Hell with the Lid Off by Ed Gruver & Jim Campbell

Author:Ed Gruver & Jim Campbell [Gruver, Ed & Campbell, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO015000 Sports & Recreation / Football, HIS036140 History / United States / State & Local / West (ak, Ca, Co, Hi, Id, Mt, Nv, Ut, Wy), HIS036080 History / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (dc, De, Md, Nj, Ny, Pa)
Publisher: Nebraska

6

Hard Road to the Big Easy

Some four decades have passed, yet the 1974 NFL playoffs remain historically important. Not only do they mark the end of the Dolphins’ dynasty and the start of the Steelers’ Super Bowl reign, they also stand as the final postseason prior to the beginning of the league’s modern playoff system in which teams are rewarded for success in the regular season.

The 1974 postseason marked the last one in which home playoff games were awarded based on a rotation that saw sites alternated annually by division. Expansion in the 1960s had caused the NFL to go from two conferences to four divisions in 1967, and the AFL expanded its playoffs in 1969. Such is the reason the 1967 Green Bay Packers, who won the newly minted Central Division with a 9-4-1 record, were able to host the 11-1-2 Los Angeles Rams in the Western Conference Championship, and the 1968 Cleveland Browns (10-4) hosted both the Dallas Cowboys (12-2) and Baltimore Colts (13-1) in the Eastern Conference final and NFL title game, respectively.

Expansion is also the reason the 1969 Kansas City Chiefs won the fourth and final AFL-NFL Super Bowl, despite finishing second in the Western Division behind the Oakland Raiders. Had the AFL not expanded its playoff format from two to four teams for its final season, the Chiefs would not have qualified for the postseason.

Beginning with the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the two leagues were realigned and a new playoff format instituted. The NFC and AFC had three divisions apiece, and the champions of each division qualified for the postseason along with the best second-place, or wild-card, team.

Anomalies remained, however, most notably in the case of the 1972 undefeated Dolphins, who played at Pittsburgh in the 1972 AFC Championship.

The seeding system started with the 1975 postseason, but had it started in 1974, the No. 3–seeded Steelers would have headed to No. 2 Miami to face the two-time reigning world champions, and the No. 1 Raiders would have hosted No. 4 Buffalo, the Eastern Division runner-up and wild-card team. Instead, the Raiders hosted Miami in a matchup of East-West winners on Saturday, December 21, while the Steelers battled the Bills in Pittsburgh the following day.

The playoffs kicked off on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. eastern standard time with CBS’s coverage of an NFC game, Minnesota hosting St. Louis in Metropolitan Stadium. Conditions were typical of Bloomington, Minnesota, four days before Christmas—game-time temps in the high twenties and flurries falling from a pewter-gray sky.

Calling the game for CBS, sportscasters Brent Musburger, Irv Cross, and John Unitas breathed frost amid frigid surroundings as the Vikings took advantage of Cardinal miscues and rode a decisive 16-point third quarter to a 30–14 victory.

What took place amid an electric atmosphere in Oakland later that afternoon would prove epic, providing a national television audience with a “name game” that stands with other Raiders classics—Heidi Bowl, Immaculate Reception, Ghost to the Post, Holy Roller.

The Sea of Hands classic with Miami kicked off shortly after 4:00 p.

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