returned as an expansion team that year. Trent Green, who had just been signed as the Rams starting quarterback, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, making undrafted quarterback Kurt Warner the team's new starter. Warner, who started the season as a backup to Green, had previously played for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League and the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.
The Rams proceeded to shock the NFL with an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record and outscored their opponents 526–242, the highest scoring margin of any Super Bowl champion.
The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf". In Warner's first NFL season in 1998, he played only one game and threw just 11 passes. But in 1999, he experienced one of the most spectacular seasons ever by a quarterback, recording a passer rating of 109.2, completing 65.1 percent of his passes for 4,353 yards, 41 touchdowns, and just 13 interceptions, and earning the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Besides Warner, several other Rams compiled significant statistics. Halfback Marshall Faulk, in his first year with the Rams after spending five seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, had the best season of his career and won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award, while finishing second in MVP voting to Warner. He scored 12 touchdowns, rushed for 1,381 yards, and recorded a team-leading 87 receptions for 1,048 yards. In all, Faulk gained a record 2,429 total yards and became just the second running back in NFL history to gain over 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season. Faulk held the NFL record for yards from scrimmage in a single season until Tennessee's Chris Johnson broke it in 2009. Faulk wasn't the only weapon at Warner's disposal in 1999. Veteran receiver Isaac Bruce was the top Rams receiver with 77 receptions for 1,165 yards and 12 touchdowns. while breakout rookie wide receiver Torry Holt recorded 52 receptions, 788 yards, and 6 touchdowns. Even the team's third wide receiver, Az-Zahir Hakim, was a big contributor by catching 36 passes for 677 yards and 8 touchdowns, while also returning punts for 461 yards and another touchdown. The Rams' offensive line was led by Pro Bowlers Orlando Pace and Adam Timmerman. Timmerman, acquired by the Rams in 1999, had previously won Super Bowl XXXI with the Green Bay Packers. On special teams, receiver Tony Horne returned 30 kickoffs for 892 yards and 2 touchdowns, giving him an NFL-leading 29.7 yards per return average. Overall, the Rams' offense led the league in total yards gained, scoring, and passing touchdowns.
The Rams' defense led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed and fewest rushing touchdowns allowed, while giving up just 242 points. Overall, the defense ranked 4th in the league in fewest total yards. The line was anchored by Pro Bowl defensive end Kevin Carter and defensive end Grant Wistrom. Carter led the league with 17 sacks, while Wistrom recorded 8.5 sacks and 2 interceptions, returning both for touchdowns and a combined total of 131 yards. Behind them, the Rams had three linebackers: London Fletcher, Mike Jones, and Todd Collins. The secondary was led by Pro Bowler Todd Lyght, Dexter McCleon, and rookie Dré Bly.
This was the Rams' first playoff appearance since 1989 and only the second Super Bowl appearance in team history.
Tennessee Titans
The Titans advanced to their first Super Bowl in team history, after originating as a charter member of the American Football League. From 1960 to 1996, the team was owned by Houston, Texas businessman Bud Adams and known as the Houston Oilers. By 1995, however, Adams, like Rams owner Georgia Frontiere, was lured to move his team from Houston, in this case to a new stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Since this new stadium was not ready until the 1999 season, Adams decided to move his team to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee in 1997 after playing before small Houston crowds in 1996.The renamed Tennessee Oilers also played before sparse Memphis crowds, and thus spent the 1998 season playing at Nashville's Vanderbilt Stadium. After the new Adelphia Coliseum was completed in 1999, the team's name was changed to the Tennessee Titans. With the Titans' Super Bowl appearance, every former AFL team had now played in the Super Bowl, including the original eight AFL teams and two AFL expansion teams: the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals.
The 1999 Titans were led by quarterback Steve McNair and running back Eddie George. McNair had missed five games due to injuries during the season, but he was still able to put up solid numbers, throwing for 2,179 yards and 12 touchdowns with 8 interceptions. Despite his injury problems, McNair finished the season as the second-leading rusher on the team with 337 yards and 8 touchdowns. When McNair was out with injuries, the team was able to rely on backup quarterback Neil O'Donnell, who threw for 1,382 yards and 10 touchdowns, with only 5 interceptions. George also had an outstanding season, rushing for 1,304 yards, and catching 47 passes for 458 yards. In all, George scored a grand total of 13 touchdowns, and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl for the 3rd consecutive year.
Another contributor on the Titans' offense was fullback Lorenzo Neal, who frequently served as George's lead blocker and was widely considered one of the best blocking backs in the league. The team did not have any outstanding deep threats, but wide receiver Yancey Thigpen recorded 38 receptions for 648 yards, wide receiver Kevin Dyson had 54 receptions for 658 yards, and tight end Frank Wycheck caught 69 passes for 641 yards. Thigpen, however, would not play in the Super Bowl because of a right foot fracture he suffered in the AFC Championship Game. Up front, their line was anchored by Pro Bowl tackle Bruce Matthews. On special teams, Derrick Mason racked up 1,030 combined return yards and a touchdown.
The Titans' defense was also extremely effective. Pro Bowl defensive end Jevon Kearse anchored the line, recording 14.5 sacks to go along with 8 forced fumbles and was named the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year. The linebackers corps was led by Eddie Robinson, who recorded 64 tackles and 6 sacks, while also recovering and forcing 3 fumbles. Their secondary was led by cornerback Samari Rolle, who led the team with 4 interceptions, and veteran safety Marcus Robertson, who would miss the game with a broken leg.
The Titans finished the regular season with a 13–3 record, but finished second behind the 14–2 Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Central. The Jaguars' only two losses were to the Titans, but the Titans' three losses forced them to enter the playoffs as a wild-card team.