Sports Then and Now

The 1984 San Francisco 49ers are considered one of the greatest teams of the Super Bowl era as they went 18-1 and won the second of four Super Bowl titles in the 1980s.

But the 49ers’ chances of immortality of joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only undefeated Super Bowl champions were shattered in the seventh game of the season when they were stunned by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The 49ers were still led by head coach Bill Walsh and quarterback Joe Montana and their famous West Coast Offense, but it was the San Francisco defense that had been the major reason for their 6-0 start.

After allowing a combined 78 points in their first three games, the 49ers defense allowed only one offensive touchdown in the next three games and forced eleven turnovers.

While the 49ers entered their game with the Steelers riding high, Pittsburgh were coming off a humiliating 31-7 loss to the Miami Dolphins at home.
Pittsburgh was 3-3 under head coach Chuck Noll, who was in his 16th season as the Steelers’ head coach.

While they still had veterans John Stallworth, Jack Lambert, Donnie Shell, and Mike Webster, from the team’s glory days of the 1970s, the Steelers were no longer the dominant team in the NFL as they had not won a playoff game since their win in Super Bowl XIV against the Los Angeles Rams.

The Steelers traveled to San Francisco where they were double-digit underdogs and had backup quarterback Mark Malone in the starter role, filling in for David Woodley who was out with a concussion.

Needing to get off to a fast start, the Steelers received the opening kickoff and used their running game to put together a 12-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Rich Erenberg that gave Pittsburgh the early lead at 7-0 midway through the opening quarter. Read the rest of this entry →

Tim Tebow led another fourth quarter comeback to put the Denver Broncos in first place in the AFC West.

Tim Tebow again took all the plaudits as the Denver Broncos took control of the AFC West with a 13-10 overtime victory over the Chicago Bears.

The Broncos had been shut out for almost 58 minutes by the Bears and were down two scores as the two-minute warning approached. But Tebow somehow inspired Denver to come back from 10-0 down before they won it in overtime. Those following the NFL betting online will have been astonished.

Matt Prater kicked a 59-yard field goal with three seconds left in regulation to tie the scores up at 10-10 and then converted from 51 yards in overtime to win it.

The victory leaves the Broncos with an 8-5 record and left cornerback Champ Bailey to say of Tebow: “He comes through at crunch time every week. Every single week it’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me’.” Read the rest of this entry →

On a cold Monday night in November of 1987, the Chicago Bears traveled to Denver to face off with the Denver Broncos in a game that featured two teams that had appeared in the previous two Super Bowls.

Entering the game with the league’s best record at 7-1, the Bears seemed poised for a second Super Bowl title in three seasons.

Chicago was still under the leadership of head coach Mike Ditka, but finally had a healthy Jim McMahon at quarterback and running back Walter Payton, who had announced he would retire at the end of the season.

While the Bears were establishing themselves as a Super Bowl favorite, the Broncos were having tough time defending their AFC championship as they entered the Monday night showdown with Chicago with a 4-3-1 record and in third place in the AFC West.

Despite their inconsistency, the Broncos still felt confident about their chances of a second straight Super Bowl as they still had quarterback John Elway at the helm.

But if the Broncos were to make that second straight trip to the Super Bowl, they could not afford to lose against the Bears.

The Bears got the ball to start the game and drove from their 10-yard-line to the 49-yard-line, where they faced a 3rd-and-2.

That is where McMahon faked a handoff to Payton, and fired a pass to Willie Gault, who made the catch at the Denver 40-yard-line, made a spin move, and outraced several Bronco defenders for a 51-yard touchdown that put Chicago ahead 7-0 just over three minutes into the game.

After forcing the Broncos to punt on their opening possession, the Bears got the ball back at their 14-yard-line where it took them eight plays to get back into the end zone, a 6-yard pass from McMahon to tight end Cap Boso to increase the Bears lead to 14-0 with 5:26 left in the opening period.

Following the Bears’ second touchdown, Elway finally got the Denver offense on track as he led them on an eight-play, 84-yard drive, culminating with a bizarre touchdown that brought the Broncos back into the game.

From the Bears’ 22-yard-line, Elway rolled out to the right and fired a pass intended for Steve Sewell, who was in front of the goal line.

However, the ball was tipped by Bears safety Todd Bell, only to be caught by Vance Johnson for the touchdown to make it 14-7 early in the second quarter.

The Bears responded to the touchdown with another long drive, as McMahon completed six of nine passes on a drive that covered 89 yards from the Chicago 10-yard-line to the Broncos’ one-yard line where Chicago faced a third-and-goal.

For the third-and-one, Ditka sent in defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry, who ran in for two touchdowns during his rookie season in 1985, including one in the Super Bowl.

This time, Perry was sent in as a blocker, but McMahon called an audible on the line of scrimmage, and handed the ball off to “The Fridge”, who had not carried the ball all season, only to have Perry be stripped of the ball by defensive back Mike Harden, short of the goal line. Read the rest of this entry →

Despite having many of the top stars in Major League Baseballs, the Brooklyn Dodgers won only one World Series title.

Now that the 2011-12 NBA season will happen, sports prognosticators will return to projecting how many championships the Miami Heat will win. Forget about the disappointment of last season — this team has more than enough talent to bring home at least a few Larry O’Brien Trophies, right? That’s what people were saying about the Lakers in the ’60s, Mets in the ’80s, and Mariners in the ’90s (different trophies for the latter two, of course), yet they wound up with just two championships between them when all was said and done. The following would-be dynasties failed to meet expectations for a multitude of reasons — including injuries, team chemistry problems, free agency, drugs, and even a strike — leaving fans wondering what might have been had things gone a little differently.

1940s and ’50s Brooklyn Dodgers
Even if the Dodgers had won multiple World Series titles during this era, the franchise would’ve been more remembered for its role in integrating baseball by signing and promoting Jackie Robinson. More than just an inspiring figure in the Civil Rights Movement, Robinson was an ideal second baseman with tremendous speed, excellent contact ability, and exemplary defense. He played alongside Hall of Famers Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Don Drysdale, and Sandy Koufax, one of the most talent-rich rosters in baseball history. From 1947 to 1956, the team won six NL pennants and the 1955 World Series, a resume worthy of NL dynasty status, but not MLB dynasty status.

1960s and ’70s Los Angeles Lakers
Before the Buffalo Bills, there were the Lakers. Sure, they had already won four of the first 10 NBA championships, but, with seven Finals losses in nine seasons during the 1960s and ’70s, they were the original poster child for second best. The primary culprit for their failures was the Celtics, who reeled off a remarkable 11 championships in 13 seasons. The Lakers also faced a 76ers team with perhaps the most dominant player off all time, Wilt Chamberlain, and a hungry Knicks team led by Willis Reid and Walt Frazier. When management figured out the mere presence of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor wasn’t enough, it added an older but still effective Chamberlain. The team finally got over the hump in 1973, after Baylor retired and Gail Goodrich had been added to the roster. Read the rest of this entry →

The 1941 Chicago Bears defeated the Chicago Cardinals 34-24 on December 7, 1941 and then went on to win the NFL Championship. Many members of the Bears went on to serve in the military during World War II.

In remembrance of the 70th anniversary of “A day that will live in infamy”, we look back at the final day of the 1941 National Football League regular season and how the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor nearly half a world away forever changed the lives of many of the players who were on the field that afternoon.

In 1941 the National Football League was not quite the national phenomenon it is today. On the final Sunday of the NFL season, December 7, 1941, there were only three games on tap and the games were not preceded by hours of pre-game shows and wall-to-wall television coverage.

Instead, they were available only to those fortunate enough to have a ticket for the games in Chicago, New York or Washington or for those listening to one of the broadcasts on radio.

Of the three games, only one, the city rivalry between the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals, had implications on the upcoming post season. The other two games, the New York Giants (who had already clinched a spot in the league championship game) against the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Eagles facing the Washington Redskins, were about pride and finishing the season on a positive note.

Word of the attacks started to spread while all three games were in action and the public address announcers at the Polo Grounds in New York and Comiskey Park in Chicago interrupted the game to tell all servicemen to report to their units. At Griffith Stadium in Washington the announcer paged high-ranking government and military personnel at the game, but did not mention the attack.

Nearly 1,000 past, current or future NFL players and personnel served in the U.S. Military during World War II (check out the full list). Through their unique stories we learn the true meaning of personal sacrifice as many either never returned to the NFL or missed what would have been the prime of their career while serving their country.

While the story of every American veteran is unique and important, a capsule of the shared sacrifice and implications of World War II can be learned by looking at 10 men who were part of the pivotal Bears-Cardinals game on December 7, 1941. Many of them would be part of very different (and much more important) battles just months later. Read the rest of this entry →

Steve Van Buren

The December Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month was a four-time NFL rushing champion and led his team to consecutive NFL Championships.

After leading the nation in points and touchdowns as a senior at LSU, Steve Van Buren was drafted in the first round of the 1944 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles and over the next eight seasons would become the transcendent rusher of his era . Read the rest of this entry →