Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1985 season. The Bears defeated the Patriots by the score of 46–10, capturing their first NFL championship (and Chicago's first overall sports victory) since 1963, three years prior to the birth of the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XX was played on January 26, 1986 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
This was the fourth Super Bowl where both teams were making their Super Bowl debuts. The Bears entered the game after becoming the second team in NFL history to win 15 regular season games. With their then-revolutionary 46 defense, Chicago led the league in several defensive categories, outscored their opponents with a staggering margin of 456–198, and recorded two postseason shutouts. The Patriots were considered a Cinderella team during the 1985 season, and posted an 11–5 regular season record, but entered the playoffs as a wild card because of tiebreakers. But defying the odds, New England posted three road playoff wins to advance to Super Bowl XX.
In their victory over the Patriots, the Bears set or tied Super Bowl records for sacks (seven), fewest rushing yards allowed (seven), and margin of victory (36 points). At the time, New England broke the record for the quickest lead in Super Bowl history, with Tony Franklin's 36-yard field goal 1:19 into the first quarter after a Chicago fumble. But the Patriots were eventually held to negative yardage (−19) throughout the entire first half, and finished with just 123 total yards from scrimmage, the second lowest total yards in Super Bowl history, behind the Minnesota Vikings (119 total yards) in Super Bowl IX. Bears defensive end Richard Dent, who had 1.5 quarterback sacks, forced two fumbles, and blocked a pass, was named the game's Most Valuable Player (MVP).[6]
The telecast of the game on NBC was watched by an estimated 92.57 million viewers.[5] To commemorate the 20th Super Bowl, all previous Super Bowl MVPs were honored during the pregame ceremonies.
NFL owners awarded the hosting of Super Bowl XX to New Orleans, Louisiana on December 14, 1982, at an owners meeting held in Dallas. This was the sixth time that New Orleans hosted the Super Bowl. Tulane Stadium was the site of Super Bowls IV, VI, and IX; while the Louisiana Superdome previously hosted XII and XV.
As of 2016, Super Bowl XX remains the last Super Bowl to feature two teams both making their first appearance in the game. It was the fourth overall following Super Bowl I, Super Bowl III, and Super Bowl XVI. Any future Super Bowl that would have such a combination would have to have the Detroit Lions playing either the Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, or Jacksonville Jaguars in the game. All 16 NFC teams have played in an NFL championship game (Detroit last made an NFL championship game in the pre-merger era); only the three AFC franchises that began play since 1995 (the technicalities of the Browns franchise contrasting to the revisionism means this version began in 1999) have yet to reach a league championship game.
The nation's recognition of the Bears' accomplishment was overshadowed by STS 51-L two days later, an event which caused the cancellation of the Bears' post-Super Bowl White House visit. Jim McMahon drew controversy after Super Bowl XXXI by wearing a Bears jersey to the Green Bay Packers' visit following their championship, owing to his first official visit never having happened at the time. Twenty-five years after the championship, surviving members of the team would be invited to the White House in 2011 by President Barack Obama.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XX
