Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2009 season. The underdog Saints defeated the Colts by a score of 31–17, earning the franchise its first Super Bowl win. The game was played at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida, for the fifth time (and in South Florida for the tenth time), on February 7, 2010, which was the latest calendar date for a Super Bowl until Super Bowl LVI in 2022.
This was the Saints' first Super Bowl appearance and the fourth for the Colts franchise, their second appearance in four seasons. The Saints entered the game with a 13–3 record for the 2009 regular season, compared to the Colts' 14–2 record. In the playoff games, both teams placed first in their conferences, marking the first time since Super Bowl XXVIII (16 years previously) that both number-one seeds have reached the Super Bowl. The Colts entered the Super Bowl off victories over the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets, while the Saints advanced after defeating the previous year's runners up, the Arizona Cardinals, and then overcoming the Minnesota Vikings in the Conference Championship. It was also the first time both teams started with a 13-game winning streak.
New Orleans was behind 10–6 at halftime of Super Bowl XLIV. During a play many consider the turning point of the game, Thomas Morstead kicked off the second half with a surprise onside kick. The Saints recovered the kick and soon got their first lead of the game with Pierre Thomas's 16-yard touchdown reception. The Colts responded with Joseph Addai's 4-yard touchdown run to regain the lead at 17–13. The Saints then scored 18 unanswered points, including Tracy Porter's 74-yard interception return for a touchdown, to clinch the victory. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, who completed 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns, was named the Super Bowl MVP. His 32 completions tied a Super Bowl record set by Tom Brady in Super Bowl XXXVIII. The Saints' win was seen as a major morale boost for the city of New Orleans following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. However, the game would later become controversial by the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, when the NFL determined in 2012 that the Saints operated a slush fund between the 2009 and 2011 seasons to pay out bounties to their players for injuring their opponents.
The live broadcast of the game on CBS was watched by an average U.S. audience of 106.5 million viewers, making it then the most-watched Super Bowl. The National Anthem was sung by Carrie Underwood, and the halftime show featured the British rock band The Who. Super Bowl XLIV was the last Super Bowl to have a uniquely designed logo as its predecessors had: starting with Super Bowl XLV, the logo was permanently settled to bear the Vince Lombardi Trophy and the Roman numerals denoting the edition of the game. This is also the earliest Super Bowl in which neither team has since re-appeared as of 2023.
Game summary[]
| Team | Conference | 1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | 4th Quarter | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orleans Saints | NFC | 0 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 31 |
| Indianapolis Colts | AFC | 10 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 17 |
Starting lineups[]
| New Orleans Saints | Position | Indianapolis Colts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offense | |||
| Marques Colston | wide receiver | Reggie Wayne | |
| Jermon Bushrod | left tackle | Charlie Johnson | |
| Carl Nicks | left guard | Ryan Lilja | |
| Jonathan Goodwin | center | Jeff Saturday | |
| Jahri Evans | right guard | Kyle DeVan | |
| Jon Stinchcomb | right tackle | Ryan Diem | |
| Jeremy Shockey | tight end | Dallas Clark | |
| Devery Henderson | wide receiver | Pierre Garçon | |
| Drew Brees | quarterback | Peyton Manning | |
| Pierre Thomas | running back | Joseph Addai | |
| Reggie Bush | running back | full back | Gijon Robinson |
| Defense | |||
| Bobby McCray | left end | Robert Mathis | |
| Sedrick Ellis | defensive tackle | left defensive tackle | Daniel Muir |
| Will Smith | right end | right defensive tackle | Antonio Johnson |
| Marvin Mitchell | inside linebacker | right end | Dwight Freeney |
| Scott Fujita | left outside linebacker | Philip Wheeler | |
| Jonathan Vilma | inside linebacker | Gary Brackett | |
| Scott Shanle | right outside linebacker | Clint Session | |
| Jabari Greer | left cornerback | Kelvin Hayden | |
| Tracy Porter | right cornerback | Jacob Lacey | |
| Roman Harper | strong safety | Melvin Bullitt | |
| Darren Sharper | free safety | Antoine Bethea | |
Entertainment[]
Pre-game[]
| Artist | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| Chris Daughtry Steve Winwood Queen Latifah |
Pre-game tailgate party performers |
| Carrie Underwood Kinesha Battles (American Sign Language interpretation) |
"The Star-Spangled Banner" |
| Queen Latifah Kinesha Battles (American Sign Language interpretation) |
"America the Beautiful" |
| 2010 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, led by Emmitt Smith | Coin toss ceremony participants |
Halftime[]
- Headliner: The Who
- Director: Hamish Hamilton
- Producer: White Cherry Entertainment
- Sponsor: Bridgestone
Set list[]
| Artist | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| The Who | "Pinball Wizard" "Baba O'Riley" "Who Are You" "See Me, Feel Me" "Won't Get Fooled Again" |
Broadcasting[]
United States[]
| Network | Play-by-play announcer | Color commentator(s) | Sideline reporter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | Jim Nantz | Phil Simms | Steve Tasker and Solomon Wilcots |
| CBS (SAP) | Armando Quintero | Benny Ricardo | |
| Westwood One | Marv Albert | Boomer Esiason | James Lofton and Mark Malone |
Other programming[]
| Programming type | Program |
|---|---|
| Lead-out program | Undercover Boss (series premiere) |
| Counterprogramming | Puppy Bowl VI (Animal Planet) |
| 'Til Death (Fox) |
Commercials[]
| Product type | Advertiser/product |
|---|---|
| Beer | Bud Light |
| Budweiser | |
| Candy | Snickers |
| Car | Dodge Charger |
| Hyundai | |
| Kia Motors | |
| Volkswagen | |
| Clothing | Dockers |
| Directory assistance | kgb |
| Electronics | FLO TV |
| Film | The Back-Up Plan |
| Iron Man 2 | |
| The Last Airbender | |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | |
| Robin Hood | |
| Shutter Island | |
| The Wolfman | |
| Food | Doritos |
| Emerald Nuts | |
| Pop Secret | |
| Manufacturing | Bridgestone |
| Mobile phone | Boost Mobile |
| Restaurant | McDonald's |
| Taco Bell | |
| Shoes | Skechers |
| Soft drink | Coca-Cola |
| TV series | Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) |
| NFL Full Contact (truTV) | |
| The Pacific (HBO) | |
| Vacation rental | HomeAway |
| Video game | Dante's Inferno |
| Website | Cars.com |
| E*Trade | |
| Focus on the Family.com | |
| GoDaddy | |
| Monster.com |
International[]
| Country | Network |
|---|---|
| Europe | ESPN America |
| Latin America | ESPN, Fox Sports |
| Australia | Fox Sports 3, ESPN, Network Ten, One HD |
| Austria | Puls 4 |
| Belgium | Prime Sport |
| Belize | Tropical Vision Limited, Great Belize Television |
| Brazil | ESPN, TV Esporte Interativo |
| Canada | CTV, RDS |
| China | CCTV-5, G-Sports, Guangdong Sports, Sina TV |
| Denmark | TV3+, TV3+ HD |
| Finland | Nelonen Sport Pro, Viasat Sport, Viasat Sport HD |
| France | W9 |
| Germany | Das Erste |
| Greece | Nova Sports |
| Hong Kong | ATV |
| Hungary | Sport 1 |
| Ireland | BBC One, Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports HD 1 |
| Italy | Rai Sport +, Rai Due |
| Japan | NHK BS1, NTV G+ |
| Mexico | Televisa, TV Azteca |
| Netherlands | Prime Sport |
| New Zealand | Sky Sport 2, ESPN |
| Norway | NRK1, Viasat Sport, Viasat Sport HD |
| Poland | Polsat Sport, Polsat Sport HD |
| Portugal | SportTV 2, SportTV HD |
| Romania | Sport 1 |
| Russia | NTV Plus |
| Slovenia | Šport TV 1 |
| Spain | Canal+ |
| Sweden | TV10, Viasat Sport, Viasat Sport HD |
| Turkey | Fox Sports, Spormax HD |
| United Kingdom | BBC One, Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports HD 1, BBC Radio 5 Live |