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Simply Super Miami's Super Bowls have been dramatic, historic
Posted: Monday January 25, 1999 11:00 PM
By Tom Heitz, Turner Sports One thing is for certain. Miami definitely has flair. The city's Super Bowls have been no different. Only New Orleans has hosted as many Super Bowls as Miami, but the Crescent City just hasn't had the same sizzle as South Beach. The guarantee. Montana to Taylor. Lombardi's finale. All moments that have made Miami's Super Bowls memorable. And when the Broncos and Falcons kick off Miami's eighth Super Bowl on Sunday, football fans only can hope it captures Miami's memorable Super Bowl magic of the past.
SUPER BOWL II: Green Bay 33, Oakland 14Although he didn't make it official until afterwards, Super Bowl II would be the last game that Vince Lombardi ever coached for the Green Bay Packers. Two weeks after Green Bay's 33-14 win over the Oakland Raiders, Lombardi resigned, ending his nine-year reign as the Packers' head coach. The second AFL-NFL Championship game was similar to the first, when the Pack beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. Green Bay jumped on its opponent early and finished them off in the third quarter. The games weren't even close. Clearly, the NFL was far superior to the AFL. That thought was reinforced when, despite his team's 19-point win in Super Bowl II, Lombardi claimed that the victory "wasn't our best." Before Lombardi, the Pack had labored through 11 years of losing. Under Lombardi, they compiled a winning record every year. During the coach's nine seasons, the Packers would produce 12 Hall of Famers, accumulate five NFL titles and win the first two Super Bowls. Two years after his resignation, Lombardi died of cancer, but his image and name will forever be intertwined with pro football history. The legendary coach's spirit still casts a large presence in Green Bay and for Lombardi, the Super Bowl trophy would eventually be named.
SUPER BOWL III: New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7At a Miami Touchdown Club dinner three days before Super Bowl III, Joe Namath guaranteed a New York Jets' victory. We know that. But what makes Namath's boast even more incredible was that, in essence, he was guaranteeing that the Baltimore Colts would lose. The same Colts team that lost but once during the 1968 season. The same Colts team that scored less than 20 points only once that year. The same Colts team that beat the Cleveland Browns 34-0 in the NFL Championship game. Those Baltimore Colts. And Namath played in the AFL -- the same league that dropped the first two Super Bowls to the NFL by a combined score of 68-24. And the Jets were widely considered to be only the third-best team in the AFL that year. And they were 17 1/2-point underdogs. Yet Broadway Joe guaranteed victory. And he was right. Namath was named the game's MVP after completing 17 of 28 passes for 206 yards as the Jets beat the Colts, 16-7. The Jets had dominated the dominators, picking off four passes and keeping the Colts off the scoreboard until less than four minutes remained in the game. The Jets accumulated 337 total yards, including 121 on the ground from fullback Matt Snell. It was Snell who scored the Jets' only touchdown. The mighty Colts were slayed. The AFL embarrassed the powerful NFL. Everyone in the world of football was shocked. Everyone except Joe Namath. After all, he guaranteed it.
SUPER BOWL V: Baltimore 16, Dallas 13From start to finish, Super Bowl V was a tight, physical game. The final score, 16-13, was the second closest in Super Bowl history. And the matchup featured a game-winning field goal by a rookie kicker with only five seconds left. It was a great game, but only on paper. Obviously, the game wasn't played on paper but it was, however, the first Super Bowl to be played on artificial turf. And it ranks, to this day, as one of the worst played games in the 32-year history of the Super Bowl. The teams combined for 10 turnovers and 14 penalties. Colts' Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas was knocked out of the game after completing only three passes, only one more completion than he had interceptions. The game's biggest play -- a 75-yard touchdown catch by John Mackey -- came after the ball had deflected off two other players. And for the only time in Super Bowl history, the MVP was awarded to a member of the losing team -- Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley. The game wasn't completely void of drama, however. With 1:09 left and the score tied at 13, Dallas' Tom Landry, coaching in his first Super Bowl, aggressively had the Cowboys driving for the winning score when Baltimore linebacker Mike Curtis intercepted Craig Morton's pass and returned it to the Dallas 28. That set up one of the more memorable endings in Super Bowl history. Colts rookie kicker Jim O'Brien, who had an extra-point attempt was blocked in the second quarter, kicked a 32-yard field goal with only five seconds left, giving Baltimore the 16-13 victory and its only Super Bowl title. "Hell yes, I was nervous," O'Brien said afterwards. "I had a dream about it last week. I dreamed of this long field goal going through to end it all, honest to God."
SUPER BOWL X: Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17Throughout the 1975 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers used a punishing ground attack on offense and fierce intimidation on defense to roll to a league-best 12-2 record. The Dallas Cowboys, on the other hand, were the clear underdogs, having reached the Super Bowl as a wild card and needing a last-second "Hail Mary" touchdown pass in the NFC Championship game to advance to Miami. The Steelers were better than the Cowboys that year. And Dallas knew it. So throughout the game, the Cowboys defense employed what they called the Max Blitz -- a ferocious rush that sent as many as nine players after the Pittsburgh offense. The formation was successful in limiting the Steelers rushing attack, an attack which averaged 4.5 yards a carry during the regular season, to a mere 3.2 yards per rush during the Super Bowl. But the formation was also prone to backfire when Pittsburgh quarterback Terry Bradshaw had enough time to throw. With Dallas' cornerbacks matched up one-on-one with the Steeler receivers, Bradshaw was able to throw for 209 yards and two touchdowns -- on only nine completions. Lynn Swann caught four of Bradshaw's passes for 161 yards and a touchdown. His catches were as important as they were spectacular. Swann was named the game's MVP. The Steelers, sparked by big plays, won the game and their second consecutive Vince Lombardi trophy, 21-17.
SUPER BOWL XIII: Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31They were the two most popular teams of the decade. The Dallas Cowboys with the white hats and the Pittsburgh Steelers dressed in black. If you loved one, you hated the other. That's the way it was. Together, they combined for nine Super Bowl appearances in the '70s, including six titles. In addition, this game would be a rematch of their championship battle from three years earlier, a game the Steelers won, 21-17. The game reprised all the elements of that Super Bowl X matchup. The cast of characters was the same -- Staubach and Bradshaw, Swann and Pearson, Martin and Greene. The city and stadium were the same. And the outcome was the same. The Steelers won by four points. Bradshaw threw for 318 yards and four touchdowns and was named the game's MVP. After falling behind early in the second quarter, the Steelers outscored the Cowboys 28-3 over the next 35 minutes to seal their 35-31 victory. Still, the game forever would be remembered for one play, a dropped touchdown pass by Cowboys tight end Jackie Smith that would have tied the game at 21. Smith played the whole regular season without catching a pass. And, as it turned out, he didn't catch a pass in Super Bowl XIII either. With the win, Pittsburgh became the first team to win three Super Bowls. and With combined with their championship the next season, the Steelers solidified themselves as the NFL's team of the '70s.
SUPER BOWL XXIII: San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16It was hard to believe, but it was happening. The San Francisco 49ers, the NFL's signature team of the '80s, found themselves trailing 16-13 with 3:10 left to play and the ball on their 8-yard line. For the most part, the game was an atypical 49ers affair. The defenses ruled, and the quarterback duel that featured Montana and the Bengals' Boomer Esiason didn't materialize until late in the fourth quarter. In fact, the Bengals' only touchdown came on Stanford Jennings' 93-yard kickoff return. But despite being outgained by 226 yards in the game, the Bengals had a three-point lead with 3:10 left. The drive that occurred next would become pure legend. Montana completed five straight passes to move the ball to the Cincinnati 35. Following a holding penalty, Montana hit Jerry Rice for a 27-yard completion and a first down at the 18. After an 8-yard pass to running back Roger Craig, the Niners called a timeout. It has been said that sometimes the best thing about winning is that you didn't lose. And maybe that was the case in Super Bowl XXIII. With more wins than any other team in the league during the '80s, the Niners weren't used to losing -- especially in Super Bowls. The Niners and Joe Montana weren't about to lose this one. Following the timeout, Montana hit a slanting John Taylor in the middle of the end zone for the game-winning score. The 49ers didn't lose. Final Score: San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16.
Super Bowl XXIX: San Francisco 49, San Diego 26Super Bowl XXIX was the culmination of the NFL's 75th anniversary season and represented another chance for one of the league's most successful franchises to shine. The San Francisco 49ers -- winners of four Super Bowls in the last 13 years -- were trying for their first championship since Joe Montana's magic two years earlier. Their opponents, the San Diego Chargers, were given little chance of winning. In fact, they were expected to be blown out. The Chargers' game plan, like that of most underdogs, was to keep the game close and then try and win it at the end. And the game was close ... until the third play. Steve Young, fighting Montana's shadow his whole career, hit Jerry Rice for a 44-yard touchdown pass and the rout was on. When the first half ended, the Niners had a 28-10 lead and Young had four TD passes. The Chargers would get no closer. San Francisco's offensive numbers were staggering. Young, the game's MVP, passed for 325 yards and six touchdowns, a Super Bowl record. Rice caught 10 passes for 149 yards and three scores. Running back Ricky Watters amassed 108 total yards and also scored three times. With the 49-26 win, the 49ers became the first team to win five Super Bowls. In those five games, their average margin of victory was 19.8 points. There is just one question to ask. In the 75 seasons of the NFL, over a 15-year span, has there ever been a team better than the San Francisco 49ers?
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