The New England Patriots' 28-24 Super Bowl win -- a win sealed by a miraculous goal-line interception in the game's final minute -- defied not only reason, but a boatload of historical stats.
Patriots overcame long statistical odds to win Super Bowl
The stats say New England had no business winning another world championship.
For starters, their 10-point rally matched the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. After a dominant third quarter from the Seattle Seahawks, the Pats found themselves down 24-14 midway through the fourth quarter. But as he's done so often, Tom Brady rallied New England, throwing two touchdowns in the final eight minutes to fuel the comeback.
Pile on top of that the fact that over the past three years, the Seahawks were 18-0 when trailing by 10 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Seattle took firm control of the game in the third quarter by riding Marshawn Lynch and mixing in big passes over the top, but the offense hit a wall in the final quarter, which allowed the Patriots to sneak back into the lead.
But the play of the game came when Malcolm Butler picked off Russell Wilson on the 1-yard line with the Seahawks on the verge of taking the lead in the final minute. That was the first pick of Butler's career, but also the first interception thrown on the one-yard line by any quarterback this season.
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