1975–76 NFL playoffs
The National Football League playoffs for the 1975 season began on December 27, 1975. The postseason tournament concluded with the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X, 21–17, on January 18, 1976, at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
This was the first season in which the league used a seeding system in the playoffs. Thus, the surviving clubs with the higher seeds were made the home teams for each playoff round. The three division champions in each conference were seeded 1 through 3 based on their regular season won-lost-tied record, and the wild card qualifier in each conference became the 4 seed.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule
In the United States, NBC broadcast the AFC playoff games, while CBS televised the NFC games and Super Bowl X.Divisional playoffs
Saturday, December 27, 1975
AFC: Pittsburgh Steelers 28, Baltimore Colts 10
Despite losing 5 turnovers, the Steelers forced 3 turnovers and held the Colts to 154 total yards of offense, while Pittsburgh's Franco Harris shredded Baltimore's defense with 153 rushing yards and a touchdown.The Steelers scored first after linebacker Jack Ham's interception set up a 61-yard touchdown drive. Terry Bradshaw's 34-yard completion to receiver Frank Lewis paved the way for Harris's 8-yard scoring run. Baltimore responded in the second quarter when Lloyd Mumphord returned an interception 58 yards to set up Glenn Doughty's 5-yard touchdown catch from Marty Domres. Then Harris lost a fumble that was recovered by Nelson Munsey on the Steelers 19, leading to Toni Linhart's 27-yard field goal that gave Baltimore a 10–7 lead early in the second half.
On the second half kickoff, Munsey recovered a fumble from Steelers returner Dave Brown. But a few plays later, Pittsburgh cornerback Mel Blount intercepted a pass and returned it 20 yards to the Baltimore 7-yard line. From there, Rocky Bleier scored on a 7-yard rushing touchdown giving the Steelers a 14–10 lead. In the fourth quarter, a short punt from David Lee gave the Steelers favorable field position, and they scored on Bradshaw's 2-yard run, increasing their lead to 21–10. Now with the game slipping away, Colts coach Ted Marchibroda benched Domres and replaced him with Bert Jones, who promptly gave the team a golden opportunity to rally back with a 58-yard completion to Doughty on the Steelers 3-yard line. But on the next play, Ham knocked the ball out of Jones's hand as he was winding up for a pass. Linebacker Andy Russell recovered the fumble and returned it for a then NFL playoff record 93 yards to the end zone. Russell's play is claimed by some as the longest single football play in time duration. Sports Illustrated called the play the "longest, slowest touchdown ever witnessed."
"That play has been a source of embarrassment for me for years", said Russell several years later. "There have been so many jokes. Ray Mansfield was the one that said NBC cut to a commercial during the return and came back to catch me score the touchdown. Nonetheless, it was a memorable play in my career."
The game is also notable in that it was the debut game for Steelers fans' Terrible Towels.
This was the first postseason meeting between the Colts and Steelers.
NFC: Los Angeles Rams 35, St. Louis Cardinals 23
The Rams defense scored 2 touchdowns in the first half while running back Lawrence McCutcheon ran for an NFL playoff record 202 yards on 37 carries. Los Angeles started the game off with a 79-yard scoring drive, 51 of them from McCutcheon, on the way to a 5-yard touchdown run by quarterback Ron Jaworski. Then on the first Cardinals play, Rams linebacker Jack Youngblood intercepted a pass from Jim Hart and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. St. Louis returner Terry Metcalf gave his team a chance to get back in the game with a 67-yard kickoff return, but they lost the ball again when Youngblood forced a fumble from Jim Otis that Fred Dryer recovered. Later on, Bill Simpson intercepted a pass from Hart on the first play of the second quarter and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown, making the score 21–0.Dwayne Crump returned the ensuing kickoff 28 yards to the St. Louis 40-yard line, and the team came back to score on an 8-play, 60-yard drive, featuring a 21-yard reception by running back Jim Otis. Otis finished the possession with a 3-yard touchdown run, but the extra point was blocked by Youngblood and the Rams responded on the first play of their next drive with Jaworski's 66-yard touchdown pass to Harold Jackson, making the score 28–6. Shortly before the end of the half, Hart completed a 23-yard pass to Mel Gray that set up Jim Bakken's 39-yard field goal, cutting the score to 28-9 going into intermission.
In the third quarter, the Cardinals drove 80 yards in 12 plays, including a 19-yard reception by Metcalf, to score on Hart's 11-yard touchdown pass to Gray and cut their deficit to 28–16. But in the fourth quarter, Simpson intercepted another pass and returned this one 28 yards to the Cardinals 36-yard line. Receiver Ron Jessie eventually scored the final touchdown for the Rams when he recovered a fumble from McCutcheon and ran it into the end zone with just over 4 minutes left in the game. By the time Cardinals running back Steve Jones finished the ensuing 68-yard, 12-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, the game was well out of reach.
Youngblood had an outstanding performance. In addition to his 47-yard interception return for a touchdown, he also recorded a sack, blocked an extra point, and forced a fumble. Meftcalf racked up 229 total yards,. Jaworski completed 12/23 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown. Hart completed 22 of 41 passes for 291 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted 3 times.
This was the Cardinals' last playoff game until 1982, and their last in a non-strike season until 1998, a decade after the franchise moved to Arizona.
This was the first postseason meeting between the Cardinals and Rams.
Sunday, December 28, 1975
NFC: Dallas Cowboys 17, Minnesota Vikings 14
With 24 seconds to play, Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach threw a 50-yard winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Drew Pearson on a play that became known as the Hail Mary pass. Pearson's last-minute touchdown reception remains strong in Cowboys lore and sour with Vikings fans. To them, Pearson's touchdown should never have counted because they contend the officials missed two calls on the final Dallas drive, including offensive pass interference on Pearson in the touchdown reception.The defenses of both teams dominated the first half. The Vikings' longest gain was a 16-yard run by quarterback Fran Tarkenton early in the second quarter. The Vikings eventually punted, and the ball hit the ground near returner Cliff Harris. Thinking that Harris had touched the ball, Dallas's Pat Donovan tried to dive on it, but the ball slipped away and was recovered by Minnesota's Fred McNeill on the Cowboys' 4-yard line. Chuck Foreman eventually took the ball into the end zone on a 1-yard score for a 7–0 Vikings lead. The Cowboys were able to move the ball on their next two drives, but the first ended with a missed field goal, and after a Mel Renfro interception sparked a drive to the Vikings 24, the Cowboys failed to convert a fourth-and-inches situation and the score was 7–0 at halftime.
Dallas mounted the first sustained scoring drive of the game with their first second-half possession. A late hit by Vikings linebacker Wally Hilgenberg turned Preston Pearson's 14-yard reception into a 29-yard gain. Then Staubach hit tight end Billy Joe Dupree for 17 yards to the Vikings' 19. Doug Dennison then rumbled for a 10-yard carry, and three plays later he tied the game on a 4-yard scoring run.
Early in the fourth quarter, Dallas took a 10–7 lead on a 24-yard field goal by Toni Fritsch. Following an exchange of punts, Tarkenton completed four of six passes for 37 yards on a 70-yard, 11-play drive, which included a 13-yard run on a reverse by Brent McClanahan. The third-year running back eventually finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Vikings a 14–10 lead with 5:24 remaining. Dallas went three-and-out on its ensuing drive, giving the ball back to Minnesota with 3:12 left and giving the Vikings a chance to run out the clock. They forced Dallas to use up all of its timeouts, but on a third-and-two, Cowboys safety Charlie Waters broke through Foreman's block attempt and tackled Tarkenton for a 3-yard loss as time ran down to the two-minute warning. "That play cost us the game," Tarkenton later said. "It wasn't the Hail Mary pass. We had the game in control but didn't make the play."
The Cowboys got the ball back on their own 15-yard line with only 1:51 left. Staubach started the drive with a pair of completions to Pearson, who had not yet caught a pass in the game, moving the ball to the Dallas 31. However, on the next play, Staubach fumbled a low snap in shotgun formation and was downed for an 8-yard loss. A few plays later, facing fourth-down-and-16, he threw a 25-yard completion to Pearson to set up the winning "Hail Mary" pass. The fourth-and-16 completion foreshadowed events to come with its own controversy. Minnesota argued that Pearson would have been out of bounds regardless of a push when he made the catch. The official ruled he was forced out by Nate Wright. At the time, a catch by a receiver who was forced out of bounds in midair by a defender counted as a reception.
These two would participate in a more controversial play two plays later. After Preston Pearson dropped a wide-open pass in the middle of the field with 32 seconds left, Staubach launched a bomb to Drew Pearson, who caught the ball through tight coverage by Wright at the 4-yard line and ran into the end zone for a 50-yard scoring reception that Staubach, in a postgame interview, called a "Hail Mary" pass. That popularized the term to describe such a play. Wright, who was just in front of Pearson, fell as the ball came down, and the Vikings argued that Pearson pushed off and should have been flagged for offensive interference. The play drew the ire of Minnesota's Alan Page, who was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing with officials, and a 15-yard penalty was assessed that allowed Dallas to kick off from the 50. Tarkenton then vehemently argued with the referees but to no avail. Meanwhile, angry Minnesota fans threw objects onto the field, one of which was a liquor bottle that struck official Armen Terzian in the head, creating a forehead gash and rendering him unconscious. Terzian wore a bandage, later requiring 11 stitches, as he walked off the field. He was replaced by substitute official Charley Musser for the final two plays. The NFL later banned glass bottles from being sold at stadiums. The fan who threw the glass bottle at Terzian eventually was found by police, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, and was sentenced to a $100 fine. Meanwhile, the Cowboys "Doomsday Defense" put the finishing touches on the team's victory by sacking Tarkenton on each of the final two plays of the game.
It was another disappointing end to a spectacular season for the Vikings. They had finished with an NFC-best 12–2 record. Their defense led the league with the fewest yards allowed. Tarkenton had won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award, and the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award, while Foreman amassed 1,761 all-purpose yards and 22 touchdowns. The day only got worse for Tarkenton. He soon learned his father had died of a heart attack while watching the game. The upstart and youthful Cowboys, not expected to do much after an 8–6 season in 1974 and the loss of several key veterans, would defeat the Rams and lose to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl.
Staubach finished 17 of 29 for 246 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 24 yards. Drew Pearson caught four passes for 91 yards, all on Dallas's final game-winning drive. Foreman was the game's top rusher with 56 yards and a touchdown, and caught four passes for 42 yards. Dallas outgained Minnesota 356 yards to 215.
This was the third postseason game between the Cowboys and Vikings. The teams split the previous two meetings.
| Tied 1–1 in all-time playoff games |