FRISCO, Texas – This Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans reminds me of the first Super Bowl covered, back 39 Super Bowls ago right there in New Orleans, too, on Jan. 26, 1986.
Super Bowl XX, the Chicago "Super Bowl Shuffling" Bears mauling the New England Patriots, 46-10. The Bears that 1985 regular season nearly matched the Miami Dolphins undefeated season, going 15-1. And as fate would have it, that one came at the hands of the Dolphins, a 38-24 loss in Week 13, that after witnessing the Bears pummel the Cowboys two weeks prior, 44-0, at Texas Stadium.
The Cowboys turned the ball over five times – two of Chicago's four interceptions were returned for touchdowns – and Walter Payton rushed for 132 yards – just 39 yards short of what the Cowboys totaled against that 46 defense. And that left the Cowboys 7-4 at the time, finishing 10-6 to win the NFC East, only to be wiped out by the Rams in the first round of the playoffs,20-0, Eric Dickerson rushing for 248 yards. Sound familiar to recent Cowboys playoff losses?
It was the season of the Bears recording the "Super Bowl Shuffle" song and video, and have not only the 45-record they produced but also the cassette tape. Last time checked, still works, that is if you can find a cassette player. Thought of all this the other night while watching the ESPN 30 for 30 of that Bears' 1985 season. Was privileged enough to cover for the Dallas Times-Herald several of their regular season games and also all three playoff games. (Had a free place to stay at my parents' home for the first two.)
Maybe what remember most of that Bears season was the surreal scene during the end of the NFC Championship Game being played at Soldiers Field. Just as the Bears were putting the finishing touches on a 24-0 win, as if right on cue and fittingly for the City of Chicago, the snow began falling during the final minutes. Pretty memorable game for me.
And that brings us to this one, 40 years later heading into Sunday's Super Bowl contest between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs trying to win an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl and the Eagles gunning for their second in franchise history.
Sports Illustrated, in the February 2025 issue naming Simon Biles Sportsperson of the Year on the cover, as part of this year's Super Bowl prelude, put together The NFL's 50 Greatest Games, a tribute to their corresponding piece proclaiming the 50th anniversary of Super Bowl IX played in New Orleans at Tulane Stadium on Jan. 12, 1975, when the new NFL's championship game exploded into the social consciousness, becoming more than just some football game.
Here is what SI did. Formed a 37-person panel with some of the more noted media personalities, past and present, writers and TV analysts alike. Each were to provide a list of their 50 greatest NFL games, attaching 50 points for the 50th game and 1 point for the greatest to help tally the order, least total points being No. 1.
The 50th game ended up being the 2009 season New Orleans Saints' 31-28 NFC Championship Game victory over the Vikings. That sent the Saints on to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, which they won, 31-17, in Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7, 2010, with the former Cowboys assistant Sean Payton as head coach and likely future Hall of Famer Drew Brees at quarterback. Was there for that one, too.
In all, and this is not meant to overly punish Cowboys fans for their team's absence from the big game for now the past 29 years – remember Larry Brown, Jan. 28, 1996 – but to point out this national panel wound up with six Dallas Cowboys games in the top 50. Unfortunately, and not sure why this poll turned out this way, five of those six games were Cowboys losses, continuing cruel and unusual punishment for these loyal fans spanning the globe. Great to be remembered for being part of great games, but far too many times for the Cowboys on the wrong end.
Meaning just one victory among those six, and you guys probably could guess: At No. 27 on the list, the 1975, 17-14 playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings when that 50-yard Roger Staubach pass to Drew Pearson for a last minute game-winning touchdown christened the "Hail Mary," which is now immortalized out here at The Star with frame-by-frame pictures from the video stretched out up the two-story staircase 27 paces behind me right now.
But that's it, the only Cowboys victory to make the top 50 greatest games list.
Come on, what about Tony Dorsett's 99-yard touchdown run against the Vikings in the final regular-season game of the 1982 season.
What about the 1966 game, Don Meredith's 95-yard touchdown pass to Bob Hayes against the then Redskins.
Or the first career NFL win for Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson, representing the only win of the 1989 season, 13-3 over the Redskins.
Or the emotional 17-13 first-round playoff victory over the Bears that 1991 season, representing the Cowboys' first playoff victory since the 1982 Super Bowl Tournament's second-round 37-26 victory over Green Bay.
Guess the Super Bowl XXVII wipeout of Buffalo, 52-17, is only memorable to Cowboys fans, or the previous playoff game's 30-20 NFC Championship victory on the road that season over the heavily favored 49ers.
Nope, those did not make the cut.
So here we go, the ones still cutting so emotionally deep.
No. 48: New Year's Day, 1967, the Cowboys losing the NFL Championship Game to the Green Bay Packers, 34-27, at the Cotton Bowl. Don Meredith's desperation, final-seconds pass was intercepted in the end zone, the Packers earning the right to play in Super Bowl I.
No. 33: Steelers 21, Cowboys 17 loss in Super Bowl X on Jan. 18, 1976. Probably the game earning Pittsburgh receiver Lynn Swann entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame thanks to his 64-yard reception from Terry Bradshaw to give the Steelers a 21-10 lead.
No. 26: And as if this to twist into Cowboys pain, the Steelers' 35-31 victory over the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII on Jan. 21, 1979. That spoiled the Cowboys' opportunity to win back-to-back Super Bowls after taking down the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII the year before, 27-10, in New Orleans for the franchise's second Super Bowl win.
Come on, where are these votes coming from?
No. 4: Don't have the heart to break the news to Everson Walls on Mick Shots, but, yep, "The Catch," San Francisco's 28-27 NFC Championship Game victory that 1981 season thanks to Joe Montana's high, high six-yard heave into the end zone over Cubby into the hands of Dwight Clark (gosh SI even used the infamous picture). That sent the Niners to their first Super Bowl appearance and an eventual 26-21 victory over Cincinnati in Super Bowl XVI.
And you were waiting on this weren't you, just waiting on it, coming in at No. 1 from this panel's list of greatest games over the span of Super Bowl history was:
The Ice Bowl, Green Bay's final-seconds, 21-17 victory over the Cowboys in the 1967 season NFL Championship Game on Dec. 31. The Packers earned their third consecutive NFL Championship, still unprecedented by all rights, going back to 1933, as the Chiefs head into Sunday's game trying to also Threepeat. And to make this memory sting even worse, there is a two-page picture of Packers quarterback Bart Starr, without a tush-push boost on third-and goal from the one and only 13 seconds remaining with no timeouts, plunging into the end zone for the winning touchdown. This came after the Cowboys had scored 17 straight points to take a 17-14 lead with 4:50 left to play on Lambeau Field's frozen tundra, the game-time temperature at 13-below and dropping.
Packers head coach Vince Lombardi beat his former Giants' coaching-staff cohort Tom Landry for the right to go to Super Bowl II as well, at the time considered by NFL standards no more than an exhibition game against the upstart and thought to be much inferior AFL. That perception, though, would change in Super Bowl III the following season when the AFL New York Jets upset the NFL Baltimore Colts, 16-7, to further along the eventual complete merger of the AFL and NFL by 1970.
See, the Cowboys have created a glorious history entering into this 66th season of existence, what with five Lombardi Trophies in their possession, having won three of them in a four-season span (1992-95) to become only the second team in the 58-year Super Bowl history to do so (New England the other). They also boast eight Super Bowl appearances, plus an NFL record 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966-85). And they have 22 members of the franchise in the Pro Football Hal of Fame that should have increased to 23 had Darren Woodson rightfully made the cut Thursday night at the NFL Honors show into the Class of 2025 – a travesty to me of the highest order since the Hall of Fame voting panel only inducted three of a possible five Modern Day players.
But as you can see, these Cowboys, over all these years, also have a torturous past.
