ArenaBowl XX, held on Sunday, June 11, 2006, was played to determine the championship of the 2006 season of the Arena Football League (AFL). For the second consecutive year, the game was played at the neutral site of the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. It pitted the National Conference Champions, the Orlando Predators, against the American Conference Champions, the Chicago Rush. The Chicago Rush won 69–61. This game was televised on AFL on NBC, and was the final game played under the AFL's contract with NBC. Background Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush was entering its sixth season in the Arena Football League and coming off back-to-back appearances in the AFL's American Conference Championships, falling in 2004 to the San Jose SaberCats and in 2005 to the Colorado Crush in the "Confetti Bowl." Both San Jose and Colorado went on to win the respective ArenaBowls. The Rush opened the season on the road against the Crush at the Pepsi Center, and Colorado unveiled its ArenaBowl XIX championship banner before the game. For the Rush, Matt D'Orazio was named the team's starting quarterback, replacing Raymond Philyaw in the off-season, and beating out Heisman Trophy finalist Michael Bishop in training camp. The Rush faced adversity before the game even started, when kicker Keith Gispert was injured in pre-game warm-ups. Without a backup on the roster, Bishop kicked off for the Rush and Chicago attempted two-point conversations after every touchdown. The Rush lost when Colorado's Damian Harrell broke a tie game, catching the game-winning pass with one second left in the game. The following week in Chicago's home opener, the team lost to the New York Dragons. It appeared that D'Orazio had scored the game-winning touchdown run with no time left on the clock, but an offensive penalty nullified the score and ended the game. Chicago was 0–2. The Rush traded for defensive specialist Jeremy Unertl, who intercepted eight passes on the season, and Chicago began a three-game win streak to move to 3–2, with two wins coming in overtime. But the Rush lost six of its next seven games to fall to 4–6. Then the Rush signed Bobby Sippio to bolster the offense. In the regular season, Sippio caught 38 passes, 17 for touchdowns, and put up 654 receiving yards. But the Rush sat at 5-9 and had to win its last two games to make the playoffs. The Rush answered