Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2001 season. The underdog Patriots defeated the heavily favored Rams by the score of 20–17. It was New England's first Super Bowl championship, and the franchise's first league championship of any kind. The game was also notable for snapping the AFC East's long streak of not being able to win a Super Bowl championship, as the division's teams had lost 17 Super Bowls between the Miami Dolphins' victory in 1974 and the Patriots' 2002 win. This was the last Super Bowl to feature the St. Louis Rams; after relocating to Los Angeles in 2016, the Rams returned to the NFL's championship game in Super Bowl LIII, in which they were again defeated by the Patriots. The game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 3, 2002. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks earlier in the season, the NFL postponed a week of regular-season games and moved the league's playoff schedule back. As a result, Super Bowl XXXVI was rescheduled from the original date of January 27 to February 3, becoming the first Super Bowl played in February. The pregame ceremonies and the halftime show headlined by the Irish rock band U2 honored the victims of 9/11. Due to heightened security measures following the attacks, this was the first Super Bowl designated as a National Special Security Event (NSSE) by the Office of Homeland Security (OHS). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which replaced the OHS in 2003, later established the practice of naming each subsequent Super Bowl an NSSE. Additionally, it was the last Super Bowl to be played in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city on August 29, 2005; the first since then was Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. This game marked the Rams' third Super Bowl appearance in franchise history and the second in three seasons. St. Louis posted an NFL-best 14–2 regular season record, led by quarterback Kurt Warner and "The Greatest Show on Turf" offense. The Patriots clinched their third Super Bowl berth after posting an 11–5 regular season record, led by second-year quarterback and first-year starter Tom Brady and a defense that ended the regular season ranked sixth in