By Jack Wallace

For fifty years the Super Bowl has been the biggest spectacle in the game of football. This year marked the 50th anniversary of when the championship game was first played in 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Due to the milestone, this game in particular had high expectations, expectations that it did not live up to. Super Bowl 50 was This game had many different storylines, one of the more important being the possibility that it would Peyton Manning’s last game. With a win, he would ride off into the sunset as a two-time Super Bowl Champion and one of the greatest to play the game.

Cam Newton was appearing in his first ever Super Bowl. Coming off an MVP season, Newton was the young gun who was supposed to lead the Panthers to their first ever Super Bowl title. Although the game was figured to be built around quarterback play, the defenses of both teams shined instead. Defensively both teams played great, not allowing either quarterback to throw a touchdown.

Each team only had one offensive drive which ended in a touchdown while the rest of the offensive points were field goals. The Denver Broncos managed to score a defensive touchdown by forcing Newton to fumble the ball into the endzone. The Carolina defense played well, but the Broncos defense played better and was able to force multiple turnovers and sacked Newton seven times.Other than a few moments of excitement created by the defenses, Super Bowl 50 was a bland, lifeless game.

What was supposed to be one of the most exciting games this century turned into a slow-paced defensive football game which left many people watching at home unsatisfied. Peyton Manning won his Super Bowl, but his contribution to the game was very little. If anything, Peyton hurt his team’s chances by throwing an interception as well as fumbling the ball. Cam Newton did not play at the MVP level that he did during the regular season as he was the cause of three turnovers and was sacked seven times which eventually forced the Panthers to punt on multiple occasions.  

Overall Super Bowl 50 was not very entertaining. The major highlight of the game was the halftime show which was considered one of the best. It’s rather disappointing that that the halftime show was more entertaining than the game that was supposed to be “the game of the century”. Super Bowl 50 was not the show people were expecting but hopefully next year Super Bowl 51 will make up for what it lacked this year: excitement.