Super Bowl LI was one of the greatest Super Bowls in NFL history. Not just because Lady Gaga and her drones put on an amazing halftime performance, and not just because Christopher Walken recited *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” in a Bai commercial, but because the New England Patriots came back to win their fifth super bowl in the Brady and Belichick era.
It wasn’t easy. In the first half, the Atlanta Falcons scored a rushing and passing touchdown. The Falcons had a 96% chance of winning at the end of the half, according to ESPN.
Brady’s Patriots didn’t quit, scoring a field goal, two passing touchdowns and a two-point conversion to tie the game at 28 with 57 seconds left in regulation. Atlanta got the ball back but was forced to punt. The game was going to overtime, the first overtime in Super Bowl history.
The Patriots won the coin toss and elected to receive. All they needed was a touchdown to win the game. The Patriots started the drive with seven straight passing plays, leading the offense to the Falcons’ two-yard line. They handed the ball to running back James White, who scored the game winner in Houston.
The 25-point comeback was not only the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, but also in NFL playoff history. Brady broke more records as well. He broke the record for most passing yards in Super Bowl history, surpassing Joe Montana.
Brady and his head coach Belichick have five Super Bowls under their name, solidifying them as the best quarterback-head coach duo in the history of football.
The commercials also broke some controversy with politically based commercials such as Budweiser’s commercial about a German man immigrating to America for a better life, and people singing the national anthem in different languages. We also got strange commercials, such as a commercial where a dad faked his death, and another one where a ghost dog tells a man to drink with his friends.
Fans were amazed by Lady Gaga’s performance, where she was dropped on a line, and had drones create the American flag in the background as Gaga sang hits such as “Bad Romance,” “Edge of Glory,” and “Poker Face.”
Never have we seen a comeback like this in the Super Bowl before, and when we thought the game was over, the Patriots didn’t give up, and won the game, never having the lead until the very end.
![Social studies teacher Timothy Rodman holds a production factory simulation in his AP Microeconomics class. "Students remember running for class president or the mock congress or the production factory much more so than learning topics like circular flow," Rodman said. "[The simulations make learning] very tangible and real and then students down the road are able to use it."](https://www.wjpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IMG_4420-1200x675.jpg)
