1970 Lions: If they get out of Dallas

[7DnBrnc53]

Late in their NFC Divisional Round contest with the Cowboys, the Lions were down 5-0, and had a 4th and 10 when Bill Munson found WR Earl McCullough for a 39 yard gain deep into Dallas territory. The next play, though, Bill threw an INT, and a great season (and their last playoff game until Jan. 1983) was over.

However, what if Munson pulled it out? They beat SF 28-7 that year at home, and they probably could have done it again. Also, the Colts weren't a great team.

What would a SB win have meant for the Lions going forward? And, if the Cowboys don't win the SB the next year (or in the next few years), is Landry fired by 1975?

[RichardBak]

You know, I'm not so sure it would've changed things all that much. Win or lose, Russ Thomas would've remained the incompetent, meddling GM with the lifetime job security he already enjoyed from owner Bill Ford. And Joe Schmidt never intended to coach more than the original five years that he did. He and Thomas were like oil and water. In fact, I think that if the Lions had somehow managed to win it all in 1970, Joe would've been even more inclined to leave at the end of his original contract because he would have then been leaving with a SB under his belt. At that point, what else did he have to prove? What other mountain left to climb? Schmidt was a very competitive and successful businessman (he's a retired millionaire living in Florida today) and took more satisfaction out of tending to his business and family than he did locking horns with the front office. The NFL of the 1970s wasn't the NFL he had known as a player.

I think a Lions SB win in 1970--and that's still assuming they could get past SF and Balt---would've been rightfully seen as a fluke, not as the start of some kind of dynasty. A one-off, kind of like the '68 Jets.

Interestingly, two of the "heroes" of the Colts' win in SB V were Lions castoffs Earl Morrall and Tom Nowatske, guys Schmidt had played with. Nowatske ran a trucking firm in Detroit after he retired, and I interviewed him there once. It was a nondescript place on Wyoming Ave. He had the ball from the TD he'd scored in SB V under some plexiglass. The guy who painted the lettering on the ball was Aid Kushner, the same guy who'd been painting game balls for the Lions since 1934. Anyway, two things I remember from that day. No. 1, Nowatske's hands were like catcher's mitts. I've never seen bigger hands. No. 2, he said he felt more like the goat until scoring that tying TD. See, the Colts never would've needed that last-seconds FG from Jim O'Brien. The game should've ended 14-13, Colts. But Nowatske missed his block on O'Brien's PAT after that Unitas-to-Mackey 75-yd TD, and Mark Washington came in and blocked the kick.

Personally, I was a Detroit kid whose favorite team was the Colts and favorite player was Johnny U. (I still have a 50-yr-old Balt pennant on my basement wall.) So, though I was unhappy Dallas won by that ridiculous 5-0 score, a couple weeks later I was ecstatic that my Colts had finally gotten some kind of revenge on all those near-misses in the '60s. Man, a Detroit-Baltimore SB would've really tested my loyalty. Guess I couldn't lose.

[7DnBrnc53]

You know, I'm not so sure it would've changed things all that much. Win or lose, Russ Thomas would've remained the incompetent, meddling GM with the lifetime job security he already enjoyed from owner Bill Ford. And Joe Schmidt never intended to coach more than the original five years that he did. He and Thomas were like oil and water. In fact, I think that if the Lions had somehow managed to win it all in 1970, Joe would've been even more inclined to leave at the end of his original contract because he would have then been leaving with a SB under his belt. At that point, what else did he have to prove? What other mountain left to climb? Schmidt was a very competitive and successful businessman (he's a retired millionaire living in Florida today) and took more satisfaction out of tending to his business and family than he did locking horns with the front office. The NFL of the 1970s wasn't the NFL he had known as a player.

I think a Lions SB win in 1970--and that's still assuming they could get past SF and Balt---would've been rightfully seen as a fluke, not as the start of some kind of dynasty. A one-off, kind of like the '68 Jets.

Interestingly, two of the "heroes" of the Colts' win in SB V were Lions castoffs Earl Morrall and Tom Nowatske, guys Schmidt had played with. Nowatske ran a trucking firm in Detroit after he retired, and I interviewed him there once. It was a nondescript place on Wyoming Ave. He had the ball from the TD he'd scored in SB V under some plexiglass. The guy who painted the lettering on the ball was Aid Kushner, the same guy who'd been painting game balls for the Lions since 1934. Anyway, two things I remember from that day. No. 1, Nowatske's hands were like catcher's mitts. I've never seen bigger hands. No. 2, he said he felt more like the goat until scoring that tying TD. See, the Colts never would've needed that last-seconds FG from Jim O'Brien. The game should've ended 14-13, Colts. But Nowatske missed his block on O'Brien's PAT after that Unitas-to-Mackey 75-yd TD, and Mark Washington came in and blocked the kick.

Personally, I was a Detroit kid whose favorite team was the Colts and favorite player was Johnny U. (I still have a 50-yr-old Balt pennant on my basement wall.) So, though I was unhappy Dallas won by that ridiculous 5-0 score, a couple weeks later I was ecstatic that my Colts had finally gotten some kind of revenge on all those near-misses in the '60s. Man, a Detroit-Baltimore SB would've really tested my loyalty. Guess I couldn't lose.

Good comment. Yeah, Ford reminds me of the Nuttings, the people who own the Pittsburgh Pirates. Don't give a darn about winning, which is sad.

It seems to me that this scenario would have been more damaging to the Cowboys (provided they don't win in 71) then helpful to the Lions, which isn't surprising.

Also, if the Colts don't win in 71 (and, they probably don't), the legacies of that team would be much different (although they still seem to be remembered more for what happened in SB III anyway even with their 1970 SB triumph).

[74_75_78_79_]

One thing's for sure...a SBV between Colts & Lions would have "looked" the same (bright white vs blue & silver under the Miami sun)! The game most-likely would have been the same type of gritty game we actually got!

Funny this thread starts literally moments after I watched a bit of the first half of SBV (commercials included)! FIFTY years ago now! 25 years before 25-year-old Mahomes was born! The NFL may have seemed as 'modern' as can possibly be at the time with the merger and all, but how different a time it was after watching some of it. Seeing Reeves and Ditka standing on the sideline with Landry was interesting! Maybe someday that entire 4th Q (with commercials) will be available along with the post-game locker rooms footage, but the coordination between radio broadcasts and NFL Films shots done quite well enough to hold us over until.

Easy for me to say, I'm sure if I was a member of the Colts from that period that SBIII would remain an unswallowable pill along with other '60s titles left on the table, but at the very least that basic group of players/coaches at least punched in one Lombardi end-of-day, "ugly" or not. It's good that Curtis, Bubba, and the likes have a Ring! Other than the, perhaps, forgettable fact that the Colts did finish top-seed in the conference at 11-2-1 (14-2-1 overall), they weren't a wild card, the 2005 Steelers are a similar team (would be even more the case had Cowher left after '04 and a new HC took over) and as a fan I'm proud of that campaign - I don't feel..."guilty". "Ugly" games happen. That's football.

[Jay Z]

Lions were an interesting team, to be sure. 2nd in the league in both points scored and allowed.

The rushing defense was very good in the regular season, 3.2 YPC against. Yet the Cowboys still ran for over 200 against the Lions. The Lions did play some weak rushing offenses, as none of the other Central division teams ran the ball well in 1970. Though they did play the Cardinals and Rams down the stretch and performed very well against them. Lions defense was showing its age a bit, last year for Joe Robb (who went out) and Karras, Wayne Walker also quite old. Little pass rush, only 23 sacks! 1971 and 1972 they couldn't stop the run or rush the passer.

Lions and Cowboys were both 5-4 before running the table to get to the playoffs. Lions beat 4 straight teams with winning records, while Cowboys didn't play anyone with a winning record. 7-7 Browns were the best. Maybe Lions had to use up too much to get to the playoffs.

Cowboys are not that statistically impressive. Played one playoff team and lost by 41 points. Vikings were the best team in the regular season, even without Kapp. Kapp leaving was the beginning of a bizarre year for many teams. Cowboys were more balanced on defense, one of their better pass defenses. Landry teams sucked at pass defense both in choice of personnel and schemes. Kind of a waste, good thing I hated their team!

If you can only score 13 points in the Super Bowl you leave yourself vulnerable to things happening. Even in the dead ball 1970s. Cowboys were running up and down in the playoffs and getting 5 and 17 points. Then the Colts took away Duane Thomas. Morton wasn't that bad in SB V, but 13 points is 13 points.

[Brian wolf]

Sorry, but Morton was bad ...

Landry should have went with Staubach but didnt feel he was ready. Everybody knew Morton had a bad arm, even Joe Namath, who talked about it pre-game for NBC TV. Morton missed a wide open Rucker in the endzone and had a perfectly set up screen pass get batted down by Hendricks, with no-one else for Baltimore on that side of the field. One of his tipped interceptions was too high and he had difficulty dealing with Roy Hilton's pass rush. Even with his helter-skelter style, I believe Staubach would have made things happen and found a way but hindsight is 20/20 ...

[Jay Z]

Sorry, but Morton was bad ...

Landry should have went with Staubach but didnt feel he was ready. Everybody knew Morton had a bad arm, even Joe Namath, who talked about it pre-game for NBC TV. Morton missed a wide open Rucker in the endzone and had a perfectly set up screen pass get batted down by Hendricks, with no-one else for Baltimore on that side of the field. One of his tipped interceptions was too high and he had difficulty dealing with Roy Hilton's pass rush. Even with his helter-skelter style, I believe Staubach would have made things happen and found a way but hindsight is 20/20 ...

Hard to say. Staubach was really not ready in 1970, turned the ball over too much. Which Morton avoided doing until the end of the game. It was a hard hitting game, Unitas got knocked out. Maybe Staubach gets hit and fumbles the ball. But he could certainly run around.

[racepug]

My memories of Craig Morton are from his years with the "Orange Crush." And what those memories tell me is that he could throw an absolutely beautiful spiral. . .and that he was about as mobile as an iguana in freezing temperatures (I remember how poor he was in S.B. XII - at the time I knew nothing about him having played for the Cowboys before that). I know somebody who's a fan of the New York teams, and he thinks Craig Morton sucked (when I Googled "Best QBs in Denver Broncos history," though, Craig Morton's name came up at #3 most often [just ahead of Jake Plummer]).