text: The Patriots’ opponents in the Super Bowl would be the Giants, a rematch of the regular season finale.  After scoring a combined 73 points in their regular season meeting, the teams scored only a mere 10 points by the end of the third quarter, with the Patriots leading 7 to 3. The Patriots’ record-setting offense gave up five sacks and one lost fumble, while the Giants’ offense managed only five first downs in the second and third quarters. Yet in the fourth quarter, quarterback Eli Manning led two go-ahead touchdown drives, including the winning drive that culminated with a 17-yard touchdown to Plaxico Burress with 39 seconds remaining. The game marked the first time that a previously undefeated team had lost in a National Football League championship game since the 1942 Chicago Bears as the Patriots fell to 18–1 on the season.  The Patriots were also the second team to enter the Super Bowl undefeated, joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who reached Super Bowl VII with a 16–0 record and won to become the first and to date only NFL team to win the league championship after going all the way through the regular season and playoffs undefeated and untied, but were the first undefeated and untied team to fail to win the Super Bowl.