When it came to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, they didn’t squander opportunity. When they went to Super Bowls, they won them. A perfect four-for-four as they built a dynasty. Every legendary team starts somewhere, and for the Steelers, it began with Super Bowl IX, a 16-6 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
On the other end of the result was Vikings QB Fran Tarkenton, a Hall of Famer who never won a Super Bowl. He joined Paul Allen on Minnesota’s KFAN to briefly remember the loss.
“I know this, we never were in the game,” Tarkenton told Allen. “We never were in the game from the time they kicked off. And they were just better prepared than we were.”
The final score didn’t look pretty, a 16-6 game that was 2-0 at halftime. The first points came via a safety, DL Dwight White tackling Tarkenton in the end zone after a botched pitch that kicked back into the end zone.
Though the score might’ve looked close, the Steelers’ fierce defense suffocated the Vikings. By the game’s end, Minnesota totaled only 119 yards of offense, with just 17 coming on the ground. To date, those are the fewest and second-fewest in Super Bowl history. The only team with fewer rushing yards than Minnesota that day was the 1985-1986 New England Patriots, running into the buzzsaw that was the Chicago Bears’ elite defense, finishing with just seven yards on the ground.
Tarkenton knows what it’s like to play a historic Super Bowl defense.
“I remember [Pittsburgh’s] defense had All-Pros in every position. It was an amazing defensive team. As good a defensive team as ever been played.”
Four members of the Steelers’ defense made the Pro Bowl that year, DT Joe Greene, DE L.C. Greenwood, LB Jack Ham, and LB Andy Russell, with all but Russell making All-Pro. That doesn’t even include the likes of Ernie Holmes and Dwight White, robbed of accolades in part because of their teammates, or a rookie in LB Jack Lambert, who quickly became an anchor in the middle.
In that Super Bowl, Pittsburgh’s offense came alive in the third quarter, a 9-yard run by RB Franco Harris to make things 9-0. Minnesota’s only points came on special teams, blocking a punt recovered for a touchdown as the Steelers struggled on special teams. K Roy Gerela missed a field goal wide, while holder Bobby Walden botched the next attempt. But the Steelers salted the game away with TE Larry Brown catching a short touchdown to add the insurance score, 16-6 for the game’s final. The Steelers were world champs. The first of four trophies the team handed to Art Rooney, the Chief, as Pittsburgh wrote a new chapter of team history.
Tarkenton joked he tries not to think about that game too often.
“I tend to forget games that I lost.”
Tarkenton would lose three Super Bowls, falling to Don Shula’s Miami Dolphins in 1973, the Steelers in 1974, and the Oakland Raiders during the 1977 season.
Check out the entire clip below.
