Greatest comeback in Super Bowl history after Tom Brady led his Patriots to a historic come-from-behind victory late in the game. The New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime to capture their fifth Super Bowl title. Never before had a team come back from more than ten points down to win. All that changed in what The New York Times is calling “a comeback for the ages.”
In the third quarter, the Patriots were behind by 25 points before Brady led them on an incredible scoring run to tie the game and send it into overtime for the win. This was the fifth Super Bowl win for Brady, earning him the most Super Bowl wins of any quarterback in history, passing Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana.
“We saw the greatest game in NFL history. Greatest comeback. Greatest coach. And greatest quarterback. What an extraordinary sporting event.” That’s what columnist Peter Wehner tweeted after this years Super Bowl. Everyone who saw the game agrees with him.
But it was Patriots wide receiver Matthew Slater who offered an eternal perspective on the win. “We won this game and that’s great and I’m excited. But I know I would have won going home to my wife and son regardless, and understanding what the Lord did on Calvary. So I came out and played confident and just kept believing, My faith is the core pillar in my life. It comes before anything. It’s something from a very young age that has given me direction and purpose beyond what I do professionally. It’s helped me lead in the home and it’s helped me lead on the field,” Slater says. “I think everything I do, I do for an audience of one.”
For Patriot’s safety, Devin McCourty, his faith in God defines him more than his performance in the championship game. “Striving to be rooted in God’s Word and my Christian faith gives me a great foundation to lean on daily. Playing in the NFL or in a Super Bowl shouldn’t define a person,” he said. “I don’t really think anything in this game we do defines who we are as people. It’s a blessing, it’s a great opportunity … to take advantage of the opportunity but still know who you are as a person.”
Despite the Falcon’s devastating loss, pass rusher Vic Beasley Jr. glorified God in the midst of his disappointment. “Some things in life you never FULLY UNDERSTAND!!! But in the midst of all God is still good! #thankuATL,” Beasley tweeted. The 24-year-old second year outside linebacker for the Falcons had a lot of pressure on him to perform in the Super Bowl after a season where he led the league with 15.5 sacks. However, it is no surprise that after a breakout season the player whose Instagram profile reads Romans 8:28 opted to lean on his faith in the face of the tough loss and choose to focus on the goodness of God. “Everything that’s happened in my life, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish if it wasn’t for Jesus Christ.”
While the national media focused on the historic game, Lady Gaga’s halftime performance and the far to many political slanted commercials, there were a number of other happenings behind the scenes that took advantage of the event to promote the Christian faith.
Real estate entrepreneurs David and Jason Benham opted not to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show and instead spent that time praying for revival in America, and urged others to do the same. “There were thousands of believers across the nation that joined us. We prayed for our president, the protests, our laws, and for a great awakening in America,” David Benham stated. “We asked God to raise up prophetic voices that speak the truth in love to those trapped in sin’s grip. And we committed to live our lives, lead our homes, and run business as ‘in’ the world but not ‘of’ it.” A video the brothers posted on their Facebook page on Sunday was viewed over 230,000 times.
There were also two major events held before the game that took advantage of the popularity of the Super Bowl. Over 1,500 churches watched NFL players share their faith when receivers Brandon Marshall, Anquan Boldin and former New York Jets offensive lineman D’Brickashaw Ferguson and their wives gave their testimony during the annual “Football Sunday” program.
“Football Sunday” is an annual evangelistic program produced by Pro Athletes Outreach. This year’s event was hosted by Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson and his wife, Kristen. The free downloadable program allowed pastors to broadcast during church services on the morning of the Super Bowl. The hope was that members would be able to encourage non-churchgoing friends to attend service.
The other event was the annual Super Bowl Gospel Celebration. The 18th annual music celebration held at Lakewood Church in Houston featured gospel singer and songwriter Tamela Mann, rapper Lecrae, Houston native Yolanda Adams, and Grammy award-winning artist CeCe Winans. For the first time since its inception the gospel event was televised.
“We founded this event to bring even more inspiration and celebration to one of the biggest events of the year – the Super Bowl,” said Few-Harrison, “Each year we aim to touch lives in a meaningful way and make the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration bigger than the last with artists and special guests.”
Super Bowl 51 will be talked about for years to come as the greatest game in Super Bowl history. It was viewed by over 111,000,000 fans worldwide. As great as the game itself was, the event turned out to be an outstanding platform for Christians to share their faith to an audience that is not always available on a normal Sunday.