Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2013 season. The Seahawks defeated the Broncos 43–8, the largest margin of victory for an underdog and tied for the third largest point differential overall (35) in Super Bowl history with Super Bowl XXVII (1993). It was the first time the winning team scored over 40 points while holding their opponent to under 10. This became the first Super Bowl victory for the Seahawks and the fifth Super Bowl loss for the Broncos, at the time a league record (it would later be tied by the New England Patriots following their Super Bowl LII loss) for the most of any team. The game was played on February 2, 2014, at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the first Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold-weather city and the first Super Bowl to be played on February 2.
The Seahawks posted a 13–3 record and were making their second Super Bowl appearance in nine years. The Broncos were making their seventh Super Bowl appearance after also posting a 13–3 record. This marked one of the few times that two former divisional rivals met in a Super Bowl, as the Seahawks and Broncos were in the same division (the AFC West) from 1977 to 2001.
Seattle led 22–0 at halftime and ultimately went up 36–0 before allowing Denver's first and only score on the final play of the third quarter. The 36–0 lead was by far the largest shutout lead in Super Bowl history; the previous record was 24–0, shared by the Miami Dolphins over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII and the Washington Redskins over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI. Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril scored a safety on the first play from scrimmage. They became the first team in a Super Bowl to score on a safety (12 seconds into the start of the game which set the record for the quickest score), a kickoff return for a touchdown (12 seconds into the second half), and an interception return for a touchdown. The Broncos were held to almost 30 points below their scoring average. Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, a five-time NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) award winner, threw two interceptions in the first half. Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith, who returned one of those interceptions 69 yards for a touchdown, recovered a fumble and made nine tackles, was named Super Bowl MVP.
In the United States, the game was televised by Fox; with an average audience of 111.5 million viewers that peaked at 115.3 million during the halftime show featuring Bruno Mars, the game was briefly the most-watched U.S. television broadcast of all time, until it was surpassed by Super Bowl XLIX the following year. The game's inaugural Spanish-language telecast on Fox Deportes was also the highest-rated Spanish-language cable telecast outside of soccer. Seattle also tied the 1992 Dallas Cowboys for the third-largest blowout in Super Bowl history, behind Super Bowl XXIV in 1990, a 55–10 San Francisco 49ers victory over the Denver Broncos, and Super Bowl XX in 1986, a 46–10 Chicago Bears victory over the New England Patriots. This was also the first time since 1991 that the #1 scoring offense (Broncos) went up against the #1 scoring defense (Seahawks).
Because the game was one-sided from start to finish, Super Bowl XLVIII is widely regarded as one of the worst and most disappointing Super Bowls of all time, although it is also viewed as a crowning achievement of the Seahawks’ 2013 defense.
Background
Previous plans for a Super Bowl in the New York City area
Efforts to see the New York City area host a Super Bowl predate MetLife Stadium's planning.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., those metro areas' business communities separately discussed seeking to host a future Super Bowl. The general thought was that either of these cities being the location of a Super Bowl would symbolize national recovery in the aftermath of the attacks. There was belief that if New York were awarded a Super Bowl (either building a new stadium or renovated the existing Giants Stadium to be the host venue), it might assist the city's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics in the same vein that awarding Super Bowl XXVIII to the city of Atlanta may have assisted the prospects of Atlanta's ultimately successful bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics.