Super Bowl 26

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Washington head coach Joe Gibbs won his third Super Bowl title with his third different Super Bowl quarterback, as Mark Rypien threw for 292 yards and two scores in leading the Redskins to a 37-24 victory over the Buffalo Bills at the Metrodome in Minneapolis in Super Bowl XXVI.

The 'Skins covered the Super Bowl spread as 7-point favorites, and the game played OVER its total of 49.

Even though this Super Bowl matched the two highest-scoring teams during the regular season, the first quarter ended in a 0-0 tie. Washington then scored three times in the second quarter, on a Chip Lohmiller field goal, a Rypien-to-Earnest Byner touchdown connection and a short Gerald Riggs touchdown run, to take a 17-0 lead into halftime.

The 'Skins quickly upped that advantage to 24-0 when linebacker Kurt Gouveia intercepted Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly on the first play of the second half, setting up another short Riggs scoring run. The Bills then scored the next 10 points to pull within two touchdowns at 24-10, but Rypien then hit wide receiver Gary Clark for a 30-yard score, and two more Lohmiller field goals made it 37-10.

Buffalo then posted two touchdowns in garbage time to make the final score a little more respectable.

For the game Washington outgained the Bills 417-283, outrushed them 125-43 and won the turnover battle 5-1, picking off Kelly four times. 

Rypien was named the game's MVP, the 14th time through the first 26 Super Bowls a quarterback won the award. His two favorite targets, Clark and Art Monk, both caught seven balls for over 100 yards.

Kelly eventually threw a new Super Bowl-record 58 passes, but completed fewer than half of them. And Buffalo running back Thurman Thomas, who produced 190 yards from scrimmage in the Bills' 20-19 loss in the Super Bowl the season previous, only came up with 40 yards from scrimmage against the 'Skins.

The Washington victory was the eighth straight Super Bowl title for the NFC, a streak that would eventually reach 13. Meanwhile, the loss was the second of what would become four straight Super Bowl defeats for Buffalo.

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