It all comes down
to this.
On Sunday,
February 3, the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers will meet in Super
Bowl XLVII (6:00 PM ET, CBS) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
The game will
mark the first time in any of the four major professional sports (NFL, NBA, MLB
or NHL) that brothers - Baltimore's JOHN and San Francisco's JIM HARBAUGH - will match up against one another as
head coaches in a postseason game.
"I guess it's
pretty neat," says John Harbaugh, who has eight
postseason wins in his first five seasons, tied with TOM FLORES for the most since the 1970 merger.
"It's pretty cool. But it's really about the team. It's about the players.
That's what it's about. It's about those guys. The more we focus on those guys,
the better it is for everybody."
The 49ers
(5-0) and Ravens (1-0) are a combined 6-0 in the Super Bowl. San Francisco won
Super Bowls XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV and XXIX. Baltimore won Super Bowl XXXV. This
is the 49ers' first Super Bowl appearance since the 1994 season. The Ravens'
lone Super Bowl appearance came during the 2000 season.
TEAM |
SUPER BOWL
RECORD |
SUPER BOWL
WINS |
San Francisco
49ers |
5-0 |
XVI, XIX, XXIII,
XXIV, XXIX |
Baltimore Ravens |
1-0 |
XXXV |
Super Bowl
XLVII will be the second Super Bowl (Super Bowl XXX between Dallas and
Pittsburgh) in which each team lost its Conference Championship Game the
previous year. In 2011, the
49ers lost to the New York Giants in the NFC title game and the Ravens were
defeated by the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
"It's an
unbelievable feeling to be in the Super Bowl," says 49ers Pro Bowl linebacker PATRICK WILLIS, who leads the
team with 19 tackles in the postseason. "I'm really grateful for this."
During
Championship Game weekend, the Ravens
and 49ers became the first set of road teams to win the Conference Championships
since 1997(Denver and Green Bay). In the second halves of their games, the
Ravens (21-0) and 49ers (14-0) outscored their opponents 35-0. The AFC (47.7
million viewers) and NFC (42.0 million viewers) Championship Games ranked as TV's most-watched programs since
Super Bowl XLVI.
"This is a great
moment for our team, for the city of San Francisco and the whole Bay Area," says
49ers Pro Bowl safety DONTE
WHITNER. "Now for the big one in New Orleans. We're going to be ready."
The Ravens
defeated New England 28-13 at Gillette Stadium in the AFC Championship Game. It
marked the first time that the Patriots lost a home game in which TOM BRADY started and New England led at
halftime; the Patriots had been 67-0 (including postseason). In the victory,
quarterbackJOE FLACCO threw three touchdown passes,
including two to wide receiver ANQUAN
BOLDIN.
"Joe Flacco has
been great at playoff time," says NFL Network analyst and former quarterback KURT WARNER. "That's when he
plays his best football."
With the Ravens
playing in the Super Bowl, this is the seventh
time in the past eight seasons in which a team that played in the Wild Card
round has advanced to the Super Bowl.
The win at New
England marked the sixth road
playoff victory for Flacco, the most in NFL history. His eight postseason wins are tied with BEN ROETHLISBERGER for the second-most in a quarterback's
first five NFL seasons, trailing only Brady (nine).
QUARTERBACK |
TEAM |
FIRST FIVE
SEASONS |
PLAYOFF WINS |
Tom Brady |
New England |
2000-04 |
9 |
Joe Flacco |
Baltimore |
2008-12 |
8* |
Ben
Roethlisberger |
Pittsburgh |
2004-08 |
8 |
*Currently in fifth season
"This is just one
of those things you dream of when you are a little kid," says Flacco about
advancing to the Super Bowl. "You watch JOE
MONTANA and those guys in the
Super Bowl. So to be here at this point is pretty special."
Flacco leads the
NFL in the playoffs with a 114.7 passer rating, which includes eight touchdowns
and no interceptions. In NFL postseason history, the only quarterbacks to finish a
postseason with at least nine touchdowns and no interceptions are former 49ers
quarterbacks and Pro Football Hall of Famers STEVE
YOUNG (nine touchdowns; 1994) and
Montana (11 touchdowns; 1989).
Veteran
linebacker RAY LEWIS - who was named the MVP of Super Bowl
XXXV - has led the Baltimore defense. The Ravens joined the 2010 New York Jets
as the only teams to defeat both PEYTON MANNING and Tom Brady in the same postseason.
Lewis, who will retire after the season, leads the NFL with 44 tackles in the
playoffs.
"Ray Lewis is a
guy who has been here since the beginning of this franchise," says Baltimore
safety BERNARD POLLARD. "He's a guy who is
'The Raven.' We all respect him. When he speaks, everybody stops, everybody
hears him. He's kept the team together. He's kept this organization together in
so many ways. We're all in this together. We want to go win this thing."
The 49ers erased
a 17-0 deficit in the NFC Championship Game to defeat Atlanta 28-24. San
Francisco is one of only three
teams to win a postseason game on the road after trailing by as many as 17
points.
"We fought hard,"
says 49ers running back FRANK GORE,
who rushed for two touchdowns in the win over Atlanta. "We fought and we
deserved it."
San Francisco's COLIN KAEPERNICK, who took over
as the team's starting quarterback in Week 11, has guided the team to a 7-2
record (.778) in his starts, including a pair of postseason victories. In those
nine starts, he has a 101.2 passer rating (13 touchdowns, four interceptions)
and has rushed for 440 yards with four TDs.
In the NFC Championship Game, he completed 16 of 21 passes (76.2 percent) for
233 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions and a 127.7 passer rating. His
11.1 yards per pass mark was the highest in 49ers postseason history, besting
the previous club record of 10.7 held by Joe Montana.
"He's made great
plays for us and stepped up big for us all season," says 49ers Pro Bowl tackle JOE STALEY about his quarterback. "I'm excited to
go into this next game with him."
Kaepernick will
be the fourth quarterback in the
Super Bowl era to start the Super Bowl in the same season as his first career
NFL start, joiningTOM BRADY, KURT
WARNER and VINCE FERRAGAMO.
QUARTERBACK |
TEAM |
SEASON |
SUPER BOWL
RESULT |
Vince Ferragamo |
LA Rams |
1979 |
Lost to
Pittsburgh, 31-19 |
Kurt Warner |
St. Louis |
1999 |
Defeated
Tennessee, 23-16 |
Tom Brady |
New England |
2001 |
Defeated St.
Louis, 20-17 |
Colin
Kaepernick |
San
Francisco |
2012 |
Faces
Baltimore on February 3 |
Kaepernick's seven career regular-season starts
are the third-fewest for a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, trailing
only JEFF HOSTETLER(four) and Ferragamo
(five).
"If Colin
Kaepernick plays well in the Super Bowl, he is going to change the face of the
quarterback position," says NFL Network analyst and Pro Football Hall of Famer DEION SANDERS.
In the
postseason, Kaepernick has a 105.9 passer rating and has rushed for 202 yards.
No player has ever posted a 100+ passer rating and rushed for at least 200 yards
in a single postseason.
"Winning the George Halas Trophy is a huge accomplishment," says Jim Harbaugh. "It's another flag. You want to get as many trophies and flags as you can. We said at the start of this there are three Super Bowls to win. We have won two so far and have one more coming up."