The 1978 Dallas Cowboys were coming off a Super Bowl title and they made a strong running at a repeat bid, with a second half surge and a run through the NFC playoffs. In the end, the push for two in a row came up just short.
The 1978 Houston Oilers came into the season looking to break dry spell for their franchise and they moved aggressively draft Heisman Trophy-winning running back Earl Campbell, a hero of the University of Texas. The Oilers, one of the most successful teams in the first years of the AFL when it was founded in 1960, had never made the playoffs since the merger with the NFL in 1970. Campbell made the difference in 1978’s success.
The 1978 Los Angeles Rams had about as chaotic a beginning to the season as one could imagine—they fired their head coach in the preseason. The Rams had a conclusion to the season that was quite typical—for the fourth time in five years, they lost the NFC Championship Game.
Fran Tarkenton enjoyed a Hall of Fame career, most of it in the Twin Cities. He began his career in Minnesota in 1961 and after a brief time with the New York Giants (1967-71), finished it back in the Upper Midwest with seven more years. The 1978 Minnesota Vikings were Fran’s last ride, and while it certainly wasn’t his best year, the 38-year-old vet packed it full of enough key moments to steal one more division title.
It wasn’t an easy path for the 1978 Denver Broncos to get back to the playoffs. They got inconsistent play at quarterback and no go-to running back ever emerged. But a defense that was rugged an opportunistic helped them survive a competitive four-way race and win the AFC West.
The 1977 Minnesota Vikings were a good team that won a division title, their ninth in ten years. They reached the NFC Championship Game. But there were also unmistakable signs of decline setting for the franchise that had been the NFC’s best from 1969-76, reaching four Super Bowls, including three of the past four
The 1976 Minnesota Vikings had a lot of proud veterans who were past their prime. But rather than fading quietly into the night after a devastating playoff loss in 1975, this group of vets put it together for another big run and reached a third Super Bowl in four years.
Fran Tarkenton had the best of year of his career at age 35 for the 1975 Minnesota Vikings. The team might have been the best in the seven-year stretch that Tarkenton played for Bud Grant (1972-78). Tarkenton won the MVP award, the Vikings went 12-2 and were poised to reach the Super Bowl for the third straight year and perhaps this time, finally bring home a championship. Heartbreak caught up with them at the end.
The 1974 Minnesota Vikings weren’t quite as good as their 1973 predecessors in the regular season. But the ’74 Vikes were still plenty good, as they went 10-4. And they were just as good in the playoffs, winning a second straight NFC Championship before finally falling in the Super Bowl.
Fran Tarkenton’s return to the Twin Cities in 1972 had fizzled out. But the 1973 Minnesota Vikings juiced up the weapons around the future Hall of Fame quarterback and started the best four-year stretch in the history of the franchise.
There was a renaissance in New York Yankees history that started in the mid-to-late 1970s. The proud franchise had last reached the World Series in 1964 and after the team was sold to CBS, a period of irrelevance and bad teams followed. Yankee Stadium itself underwent renovations and the team had to share Shea Stadium with the Mets while the work was being completed. 1976 was the year the renaissance arrived and it continued until 1981.
The Braves had known only brief moments of success since moving to Atlanta for the 1966 season. They won the old NL West in 1969, but then fell off the radar. 1974 was a bright spot—the team won 88 games and Henry Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record. But that was the exception, rather than the rule, as losing season followed losing season. The 1982 Atlanta Braves got back to October—and they did with a then-unproven manager named Joe Torre.