New Orleans, La. Jan. 26, 1997 – The Green Bay Packers, continued the NFL domination of the Super Bowl with a 35-21 Super Bowl XXXI victory over the New England Patriots in the Louisiana Superdome. It was Titledown's first championship since they won the first two Super Bowls, while the Patriots are still batting .000 (0-2) in Super Bowl Competition.
On New England's first scoring drive, Packer corner Craig Newsome was slapped with a 26-yard interference penalty on Shawn Jefferson and the Pats were at the Packer one. Keith Byars collected a perfectly thrown ball from Bledsoe narrowing the Green Bay lead to 10-7.
The New England defense posted another stellar series after the score, and momentous quickly swung the Patriots' way. Bledsoe connected with Terry Glenn for a 44-yard pickup at the Packer four. From there Bledsoe rolled right and hit tight end Ben Coates for the go-ahead score. Vinatieri's extra point capped the highest scoring first quarter in Super Bowl history, 24 points.
With Green Bay facing a forth-and-one situation on its first drive of the second half, New England Linebackers Ted Johnson and Chris Slade blew through the line and clobbered runner Dorsey Levens for a seven-yard loss. The surging Patriots defense put the clamps on Green Bay on its next series, and the Pats managed to pull to within 27-21 on an 18-yard touchdown jaunt by runner Martin.
