Some of my favorite Super Bowls that didn't involve Steelers championships

I think I know a pretty good deal about the Super Bowl. Maybe not as much as some, but more than others. Football is my favorite sport and the Super Bowl is my favorite championship, by far.

I just wanted to share my thoughts on some of my favorite Super Bowls that didn't involve the Steelers hoisting the Lombardi at the end because I could write all day about those great times.

This isn't some official list like "The Ten Greatest" or anything like that. Heck, I didn't even bother to do any wikipedia research. It's more like a stream of consciousness kind of thing. Just my thoughts as I know them (hopefully, accurate thoughts.)

I wasn't even alive for some of these Super Bowls (I'm XXXVIII, the Super Bowl is about to turn XLV)so my memory of many of these battles was shaped by NFL Films.

Like for example, Super Bowl IV. The Chiefs upset the Minnesota Vikings, 23-7, in the last AFL-NFL matchup before the merger was official. Like Steve Sabol said, if Super Bowl III laid the foundation for the AFL, Super Bowl IV sort of made it clear that the upstart league was here to stay. I'm paraphrasing, of course, Steve said it much better in the NFL Films intro for this game, but it's the same point. If you've ever seen the NFL Films footage for this game, you know that Chiefs' head coach Hank Stram was the first coach to wear a mic for a Super Bowl and, if you are familiar with this footage, you know how entertaining Hank Stram was in this game and that's why I find it so entertaining even forty-plus years later. This would be the one and only World Championship for the Chiefs, who were sort of the first wildcard team to win a Super Bowl since they finished behind the Raiders in the AFL Western division but still qualified for the playoffs. As for the Vikings, this was their first of four Super Bowl appearances from 1969-1976, but sadly, they would never win a championship.

And that takes us to the following year. The first Super Bowl after the merger, Super Bowl V between the Baltimore Colts and the Dallas Cowboys. The Colts won 16-13 on kicker Jim O'Brien's field goal in the final seconds. This was a sloppy game filled with many turnovers. The Colts turned the ball over 7 times, a record for a Super Bowl winner. Despite the sloppy play, NFL Films did an excellent job of building the action to a crescendo right before Baltimore linebacker Mike Curtis intercepted a Craig Morton pass to set up the game-winning field goal. Cowboys' legend Bob Lilly is seen throwing his helmet in frustration at the end of this game, because back then, the Cowboys were thought of as the team that couldn't win the big game. They lost the NFL Championship game in back-to-back years to the Green Bay Packers who would go on to capture the first two Super Bowls, and then, of course, this heartbreaker in Super Bowl V. Interesting note: Cowboys' linebacker Chuck Howley won mvp for this game, becoming the only mvp from a losing team in Super Bowl history.

Dallas finally got their ring the following year when they defeated the surprising Miami Dolphins, 24-3. The Dallas Cowboys finally got the monkey off their back with this pretty dominant performance. The Cowboys became the first and, to date, only team to hold their opponent without a touchdown in a Super Bowl. The Dolphins were a pretty good story in their own right. They were an expansion team from the old AFL days and here they were in their first Super Bowl. The Dolphins would return to the Super Bowl the next two years and win back-to-back titles that included their famous perfect season in 1972.

Fast-forward to Super Bowl XII where the Cowboys won their second Super Bowl by defeating the Denver Broncos, 27-10. I've always had a soft-spot in my heart for this Super Bowl because I love the story of the 1977 Denver Broncos. The Broncos did very little the first 16 or 17 years of their existence, but in 1977, they captured the imagination of the city of Denver. They went 12-2 and knocked off the Steelers and Raiders (the two previous Super Bowl champions) in the playoffs to win their first AFC crown. Even though the Broncos came up short in the Super Bowl, the '77 season is fondly remembered by Broncos fans and I've heard more than one of them say that the 1977 run was even more special than Denver's back-to-back Super Bowl championships in the late '90's. There was even a book published on that magical season: "'77: Denver, the Broncos and a Coming of Age." The author describes, in great detail, how the Broncos magical run that year changed the perception of the city and gave the area a new identity. Pretty neat stuff. And I also like this game because, believe it or not, before Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson, I actually liked the Cowboys, especially the '70's Cowboys. They seemed like pretty classy guys led by coach Tom Landry and players like Roger Staubauch, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Tony Dorsett, Bob Lilly, Randy White, etc. Of course, there were guys like Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson and Cliff Harris, but I guess they were Cowboys ahead of their time. This would prove to be Tom Landry's last World Championship and the last title of the great late-60's-early-80's Cowboys' era.

That brings me to Super Bowl XVII between the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins following the strike-shortened 1982 season. The Dolphins were led by the Killer Bees defense, and the Redskins were known for their Hogs (offensive linemen) and for running back John Riggins. Jimmy Cefalo started things off for the Dolphins with the longest touchdown reception in the history of the Super Bowl, and Miami return specialist Fulton Walker answered the Redskins game-tying touchdown by becoming the first player to return a kickoff for a touchdown in a Super Bowl. If you've ever seen the highlights of this kickoff return on NFL Films, there's a pretty neat over head view of all the Washington players trying to chase down Walker. But Miami was living on borrowed time in this game because they very well may have had the worst starting quarterback in Super Bowl history in one David Woodley. Outside of his touchdown pass to Cefalo, Woodley could do very little in this game. And by the second half, Riggins and the Hogs had taken over. John Riggins would score the game winner early in the four quarter when, on 4th and 1, he broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and not only got the first down, but a 40 yard touchdown that put the Redskins in the lead for good. They would add another late in the game for a 27-17 victory. Their first of three Super Bowl titles over the next 9 seasons.

Super Bowl XIX between the San Fransisco 49ers and the Dolphins is another one of my favorites. The 1984 season was just a special one for me. The Steelers made a nice little Super Bowl run, but the 49ers and Dolphins had great seasons and were without a doubt the two best teams in the Super Bowl. Dan Marino had a record-setting year with 48 touchdown passes, but the 49ers were the more complete team going 15-1 in the regular season, and it showed as they dominated Miami, 38-16. Joe Montana was named mvp and San Fransisco became the first team to win 18 games in a season.

I didn't like too many of the XX's Super Bowls, but XXIII was a nice, exciting contest between the 49ers and the Bengals. Joe Montana hit John Taylor with a touchdown pass with 34 seconds left to give San Fransisco the last-second, 20-16, victory and their 3rd of 4 Super Bowl titles in the 80's.

Fast-forward to Super Bowl XXX. Yes, that's right. Remember, I said Super Bowls that didn't involve Steelers championships. They were in it, and for that reason alone, it's probably my favorite non-Steelers championship Super Bowl. Just like the fans of the 1977 Denver Broncos magical year, I will always have fond memories of the '95 Steelers for finally getting back to the Super Bowl. I kind of feel bad for this team because there were so many great players from that squad and they deserve to be celebrated just a bit more, but it's kind of hard with 6 other Super Bowl winners being celebrated and rightfully so. Still, those guys will always be special to me.

That's about all I have for now. There are other Super Bowls that I enjoy, but I'll share those at another time.