Super Bowl IX
Super Bowl IX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference champion Minnesota Vikings to decide the National Football League champion for the 1974 season. The game was played on January 12, 1975, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Steelers defeated the Vikings by the score of 16–6 to win their first Super Bowl championship.
This game matched two of the NFL's best defenses and two future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Led by quarterback Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain defense, the Steelers advanced to their first Super Bowl after posting a 10–3–1 regular-season record and playoff victories over the Buffalo Bills and the Oakland Raiders. The Vikings were led by quarterback Fran Tarkenton and the Purple People Eaters defense; they advanced to their second consecutive Super Bowl and third overall after finishing the regular season with a 10–4 record and defeating the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs.
The first half of Super Bowl IX was a defensive struggle, with the lone score being the first safety in Super Bowl history when Tarkenton was downed in his own end zone. The Steelers then recovered a fumble on the second-half kickoff and scored on fullback Franco Harris's 9-yard run. The Vikings cut the score, 9–6, early in the fourth quarter by recovering a blocked punt in Pittsburgh's end zone for a touchdown, but the Steelers then drove 66 yards on their ensuing possession to score on Larry Brown's 4-yard touchdown reception to put the game out of reach.
In total, the Steelers limited the Vikings to Super Bowl record lows of nine first downs, 119 total offensive yards, 17 rushing yards, and no offensive scores. The Steelers accomplished this despite losing starting linebackers Andy Russell and Jack Lambert, who were injured and replaced by Ed Bradley and Loren Toews for most of the second half. On the other hand, Pittsburgh had 333 yards of total offense. Harris, who ran for a Super Bowl record 158 yards and a touchdown, was named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player.
Background
Host selection process
The NFL awarded Super Bowl IX to New Orleans on April 3, 1973, at the owners' meetings held in Scottsdale, Arizona. This was the third time that the Super Bowl was played in New Orleans, after IV and VI. Super Bowl IX was originally planned to be held at the Louisiana Superdome, which was under construction at the time of the vote. However, construction delays at the Superdome forced the league to move the game to Tulane Stadium, where the city's previous two Super Bowls were held. This ended up being the last professional American football game played at Tulane Stadium.For the second time, the owners selected two consecutive Super Bowl host cities at the same meeting. Only three cities submitted bids for the two games. Representatives from New Orleans, Miami, and Los Angeles each made presentations; all three cities had already hosted the Super Bowl. New Orleans impressed owners with their Superdome plans, and won a unanimous vote to host the game, while Miami was given Super Bowl X.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh advanced to their first Super Bowl and was playing for a league championship for the first time in team history. Their 73-year-old owner Art Rooney founded the Steelers as a 1933 NFL expansion team, but suffered through losing seasons for most of its 42-year history and had never made it to an NFL championship game or a Super Bowl. But in 1969, Rooney hired Chuck Noll to be the team's head coach and its fortunes started to turn following a disastrous 1–13 first year under the future Hall of Fame coach.Noll rebuilt the Steelers through the NFL draft, selecting defensive tackle Joe Greene and defensive end L. C. Greenwood in his first season as head coach. In 1970, Noll drafted quarterback Terry Bradshaw and cornerback Mel Blount. In 1971, linebacker Jack Ham, defensive tackle Ernie Holmes, defensive end Dwight White, and safety Mike Wagner were selected by the team. Fullback Franco Harris was drafted in 1972. And in 1974, the Steelers picked linebacker Jack Lambert, center Mike Webster and wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, and signed safety Donnie Shell as a free agent. Bradshaw, Webster, Swann, Stallworth, and Harris ended up being Hall of Fame players on offense, while the others formed the core nucleus of their "Steel Curtain" defense, including future Hall of Famers Greene, Ham, Blount, Lambert and Shell.
But en route to Super Bowl IX, the Steelers had started the regular season slowly, as Bradshaw and Joe Gilliam fought to be the team's starting quarterback. Gilliam had started for the first four games of the season, but Noll eventually made Bradshaw the starter. Although Bradshaw ended up completing only 67 out of 148 passes for 785 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions, he helped lead the team to a 10–3–1 regular-season record. The Steelers' main offensive weapon, however, was running the ball. Harris rushed for 1,006 yards and five touchdowns, while also catching 23 passes for 200 yards and another touchdown. Running backs Rocky Bleier, Preston Pearson, and Steve Davis also made important contributions, gaining a combined total of 936 yards and eight touchdowns. Receiver Lynn Swann returned 41 punts for a league-leading 577 yards and a touchdown.
But the Steelers' main strength during the season was their staunch "Steel Curtain" defense, which led the league with the fewest total yards allowed and the fewest passing yards allowed. Greene won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award for the second time in the previous three seasons, and he and L. C. Greenwood were named to the Pro Bowl. Both of the team's outside linebackers, Ham and Andy Russell, had been also selected to play in the Pro Bowl, while Lambert already had two interceptions for 19 yards in his rookie year. In the defensive backfield, Blount, Wagner, and Glen Edwards made a strong impact against opposing passing plays.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings came into the season trying to redeem themselves after a one sided Super Bowl VIII loss after which they became the first team to lose two Super Bowls.Minnesota's powerful offense was still led by veteran quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who passed for 2,598 yards and 17 touchdowns. The Vikings' primary offensive weapon was running back Chuck Foreman, who led the team in receptions with 53 for 586 yards and six touchdowns. He was also their leading rusher with 777 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Wide receivers Jim Lash and John Gilliam were major deep threats, having 32 receptions for 631 yards and 26 receptions for 578 yards, respectively. Fullback Dave Osborn contributed with 514 rushing yards, and 29 receptions for 196 yards. And the Vikings' offensive line, led by future Hall of Famers right tackle Ron Yary and center Mick Tingelhoff, allowed only 17 sacks.
Aided by the "Purple People Eaters" defense, led by future Hall of Fame defensive linemen Carl Eller and Alan Page, and future Hall of Fame safety Paul Krause, the Vikings won the NFC Central for the sixth time in the previous seven seasons. Linebacker Jeff Siemon had 2 interceptions and 3 fumble recoveries. Minnesota's defense also featured cornerback Nate Wright, who led the team with 6 interceptions, and safety Jeff Wright, who had 4.
Playoffs
For the first time in four years, the Miami Dolphins were not able to advance to the Super Bowl. While the Steelers defeated the Buffalo Bills 32–14 in the first round, the favored Dolphins lost to the Oakland Raiders 28–26, giving up Raiders running back Clarence Davis' 8-yard touchdown reception with 26 seconds remaining in the game with a play now known as The Sea of Hands. The key play in the game occurred when the Dolphins were in control and were leading the Raiders 19–14 midway through the fourth quarter. Cliff Branch hauled in a 72-yard touchdown pass from Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler when third-year Dolphin defensive back Henry Stuckey, the man assigned to cover Branch on the play, fell down, and the resultant wide open Branch caught the bomb and sprinted to the end zone. After George Blanda kicked the PAT, the Raiders led 21–19. Dolphin fans were furious because fan favorite Lloyd Mumphord was replaced with Stuckey. Mumphord and head coach Don Shula were involved in a feud at the time, and it is thought that Stuckey was given the starting job for this game because of Shula's and Mumphord's differences of opinion. Afterwards, Stuckey was released in the offseason. Many believed that had Mumphord been in the game, there would have been no "Sea of Hands" play.Meanwhile, Minnesota allowed only a combined 24 points in their playoff wins against the St. Louis Cardinals, 30–14, and their narrow defeat of the Los Angeles Rams, 14–10, after their defense stopped an attempted comeback touchdown drive from the Rams on the Vikings' own 2-yard line.
Super Bowl pregame news and notes
Sports writers and fans predicted that Super Bowl IX would be a low scoring game because of the two teams' defenses. The Steelers' "Steel Curtain" had led the AFC in fewest points allowed and the Vikings' "Purple People Eaters" had only given up 195.As the NFC was the designated "home team" for the game, by NFL rules at the time the Vikings were required to wear their purple jerseys. Although the league later relaxed the rule from Super Bowl XIII onwards, the Vikings would've likely worn their purple jerseys anyway, given that they've worn their purple jerseys at home for much of their history aside from a few games in the 1960s, when the NFL was encouraging teams to wear white at home. This was the only one of the four Super Bowls the Steelers of the 1970s played in that the team wore their white jerseys, and the only Super Bowl the team would wear white at all until Super Bowl XL 31 years later.
This was the first post-merger Super Bowl to not feature an East Division team from either conference. The previous season's Vikings were the only non-East Division team to appear in any of the previous four Super Bowls.
This would be the final Super Bowl to feature the flag style pylons.