1979 Week #3 'NFL Game of the Week' double-header

[74_75_78_79_]

Has anyone ever seen/remember this one? I just saw it. Harry Kalas narrates both. The first game, Bears at Dallas. Some quotes...

"For two decades, Chicago quarterbacks have been nothing more than glorified head-waiters dishing off menus to running backs - Willie Galimore, Gale Sayers, and #34 Walter Payton. Against the Doomsday defense, 'Wonderful' Walter exploded for 134 yards on 22 carries. Since Payton handles the ball 65% of the time, many suggest matters would be simplified if he stood under center, and let the offense go from there. Critics say Vince Evans, #8, is just another short Southern Cal quarterback with little touch or feel for the game"..."Leading an offense that is snidely characterized as 'a wing, a prayer, and a Payton'..."

"For many years, the Bears have been known as a tough team (rookie/future-Super Bowl Shuffler #99 Dan Hampton himself shown on field-of-play between downs during this very narration). This was really a euphemism for being able to take a lot of punishment, much like former Heavyweight boxer, George Chuvalo."

Yes, all a bit rough other than the Payton comments, but right after that very last quote came, "Things have changed for when the Bears met the Cowboys, they stood as the top-ranked defense in the NFL."

Unlike that playoff fiasco two years prior, Bears certainly gave Boys all they could handle thus signaling another '70s playoff-berth for Chi-town by season's end. No, Buddy wasn't mentioned but Bears' blitzing D was. Also mentioned (to poor-man's Santana 'Lotus'-like music) was Dorsett's 100+ yard performance being "undercut" by 3 fumbles costing Dallas of "almost-certain Cowboy scores". This next quote made me look up a word on Google - "Turnovers are often a byproduct of the staggering numbers of plays and flimflams the Cowboys employ. They're often criticized for experimenting like a dilatant (huh?)." I don't lack wordsmithship, but still...

Doomsday seemed to have the final word, sacking Vince 4 times - two of them when it mattered most. Thanks to Bears missing an XP earlier on, they were forced to go for a TD instead of a tying FG, and that O (outside #34, of course) simply didn't have the firepower. Perhaps my memory serves me very wrong, but from what I gather about Evans albeit childhood (watching Bears/Dallas Thanksgiving Game, '81) or in college when he played for Raiders, I do remember respectable-enough ball from him (correct me if wrong). Golden Richards? I didn't know he ended up playing for da Bears!

Next game...Steelers at Cards! Pro Legend Noll vs College Legend Wilkinson, Bradshaw vs Hart who "has completed more passes for more yards than any active NFL quarterback (hmm)", Franco vs Beast-already rookie Otis Anderson (and so the Road to SBXXV begins). "Dwight White's replacement", John Banaszak (forever love that guy), is mentioned while showing him stick Otis for a loss, but Hart did carve that Curtain a bit in the first half. No mention of Roy Green. I guess he wasn't a starter yet. Cards were up 15-7 at the half but not before Bradshaw getting injured. 2nd half starts, however, and...Terry's back! Was it one of his 'pretending to be hurt more than he actually was to "fire-up" the troops'?

"The Men in Black were back, led by a miraculously-recovered Mr. Bradshaw!" "I though my ankle was busted when I tried to get up, said Bradshaw of the injury, but I found out it was just bruised so I told Coach Noll I could throw on it. So Terry did." All this being narrated while showing he and Noll communicating on the sidelines. Terry threw an INT to Carl Allen but Steeler D at least forced them to kick another FG. Cards would kick another FG to make it 21-the-hard-way; their lone TD (12-yarder by Otis being the first score of game) being a missed XP.

"Three-point compromises would prove costly." So true as "sleeping giant" Steelers would "awaken" to score the remaining 17 to make it 24-21 final. Rocky made key plays in the rally. After calling Cards' D the 'Big Red D' earlier, Kalas would call their secondary "sleepy" during the very comeback. Never having 'explored' that 24-21 final but always knowing about it (my uncle gifting me a '79 Steelers mug twenty years ago with all scores in the back offered further reminder), I was never aware Cards were actually up 21-7 at one time. Always remembered walking to school in 4th grade with a mature-for-his-age (strictly in a sports-fan sense, that is) friend/classmate and he telling me about "last year's" Steelers/Cards game telling me it was a 'TD-trading affair' throughout. Either he was full of it or was talking about another game altogether. Bud Wilkinson...don't want to instigate a 'what-if', but a real shame we didn't get to see him have the proper opportunity to truly HC in the NFL. Especially after that (Dungy '96 Bucs-like) promising rally-in-the-end 1978 campaign only for Bidwells to be babies over he not starting Zark a year later. If only he coached for a better organization (or traveled 30 years into the future and applied with Bidwells after they finally 'woke up' from decades-long hibernation). Guess we'll never know.

[BD Sullivan]

I recall Bud Grant being annoyed after either this game or another Steelers' contest that year, talking about how Bradshaw should be embarrassed about getting knocked out...

[JKelly]

Mentioning Golden Richards as a Bear I believe Bob Avellini called him the worst receiver he played with. I always assumed he was talking about the way he ran patterns. Yet he managed to start 14 games in 1979 and 5 in 1980 for the Bears so based on Avellini's comments I guess that speaks volumes about the talent level of the Bear's receiving corp............But then if you think about it I suppose Richards could probably say the same thing about Avellini being the worst QB he ever played with.

[7DnBrnc53]

But then if you think about it I suppose Richards could probably say the same thing about Avellini being the worst QB he ever played with.

Good point, although what's sad is that Jim Finks felt on draft day 1979 that he was more worthy of being on the Bears than Joe Montana for some reason, even after they were all set to take him.