Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Atlanta Falcons, 34–28. Super Bowl LI featured the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, with the Patriots overcoming a 28–3 deficit in the third quarter to emerge victorious. Due to the comeback, the game is nicknamed "28–3". The game was also the first Super Bowl to be decided in overtime.
The Patriots' victory marked their fifth Super Bowl title, moving them into a three-way tie with the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers for the second-most Super Bowl wins. After finishing the regular season with a league-best 14–2 record, New England advanced to their record-setting ninth Super Bowl appearance and their seventh under the leadership of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. The Falcons, led by the league's top offense and MVP quarterback Matt Ryan, finished the regular season with an 11–5 record and were seeking their first Super Bowl title in their second appearance.
Atlanta scored three consecutive touchdowns to take a 21–3 halftime lead, which they increased to 28–3 midway through the third quarter. However, the Patriots scored 25 consecutive points to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation. In overtime, New England received the kickoff after winning the coin toss and scored a touchdown to claim the title. More than 30 team and individual Super Bowl records were broken or matched during the game, including Patriots running back James White's 14 receptions and 20 points scored, and Brady's 43 completed passes, 62 pass attempts, and 466 passing yards. Brady was named Super Bowl MVP for a record fourth time and was the oldest player to receive the honor at 39; he would surpass both records in Super Bowl LV.
Fox's broadcast of the game averaged around 111.3 million viewers, slightly down from the 111.9 million viewers of the previous year's Super Bowl. In contrast, the total number of viewers for all or part of the game hit a record number of 172 million. Average television viewership for the halftime show, headlined by Lady Gaga, was higher at 117.5 million. Several media outlets regard the game as the greatest Super Bowl of all time. NFL.com's "100 Greatest Games" ranked it the ninth-greatest game and the fourth-highest among Super Bowls.
Game summary[]
| Team | Conference | 1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | 4th Quarter | Overtime | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New England Patriots | AFC | 0 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 6 | 34 |
| Atlanta Falcons | NFC | 0 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
Starting lineups[]
| New England Patriots | Position | Atlanta Falcons | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offense | |||
| Chris Hogan | wide receiver | Julio Jones | |
| Nate Solder | left tackle | Jake Matthews | |
| Joe Thuney | left guard | Andy Levitre | |
| David Andrews | center | Alex Mack | |
| Shaq Mason | right guard | Chris Chester | |
| Marcus Cannon | right tackle | Ryan Schraeder | |
| Martellus Bennett | tight end | Levine Toilolo | |
| Julian Edelman | wide receiver | Mohamed Sanu | |
| Tom Brady | quarterback | Matt Ryan | |
| Malcolm Mitchell | wide receiver | running back | Devonta Freeman |
| Dion Lewis | running back | full back | Patrick DiMarco |
| Defense | |||
| Duron Harmon | defensive back | defensive end | Dwight Freeney |
| Alan Branch | defensive tackle | Ra'Shede Hageman | |
| Malcom Brown | defensive tackle | defensive back | Brian Poole |
| Trey Flowers | right end | defensive end | Grady Jarrett |
| Shea McClellin | linebacker | Vic Beasley | |
| Dont'a Hightower | linebacker | Deion Jones | |
| Rob Ninkovich | linebacker | De'Vondre Campbell | |
| Logan Ryan | right cornerback | cornerback | Robert Alford |
| Malcolm Butler | left cornerback | cornerback | Jalen Collins |
| Patrick Chung | safety | Ricardo Allen | |
| Devin McCourty | safety | Keanu Neal | |
Entertainment[]
Pre-game[]
| Artist | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| Luke Bryan Kriston Lee Pumphrey (American Sign Language interpretation) |
"The Star-Spangled Banner" |
| Phillipa Soo Renée Elise Goldsberry Jasmine Cephas Jones |
"America the Beautiful" |
| George H. W. Bush Barbara Bush |
Coin toss ceremony participants |
Halftime[]
- Headliner: Lady Gaga
- Director: Hamish Hamilton
- Producer: Ricky Kirshner
- Sponsor: Pepsi Zero Sugar
Set list[]
| Artist | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| Lady Gaga | "God Bless America" / "This Land Is Your Land" (pre-recorded intro) "Poker Face" (contains elements of "Dance in the Dark", "Just Dance", "LoveGame", "Paparazzi" and "The Edge of Glory") "Born This Way" "Telephone" "Just Dance" "Million Reasons" "Bad Romance" |
Broadcasting[]
United States[]
| Network | Play-by-play announcer | Color commentator(s) | Sideline reporter(s) | Rules analyst(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox | Joe Buck | Troy Aikman | Erin Andrews and Chris Myers | Mike Pereira |
| Fox Deportes | John Laguna | Jessi Losada and Brady Poppinga | Pablo Alsina | |
| Westwood One | Kevin Harlan | Boomer Esiason and Mike Holmgren | James Lofton and Tony Boselli |
Other programming[]
| Programming type | Program |
|---|---|
| Lead-out program | 24: Legacy (series premiere) |
| Counterprogramming | Puppy Bowl XIII (Animal Planet) |
| Kitten Bowl IV (Hallmark Channel) | |
| Fish Bowl IV (Nat Geo Wild) | |
| Kosher Halftime Show (Nachum Segal Network) |
Commercials[]
| Product type | Advertiser/product |
|---|---|
| Beer | Bud Light |
| Budweiser | |
| Busch | |
| Building materials | 84 Lumber |
| Car | Alfa Romeo |
| Audi | |
| Buick | |
| Kia Niro | |
| Lexus LC | |
| Cleaner | Mr. Clean |
| Food | Snickers |
| Film | Baywatch |
| The Fate of the Furious | |
| Ghost in the Shell | |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | |
| Logan | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | |
| Transformers: The Last Knight | |
| Restaurant | Buffalo Wild Wings |
| Tax preparation | TurboTax |
| Technology | Intel |
| TV series | 24: Legacy (Fox) |
| Empire (Fox) | |
| Genius (National Geographic Channel) | |
| The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu) | |
| Shots Fired (Fox) | |
| Stranger Things (Netflix) | |
| The Walking Dead (AMC) | |
| Video games | Nintendo Switch |
| Website | Airbnb |
| Web hosting | Squarespace |
| Wix.com | |
| Wireless | Sprint |
| T-Mobile |
International[]
| Country | Network |
|---|---|
| Middle East and North Africa | OSN Sports, beIN Sports |
| Australia | Seven Network, 7mate, ESPN |
| Austria | Puls 4 |
| Brazil | ESPN, Esporte Interativo |
| Canada | CTV, CTV Two, TSN, RDS |
| Denmark | TV3+ |
| Finland | Viasat Sport |
| France | beIN Sports |
| Germany | Sat.1, ran.de, DAZN |
| Hungary | Sport1 |
| India | Sony ESPN |
| Ireland | Sky Sports |
| Italy | Italia 1, Premium Sport |
| Nepal | Sony ESPN |
| Netherlands | Fox, Fox Sports |
| New Zealand | TVNZ, ESPN |
| Norway | Viasat 4 |
| Philippines | ABS-CBN Sports and Action |
| South Africa | SuperSport |
| Spain | Movistar+ |
| Sri Lanka | Sony ESPN |
| Switzerland | Sat.1, W9, ran.de, DAZN |
| United Kingdom | BBC One, Sky Sports, BBC Radio 5 Live |