For seven straight years, Dallas had been in the playoffs. For three straight years, they had at least reached the NFC Championship Game. While the 1973 Dallas Cowboys weren’t able to return to the top of heap and win a second Super Bowl in three years, they did keep both of the aforementioned streaks going. […]
Tom Landry’s Cowboys ended several years of postseason frustration in 1971, when they won the franchise’s first Super Bowl. That championship season was keyed by Landry’s settling on Roger Staubach as his quarterback midway through. The bid for a repeat title took a big hit when Staubach was injured in the preseason. But the 1972 […]
After reaching the AFL/AFC championship game in his first two seasons, John Madden’s Raiders took a step back in 1971, when a late collapse cost them a playoff spot. The 1972 Oakland Raiders followed the opposite path—they surged down the stretch, returned to the postseason, and were only stopped by one of pro football’s most […]
John Madden was in his third year on the Oakland sidelines and the first two years had gone well. There was disappointment to be sure, but in both 1969 and 1970, the Raiders had come within one game of the Super Bowl. For much of the season, the 1971 Oakland Raiders appeared to be cut […]
Since their founding in 1960, the Cowboys had been gradually gaining steam. They lost epic championship games to Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in 1966 and 1967. Dallas returned to the playoffs in 1968 and 1969. In 1970, Tom Landry’s team reached the Super Bowl. They were pounding on the door. But they were also […]
The proud Packer franchise had fallen on hard times since the departure of the great Vince Lombardi following the 1967 season. A team that had dominated the 1960s had now gone ten years with just one playoff appearance and only two winning seasons. Bart Starr, the quarterback for the Lombardi Dynasty, had been brought back […]
After a splendid rookie season as head coach in 1969, John Madden’s second year on the Raider sidelines didn’t go as smoothly. But the young coach had a veteran asset up his sleeve—the great George Blanda. The 43-year-old was still the regular placekicker and was now a backup quarterback. And for a few magical weeks, […]
For a generation of football fans, John Madden was the face of the NFL. He was the visible game analyst for CBS, Fox and later on Monday Night Football. He routinely called the biggest games of the year. His name was on the legendary video game. But before all that, he was an awfully good […]
The John Madden era started in Oakland back in 1969. The previous nine years had been great run of success for the Raider franchise. Madden’s teams earned eight playoff berths, six appearances in the AFC Championship Game and a Super Bowl title in 1976—all while competing in a conference that had some of the league’s […]
After going to four straight Rose Bowls from 1972-75, Woody Hayes’ program had slipped behind Bo Schembechler and Michigan in 1976. The Buckeyes continued the pattern in ‘77. They were good, but they lost all of their biggest games—including the only one that matters to fans in Columbus and Ann Arbor. The 1977 Ohio State […]
Bo Schembechler’s 1977 Michigan football team had high expectations. After a breakthrough year in 1976, where they ended a four-year absence from the Rose Bowl, the Wolverines were ranked #2 in the country. Michigan came close to meeting expectations—they returned to Pasadena and stayed in the national title race. But another Rose Bowl loss left […]
Washington wasn’t on anyone’s radar when the 1977 season began. The Huskies had not reached the Rose Bowl since 1963 and James had gone 11-11 his first two years in Seattle. The way the 1977 Washington Huskies started the season wouldn’t have given anyone an indication that things had changed. But by the time the […]