In the days leading up to Super Bowl XXXVI, Kurt Warner had every reason to be focused on football. His St. Louis Rams had gone 14-2, were the NFL’s best regular-season team, and entered the championship as 14-point favorites over the New England Patriots. Warner was also chasing his second Super Bowl title in three seasons, with the Rams looking to add another chapter to the dynasty they appeared to be building.
But this championship carried a weight that Warner had never experienced before. He had already won Super Bowl XXXIV with St. Louis, a game remembered primarily for the Rams’ first championship and his remarkable rise from obscurity to Super Bowl MVP. This time, however, the country was still living in the shadow of September 11, 2001.
Nearly five months after the attacks, the Super Bowl had taken on a meaning that extended far beyond the field, with an American-flagged logo, red, white, and blue throughout the Superdome, and a halftime tribute honoring those who lost their lives. For Warner and his teammates, reaching that stage was no longer simply about winning a championship. It was about representing something much larger than the game itself.
“It was an incredible year from a lot of different standpoints,” said Warner, recalling playing in Super Bowl XXXVI. “Obviously, the beginning of the year and, you know, take it a week off, and the tragedy that happened. And so to be able to represent the league and our country in that form and fashion was special to all of us.
“I know the Patriots would tell you the exact same thing: that it was special to be on that stage after the course of how that season had played out. And I think we all remember that part of it is that it almost seemed bigger than the Super Bowl, and we all know how huge the Super Bowl is and what that means to our game and really our culture, but this was bigger than that.”
The Rams weren’t just another Super Bowl participant. They were the “Greatest Show on Turf,” with Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, and one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history. The team led the league in total offense with 6,930 yards and entered the Super Bowl as a massive favorite.
At the same time, the Rams, the Patriots, and the whole league carried the weight of the September 11 attacks. Super Bowl XXXVI was held in February 2002, as the league implemented some memorable adjustments to the game. The Super Bowl logo had been changed to incorporate an American flag, while the Superdome was illuminated in red, white, and blue throughout the week.
President George H.W. Bush participated in the coin toss, while U2 performed at halftime, as the names of the victims were displayed during the performance.
The Patriots, meanwhile, had become associated with the post-9/11 national mood in a way the Rams hadn’t. New England, led by Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, chose to enter the field as a team rather than having individual player introductions.
Before entering the game, New England was described as clear underdogs. But the team defied the odds and won its first Super Bowl championship, recording one of the largest upsets in the history of North American professional sports.
The Rams had managed to come back from a 17-3 deficit to tie the game, but Tom Brady drove New England into field-goal range with 1:21 remaining, and Adam Vinatieri hit a 48-yard field goal as time expired.
“We are all Patriots,” owner Robert Kraft said, as he clutched the Lombardi Trophy.
Kurt Warner, meanwhile, was the quarterback of the team that lost the Super Bowl. While the Rams had the most dominant offense in the league, the quarterback threw two interceptions, including the pick-six to Ty Law that gave New England its first touchdown. The Rams eventually tied the game at 17–17, but Brady’s final drive and Vinatieri’s kick ended their season.
Years later, when Kurt Warner looks back at that Super Bowl, it certainly still hurts him, as he failed to lead the Rams to a championship. But at the same time, the NFL legend also reflects on the significance that the matchup carried.
“This was representing getting back to some sort of normalcy and coming together as a country around the sport of football and culminating with that Super Bowl,” Warner added. “We understood throughout the season- we all, I think, felt there was a responsibility for us as football players- but it was special to be in that moment and to be able to represent everything that came together over those months in that big moment and on that big stage.”
Following the matchup, Brady went on to establish the Patriots dynasty. The Rams, meanwhile, shifted to Los Angeles years later and won their second championship in Super Bowl LVI, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20.