1988 Super Bowl XXII

About San Diego, California: Excited residents of San Diego were busy preparing for thousands of visitors who were coming to their city to on January 31, 1988 to watch Super Bowl 22. Millions of viewers from around the world would be tuning in to watch this California city host the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos who were going to play in Super Bowl XXII.

Ticket Sales / Attendance: There were 73,302 people in attendance at the 22nd Superbowl game and it is estimated that another 80.1 million more excited fans watched from their homes or other Superbowl parties around the world while tuning into ABC. The ratings the game for the game on this network were 41.9.

Team Pre-Season Stats: After a disappointing loss to hated rival New York in last years NFC Championship head coach Joe Gibbs was hoping that his Redskins would rebound this year. With Jay Schroeder back for his second year as starting quarterback he would have to help lead the Redskins further into the playoffs this year. 2 time Pro-Bowler Darrell Green would be return to help anchor the defence and they defence had to step up for Washington to have any chance of a title.

Denver was also coming into the season off a disappointing loss to New York the previous year and hoped to get back to the Super Bowl this year led once again by head coach Dan Reeves and all star quarterback John Elway. The supporting cast on defence included OL Keith Bishop and LB Karl Mecklenburg who were also working hard to make another Super Bowl run.

Team Roster: Key players on the Broncos roster included QB John Elway, RB Sammy Winder, WR Vance Johnson, TE Clarence Kay, DB Tyrone Braxton, LB Michael Brooks and DB Dennis Smith.

Notable players for Washington included QB Jay Schroeder, RB George Rogers, WR Gary Clark, DB Darrell Green, DL Charles Mann, OL Mark May, and OL Joe Jacoby.

Game Highlights: Denver quickly opened up a 10-0 lead over the Redskins when QB John Elway fired a 56 yard touchdown pass to WR Ricky Nattiel on their opening drive and then kicker Rich Karlis added a 24 yard field goal completing a 61 yard drive. However, this did not faze Joe Gibbs and the Redskins. They exploded for 35 unanswered points on their next 5 possessions in the 2nd quarter.

Washington quarterback Doug Williams threw for 4 touchdown passes in the 2nd quarter including two to wide receiver Ricky Sanders. The other two TD passes were caught by WR Gary Clark and TE Clint Didier. RB Timmy Smith ran for one of the 5 touchdowns in the 2nd quarter and added another one in the fourth quarter for good measure. Washington easily won its 2nd Super Bowl championship of the 1980's defeating Denver 42-10.

Game MVP: The MVP of the 22nd Super Bowl was quarter back Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins. His 2nd quarter heroics included 4 touchdown passes which was a Super Bowl record. He completed 18 of 29 passes for 240 yards and his play in the 2nd quarter helped Washington come back and defeat Denver in the biggest game of the year.

Half Time Show: The halftime show was presented by Radio City and the theme was "Something Grand" and featured legendary singer Chubby Checker along with the Rockettes and accompanied by 88 Grand Pianos completing the theme.

Commercials: The average cost for a 30 second commercial during the 22nd Superbowl was $645,000. Budweiser has consistently had some of the funniest ads in Superbowl history and this year was no different. 1988 was an Olympic year and what better than to have their mascot, Spuds Mackenzie (a terrier), competing in Olympic events including hockey.

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