Half the lights are out in the Superdome during a power outage Sunday in the second half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Raven in New Orleans.We may never know whether Beyonce’s sizzling halftime show or Jacoby Jones’ 108-yard kickoff return to start the second half was the chief reason the power briefly went out in the Superdome early in the Super Bowl’s third quarter Sunday night.
But once the game resumed 35 minutes later, it’s certain that the juice certainly shifted from Baltimore to San Francisco.
It made a 28-6 Ravens rout become a shaky 31-29 lead. It led to a finish that will disrupt Harbaugh family reunions for possibly decades to come, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh sure to argue that he would have beaten older brother John if the officials had called pass interference against the Ravens on San Fran’s final offensive snap.
And had that happened, Baltimore might not have won 34-31, to send retiring linebacker Ray Lewis out with another Super Bowl ring.
But maybe if the power hadn’t gone out, it never would have been much of a game. We’ll never know. We just know that all those advertisers coughing up $3.5 million per 30-second spot are happy it ended it as it did, the result not certain until the final horn.