Claim: Super Bowl XLVI was the first to be played in Indiana.

Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference -LRB- NFC -RRB- champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference -LRB- AFC -RRB- champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League -LRB- NFL -RRB- champion for the 2011 season . The Giants defeated the Patriots by the score of 21 -- 17 . The game was played on February 5 , 2012 , at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis , the first time that the Super Bowl was played in the state of Indiana .   In addition to winning their fourth Super Bowl in team history , the Giants set a new record for the lowest regular season record -LRB- 9 -- 7 , win percentage of 56.3 % -RRB- by a Super Bowl champion . The Patriots entered the game with a 13 -- 3 regular season record , and were also seeking their fourth Super Bowl win . The game was also a rematch of Super Bowl XLII , in which New York also won , 17 -- 14 , to spoil New England 's run at a perfect 2007 season in what is now considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history . Super Bowl XLVI also marked the third consecutive matchup between teams from divisions with the same cardinal directions , with the Giants/Patriots from the NFC/AFC East , Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers/Pittsburgh Steelers from the NFC/AFC North , and Super Bowl XLIV between the New Orleans Saints/Indianapolis Colts from the NFC/AFC South . Two years later , the Seattle Seahawks/Denver Broncos , from the NFC/AFC West , would continue this trend when they met each other for Super Bowl XLVIII .   The Giants jumped to a 9 -- 0 lead in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLVI before the Patriots scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17 -- 9 lead in the third quarter . But the Giants prevented the Patriots from scoring again , and two consecutive New York field goals chipped away New England 's lead , 17 -- 15 , late in the third quarter . The Giants capped off an 88-yard drive with running back Ahmad Bradshaw 's 6-yard game-winning touchdown with 57 seconds left in the game . Eli Manning , who completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards , one touchdown , and no interceptions , was named Super Bowl MVP for the second time in his career . He became the third consecutive quarterback to win the award after Aaron Rodgers in Super Bowl XLV and Drew Brees in Super Bowl XLIV .   The broadcast of the game on NBC broke the then record for the most-watched program in American television history , previously set during the previous year 's Super Bowl . Super Bowl XLVI was watched by an estimated average audience of 111.3 million US viewers and an estimated total audience of 166.8 million , according to Nielsen , meaning that over half of the American population watched at least some of the initial broadcast . The game also set the record for most tweets per second during a sporting event , with 13.7 million tweets from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. -LRB- PST -RRB- .