The Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI. For only the second time in league history, the Super Bowl was held in a traditionally cold weather city, Minneapolis. The only other time to date was in 1982 when Super Bowl XVI was played in a suburb of Detroit. The Metrodome was in the middle of a 6-month championship hosting run: in October of 1991, four games in the World Series were held there; and two months after the Super Bowl in March of 1992, the Final Four was contested there as well.
Washington's victory in this game was the third Super Bowl title for head coach Joe Gibbs, and the first from a season without labor acrimony. Quarterback Mark Rypien threw for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns, and was named the Most Valuable Player of the game.
What if his head weren't attached?
The Buffalo Bills appeared in their second straight Super Bowl. They went 13-3 during the regular season to win the AFC East, and posted post-season victories over Kansas City and Denver. Thurman Thomas was named the league's regular season MVP, scoring 12 touchdowns. But he will forever be remembered for misplacing his helmet before the first play of the Super Bowl. He missed the first two plays of the game because of it.
Three QB's - Three Rings
Joe Gibbs victory allowed him to join Chuck Noll and Bill Walsh as the only coaches to win three Super Bowl titles. But part of the legend of Gibbs as a coach is that, unlike Noll and Walsh (who had Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana as quarterbacks for all their victories), Gibbs used three different starting quarterbacks to win these titles in a 10-year span. In addition to Rypien in this triumph, Joe Theismann was the starter for their Super Bowl XVII victory, and Doug Williams was under center in their Super Bowl XXII win.
Game Summary
| Super Bowl XXVI | |||||||
| Team | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | PTS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | 0 | 17 | 14 | 6 | 37 | ||
| Buffalo | 0 | 0 | 10 | 14 | 24 | ||
Scoring
FIRST QUARTER
No Scoring
SECOND QUARTER
WAS - Chip Lohmiller 34-yard FG
WAS - Earnest Byner 10-yard PASS from Mark Rypien (Chip Lohmiller kick)
WAS - Gerald Riggs 1-yard RUN (Chip Lohmiller kick)
THIRD QUARTER
WAS - Gerald Riggs 2-yard RUN (Chip Lohmiller kick)
BUF - Scott Norwood 21-yard FG
BUF - Thurman Thomas 1-yard RUN (Scott Norwood kick)
WAS - Gary Clark 30-yard PASS from Mark Rypien (Chip Lohmiller kick)
FOURTH QUARTER
WAS - Chip Lohmiller 25-yard FG
WAS - Chip Lohmiller 39-yard FG
BUF - Pete Metzelaars 2-yard PASS from Jim Kelly (Scott Norwood kick)
BUF - Don Beebe 4-yard PASS from Jim Kelly (Scott Norwood kick)
