Super Bowl LI
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7correct to beat the crowd
40 free Super Bowl LI trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Super Bowl LI is the game people still argue about: the Atlanta Falcons had it won, and then they did not. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots pulled off the biggest comeback the championship has ever seen, and it took the first overtime in Super Bowl history to finish the job. This quiz covers the entire night. There are questions on the plays that turned the game, the records that fell, the players and coaches on both sidelines, Lady Gaga's halftime show, the pre-game ceremonies, the commercials and what happened afterwards. It suits football fans with vivid memories of that night as much as people familiar only with the meme. The early questions are the famous moments; the later ones reward a memory for the box score.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was the Patriots' largest deficit before their comeback win over the Falcons in Super Bowl LI?
28–3
28–3 was the score with 8:31 left in the third quarter, a period in which Atlanta's win probability was put as high as 99.8%. New England then scored 25 unanswered points to force overtime.
Q 02Which Patriots receiver made a diving catch off a defender's shoe during the Super Bowl LI comeback?
Julian Edelman
Julian Edelman pinned the tipped ball inches above the turf for a 23-yard gain. Atlanta challenged the ruling, lost, and was charged its final timeout.
Q 03What formed an American flag in the sky behind Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl LI halftime show?
Drones
Drones, 300 of them fitted with LEDs, drew the flag in a segment recorded ahead of time. Intel's light-show fleet had never before been used in a television broadcast.
Q 04The original Schuyler sisters from which Broadway musical sang before kickoff at Super Bowl LI?
Hamilton
Hamilton sent Phillipa Soo and her two stage sisters to sing America the Beautiful moments before the national anthem. All three had originated their roles on Broadway.
Q 05Which former first lady joined her husband, the 41st president, for the Super Bowl LI coin toss?
Barbara Bush
Barbara Bush accompanied George H. W. Bush as he flipped the coin. The Patriots called heads, it landed tails, and the Falcons chose to defer to the second half.
Q 06Which scandal got Tom Brady suspended for four games in the season that ended with Super Bowl LI?
Deflategate
Deflategate, the row over deflated footballs in a playoff game, also cost the Patriots a $1 million fine and two draft picks. New England still went 3–1 without Brady.
Q 07Which quarterback was the NFL's Most Valuable Player for the 2016 season but lost Super Bowl LI?
Matt Ryan
Matt Ryan led the league in passer rating and ran its highest-scoring offence. In the Super Bowl he completed 17 of 23 passes and still finished on the losing side.
Q 08Which US network televised Super Bowl LI, with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in the booth?
Fox
Fox earned an estimated $20 million extra by airing four more commercials once the game reached overtime. It had struck deals with a few advertisers in case that ever happened.
Q 09In which country was Tom Brady's stolen Super Bowl LI game jersey recovered weeks after the game?
Mexico
Mexico is where the FBI traced the jersey, taken by a man posing as a member of the international press. The haul also included Brady's missing jersey from Super Bowl XLIX.
Q 10Which singer told a Los Angeles concert crowd she had turned down the Super Bowl LI halftime show?
Adele
Adele said the NFL had asked her but that she did not think she suited the show. Lady Gaga announced on Instagram soon afterwards that the job was hers.
Q 11Which Patriots running back scored the winning touchdown in overtime of Super Bowl LI?
James White
James White stretched across the goal line from two yards out for his third touchdown of the night. His 14 catches and 20 points were both Super Bowl records.
Q 12Which All-Pro Patriots star missed Super Bowl LI after a season-ending back injury?
Rob Gronkowski
Rob Gronkowski hurt his back against the Jets in late November and had surgery days later, having gained 540 yards on just 25 catches. New England still finished with the NFL's best record, 14–2.
Q 13Tom Brady's fourth Super Bowl MVP award in Super Bowl LI moved him past which three-time winner?
Joe Montana
Q 21Which Patriots receiver caught the two-point conversion that tied Super Bowl LI in the final minute?
Danny Amendola
Danny Amendola had also caught a six-yard touchdown pass earlier in the fourth quarter. He finished the night with eight receptions for 78 yards.
Q 22Which Patriots linebacker forced a fourth-quarter fumble with a strip-sack in Super Bowl LI?
Dont'a Hightower
Dont'a Hightower came free on a blitz when a running back missed his block. It was the Atlanta quarterback's first turnover in two months, and New England scored five plays later.
Q 23Which Falcons running back scored the first touchdown of Super Bowl LI on a five-yard run?
Devonta Freeman
Joe Montana had shared the record of three with Brady. At 39, Brady also became the oldest player to win the award, a mark he later raised himself.
Q 14Which country star sang the Super Bowl LI national anthem, the first man to do so since Billy Joel?
Luke Bryan
Luke Bryan was also the first male country singer to take the anthem since Garth Brooks at Super Bowl XXVII. Lady Gaga, the halftime headliner, had sung it a year earlier.
Q 15Which beer brand's Super Bowl LI commercial told the story of its co-founder leaving Germany?
Budweiser
Budweiser's portrait of Adolphus Busch stirred controversy before kickoff, arriving soon after a presidential order banning travellers from several Muslim nations.
Q 16Which team won the second Super Bowl ever to reach overtime, seven years after Super Bowl LI?
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs beat San Francisco 25–22 in Super Bowl LVIII. That game ran 74 minutes 57 seconds, taking the longest-Super-Bowl record from Super Bowl LI.
Q 17Which Falcons receiver made an acrobatic sideline catch for 27 yards late in Super Bowl LI?
Julio Jones
Julio Jones put Atlanta on the New England 22, close enough for a field goal that could have sealed the title. A sack and a holding penalty then pushed the Falcons out of range.
Q 18Which Falcons offensive coordinator became the 49ers' head coach the day after Super Bowl LI?
Kyle Shanahan
Kyle Shanahan's move to San Francisco came with a six-year contract. His Atlanta offence had led the NFL in scoring that season with 540 points.
Q 19Which kicker hit the upright with an extra point during the Patriots' Super Bowl LI comeback?
Stephen Gostkowski
Stephen Gostkowski's miss left New England 19 points down, and Atlanta recovered his onside kick moments later. The Patriots went for two after their next two touchdowns.
Q 20Which team had beaten the Falcons in their only Super Bowl appearance before Super Bowl LI?
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos beat Atlanta in Super Bowl XXXIII, played in January 1999. The Falcons were still chasing a first title when they met New England 18 years later.
Devonta Freeman had opened Atlanta's night with a 37-yard burst, the longest run of the game. He finished as its top rusher with 75 yards on 11 carries.
Q 24Which team did the Falcons beat 44–21 in the NFC Championship Game to reach Super Bowl LI?
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers were the last NFL visitors to the Georgia Dome, where Atlanta piled up 493 yards. The win sent the Falcons to only the second Super Bowl in franchise history.
Q 25Which team had the Patriots beaten in the only earlier Super Bowl played at NRG Stadium?
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers lost Super Bowl XXXVIII there 32–29, thirteen years before Super Bowl LI. Like the Falcons, they had arrived as champions of the NFC South.
Q 26Before Super Bowl LI, the last NFL title game to reach overtime, in 1958, featured which two teams?
Colts and Giants
Colts and Giants met at Yankee Stadium, where Baltimore won in sudden death. That championship soon became known as the Greatest Game Ever Played.
Q 27Bill Belichick's seventh Super Bowl as a head coach, Super Bowl LI, broke a tie with which coach?
Don Shula
Don Shula had been the first head coach to reach six. The game was also Belichick's tenth Super Bowl in any role, one more than Dan Reeves.
Q 28Which 80 for Brady actress plays the fan who gives Tom Brady a pep talk during Super Bowl LI?
Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin's character slips into the Patriots coordinators' booth to deliver it. The 2023 comedy, which Brady himself produced, invents the events around the real comeback.
Q 29Which Italian fashion house created all of Lady Gaga's outfits for the Super Bowl LI halftime show?
Versace
Versace's Donatella flew in to dress the singer before the show. The looks included a crystal-beaded jumpsuit and a jacket shaped like football shoulder pads.
Q 30Which Lady Gaga ballad returned to the Billboard Hot 100 at number four after Super Bowl LI?
Million Reasons
Million Reasons had dropped off the chart a week earlier. She sang it at a piano while the crowd on the field waved LED batons, and it became her 14th top-ten single.