The Buffalo Bills were in Super Bowl XXVI, their second consecutive appearance in the Championship game. Buffalo Bills came into Super Bowl XXVI full of itself and confident of its ability to defeat favored Washington Redskins. Washington came into Super Bowl XXVI quietly cocky, bolstered by a season long domination of the National Football League (NFL). The Redskins let the Bills talk all they wanted. Then they simply outplayed, overpowered and outcoached the American Football Conference champions, 37-24, in the Minneapolis Metrodome, turning what promised to be a competitive game into still another National Football Conference dominated celebration. Washington Coach Joe Gibbs is not dull. He just doesn't believe in a lot of pre game Talk. He has spent years with the Redskins acquiring players who are intelligent, hard working and talented, but not very individualistic.

Indeed, short of linebacker Wilber Marshall and receiver Gary Clark, both of whom occasionally speak before they think, this well could be the most humble team in the league. That was one of the major differences between this club and Gibbs' previous Super Bowl entries. In the early 1980s, he was surrounded by superstars, including John Riggins and Joe Theismann, and the outspoken Dexter Manley. Theismann never stopped talking, Manley never stopped being outrageous and who knew what Riggins would do next (remember his "Hi, Sandy Baby" greeting to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor?). Gibbs much prefers a comfort zone instead of wondering each day what controversy would engulf his team. Though the Redskins struggled early, converting their first three drives inside the Bills' 20-yard line into only three points, they built a 17-0 halftime lead. And they made it 24-0 just 16 seconds into the second half, after Kurt Gouveia intercepted Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly's pass on the first play of the third quarter and returned it 23 yards to the Buffalo Bills' 2. One play later, Gerald Riggs scored his second touchdown of the game to make it 24-0. Kelly, forced to bring Buffalo from behind, completed 28 of a Super Bowl record 58 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted four times. Bills running back Thurman Thomas, who had an AFC high 1,407 yards rushing and an NFL best 2,038 total yards from scrimmage during the regular season, ran for only 13 yards on 10 carries and was limited to 27 yards on four receptions.

Clark had seven catches for 114 yards and Art Monk added seven for 113 for the Redskins, who amassed 417 yards of total offense while limiting the explosive Bills to 283. Mark Rypien passed for 292 yards and two touchdowns as the Washington Redskins overwhelmed the Buffalo Bills to win their third Super Bowl in the past 10 years, January 26. Mark Rypien, the game's most valuable player, completed 18 of 33 passes, including a 10 yard scoring strike to Earnest Byner and a 30 yard touchdown to Gary Clark. The latter came late in the third quarter after Buffalo had trimmed a 24-0 deficit to 24-10, and effectively put the game out of reach. Washington went on to lead by as much as 37-10 before the Bills made it close with a pair of touchdowns in the final six minutes. Washington's Joe Gibbs became only the third head coach to win three Super Bowls. The game was played before a sellout crowd of 63,130 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis and attracted the second largest television audience in Super Bowl history. The CBS broadcast was seen by more than 123 million people nationally, second only to the 127 million who viewed Super Bowl XX. CBS televised the game in the United States, with commentators Pat Summerall and John Madden.