Oakland came into the game as four-point favorites. However, the Tampa Bay defense dominated the contest. Raiders' quarterback Rich Gannon threw a NFL Super Bowl record five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns. Bucs safety Dexter Jackson, who had two of those interceptions and returned them for 94 yards, was named NFL Super Bowl MVP. Jackson became only the second safety and third defensive back to ever be named NFL Super Bowl MVP.
The attendance of 67,603 was the third-smallest ever for a NFL Super Bowl game, trailing only NFL Super Bowl I (61,946) and NFL Super Bowl XXVI (63,130).
NFL Super Bowl XXXVII is sometimes referred to as the "Gruden Bowl" because the primary storyline surrounding the game centered around Jon Gruden. Gruden was the Raiders head coach from 1998 to 2001 and then became the Buccaneers coach in 2002. Thus, it was "Gruden's old team" versus "Gruden's new team."
NFL Super Bowl XXXVII was originally awarded to San Francisco in 1997 by the NFL owners. The 49ers had recently announced plans for a new stadium, and were rewarded with the NFL Super Bowl dependent upon its completion. However, the stadium plans had stalled by the fall of 1998, and thus the NFL reopened the bidding for the game. San Diego, who had lost out on NFL Super Bowl XXXVI, announced its interest. The city was then awarded the game during a May 1999 meeting at Atlanta.
