Now that another Super Bowl Sunday has passed, and the game itself is now nearing the half-century mark, I am thinking back to some of the title games that stood out to me over the years. The Super Bowl itself goes back to January of 1967, just after the merger had been signed in which the former American Football League would be incorporated into the NFL. The AFL was previously an upstart rival league which had managed to not only survive, but thrive alongside the NFL, and apparently Rozelle and the rest of the NFL brass figured that they couldn’t beat the AFL, so they might as well join them. Or, more accurately, they worked out a deal to absorb the AFL into their league. The merger would not take full effect until 1970, but an AFL-NFL championship game would be played between the two league champions starting in 1967. That game would soon come to be known as the Super Bowl. I have watched many of them over the years. In America, that’s what most people do on that day. But some stand out to me more than others, and here I’ll describe the ones that I remember most.
Going way back to my youth, I remember Super Bowl XV, because of the excitement of the Eagles finally getting to the Super Bowl. I also remember the frustration I felt as they proved to be no match for the Oakland Raiders, despite being heavily favored to win. NFL Films nicknamed it “The Cinderella Super Bowl” but I didn’t think that title was a good fit. Neither of these teams had just emerged out of nowhere. The Eagles and Raiders had both been in contention for several years, with the Raiders being a playoff fixture for a decade. They already had one Vince Lombardi Trophy under previous coach and future color commentator John Madden. Sometime in the four years between those Super Bowl games, Madden retired and was replaced by Tom Flores. Longtime Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, who also wore a ring from the 1977 Super Bowl, was gone by then as well. Which brings me to what I think is the reason this particular game got the Cinderella nickname, which I thought better described the next Super Bowl pitting the 49ers against the Cincinnati Bengals. Both of those teams were relative newcomers, and it proved to be the first of several championships that made Joe Montana into a legend. However, that subtitle was given to Super Bowl XV, and it probably had something to do with Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett. Plunkett was a Bay Area native and Stanford grad who had been in the NFL for close to a decade. He was originally drafted by the New England Patriots and started for them for several years, and if I remember right, lead them to several playoff appearances. Sometime around 1976 or 1977, Steve Grogan took over and Plunkett was traded to the 49ers, then to the Raiders. I have to admit, I don’t know his story very well, but I guess it was enough of a rags-to-riches tale for NFL Films to give this Super Bowl that nickname.
I also remember the 1986 Super Bowl very well, as it capped off a near-perfect 18-1 season for the Chicago Bears. They seemed unstoppable, except for one loss to the Dolphins. It also seemed to me that a rematch between the Bears and the only team to beat them during the regular season would have made a perfect Super Bowl, but the Patriots pulled off an upset of the Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game and so earned the right to play for the trophy in New Orleans. But, like every opponent the Bears faced that year (except the Dolphins), the Patriots were no match and a very predictable one-sided blowout by the Bears materialized. Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan was hailed as a genius for his 46 defense, and caught the attention of new Eagles Owner Norman Braman. He was soon offered the head coaching job with the Eagles, and was out the door. Ryan may have been missed by the Bears fans and players, but Head Coach Mike Ditka, who couldn’t stand Ryan, was only too happy to see him go. Today, they have apparently put their differences aside, and have recently appeared at some functions together, including a much belated White House reception for the 1985 Bears. This game was also the beginning of a trend. For the next decade, the NFC team would win every Super Bowl, usually by a wide margin. Only two games were close. The next year, the Giants replaced the Bears as the juggernaut, and steamrolled over the Broncos in Super Bowl XXI. In the coming years, the 49ers and Cowboys would also build near-perfect teams that squashed whatever AFC opponent stood between them and the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The next game that stood out to me was the 1990 Super Bowl between the 49ers and the Broncos. It was a fitting way to close the decade, as it epitomized the state of the NFC and AFC in the Super Bowl. The 49ers epitomized the NFC, and the Broncos the AFC. Predictably, it was a blowout, with the 49ers winning by a final score of 49-10. It was a summary of the decade in football, or at least the second half of it, and it just wouldn’t have seemed right if it went any other way. It was the fourth Super Bowl victory for the 49ers, and the fourth loss by the Broncos, who up until then lost all their Super Bowls by a wide margin. The first Super Bowl lost by the Broncos was actually in 1978, by an entirely different team, so that loss could be isolated from the John Elway era Broncos. But the 1990 Super Bowl was still the third one lost by the Broncos in five years.
The next year, what stood out to me about the Super Bowl game between the Giants and the Bills, was of course the fact that it came down to a last second field goal attempt by the Bills. Kicker Scott Norwood missed wide right, and the Giants won 20-19. As in many such cases, that play effectively ended Norwood’s career, although not immediately as he played with the Bills for one more season. It was also one of the few competitive Super Bowls during that decade of NFC dominance. The Bills would make it back to represent the AFC in the next three Super Bowls, but would not find themselves coming anywhere near that close to a victory. They lost those three games by a combined score of 119-54, to the Redskins in 1992, then twice in a row to the Cowboys. They took over the Broncos role of super blowout victims.
After the mid-90’s, I don’t remember following the NFL too closely. I know that after that time, the NFC dominance ended, as well as the Cowboys and 49ers dynasties that did most of the dominating. I honestly can’t name who won most of the Super Bowls after that, although I am on the computer and could easily cheat on this. I remember sometime in the late 90’s, the Packers won the title for the first time since Vince Lombardi was coach. The balance of power eventually shifted to the AFC, with dynasties in Indianapolis with Peyton Manning, and in New England with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. I remember the near perfect season the Patriots put together, only to have their hopes crushed by the Giants in the final seconds. If only they held on for that last minute, they would have topped the 1972 Dolphins. They were also one of those truly dominant teams like those 1972 Dolphins, as well as the 1985 Bears, the 1986 Giants, 1992 Cowboys, and probably a few other teams I missed.
Over the years, Super Bowl Sunday grew into an unofficial national holiday, and having Super Bowl parties became common in households all over the country. Eventually, the commercials became a part of the show that people had to see. Halftime entertainment also became a ritual, featuring mostly music legends. It has become the grand finale for the season. Now the season’s over, and it’s time to focus on basketball and hockey, and anticipate baseball in the spring. The next big event is the March Madness week leading up to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship. Maybe that will become the next unofficial holiday. But for football, there is only the NFL network to hold people over until the end of summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment