1968 NFL CHAMPION BALTIMORE COLTS
SHULA'S LAST STAND
by Rick Benson (game details Wikipedia
Not much celebration accompanied the Baltimore Colts 1968 NFL Championship. Proving the old adage that you’re only as good as your last game, the 1968 Colts are remembered as the team that made Broadway Joe Namath famous. Rather than bask in a season of dominating performances that led to his first championship, Colts coach Don Shula became the scapegoat of the unthinkable 16-7 loss to Namath’s New York Jets of the upstart American Football League. A merger between the two leagues was in the offing though many felt the teams from the AFL were inferior to their more established, soon-to-be NFL brethren.
Super Bowl III changed all that. Instead of spending the rest of his Hall-of-Fame career eating crab cakes and leading Baltimore, his relationship with Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom deteriorated quickly. A proud and egotistical Rosenbloom could not stand the ribbing he took from his high-roller acquaintances and he found it particularly galling that his mighty Colts were not only beaten by the Jets, but that their coach Weeb Ewbank was somebody that he had previously fired. Their defense, which Shula once proclaimed the greatest he’d ever seen, was gashed by a journeyman running back name Matt Snell for 121 yards and the Jets only touchdown. Although they shut down future Hall of Fame receiver Don Maynard, his counterpart George Sauer hauled in eight passes for 133 yards.
All that said, the last NFL championship team (future champions would be dubbed Super Bowl champions) deserves its rightful place in Baltimore sports lore. 1968 was a tumultuous year in American history. The Tet offensive in the war in Vietnam. Assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. Unrest in major cities and college campuses; including extensive rioting and looting in Baltimore after the King assassination. So much turmoil, yet for the people of Charm City there was a place where 60,238 crazed football fans met at 2:00 pm on Sundays called the World’s Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum. The Baltimore Colts were at the height of their popularity. They graced the cover of Life Magazine. They ran businesses and lived in the neighborhoods and were weaved into the fabric of the city. Every young boy wanted to be Johnny Unitas. Every fan was glad that Mike Curtis and Bubba Smith were on our team and terrorizing somebody else’s team.
Although they went down in history as the team that lost to the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, the 1968 Baltimore Colts might have been the best in team history. There are plenty of reason why the Jets were 18-point underdogs in that game. The Colts, in a word, were loaded. Their annual battles with Western Division rival Green Bay Packers were legendary. Unitas versus Bart Starr was the 60s version of Peyton Manning versus Tom Brady. The Packers were the NFL’s representatives in the first two Super bowls in 1966 and 1967; winning both. 1968 was the Colts turn.
Baltimore’s league-wide domination was especially ironic since they were missing legendary quarterback Johnny Unitas for most of the season due to injuries. But in came Earl Morrall to take his place and all he did was throw for 2,909 yards and 26 touchdowns to earn league MVP honors. He had plenty of great targets; including Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey (45 catches, 644 yards) and wide receivers Willie Richardson (698 yards, 8 TDs), Jimmy Orr (25.6 yards per catch, 6 TDs) and Ray Perkins. Halfback Tom Matte (662 yards rushing and 25 receptions) and fullback Jerry Hill formed a strong backfield combo. The Colts finished with a league high 404 points scored.
On defense, the Colts had three All-Pros—tackle Fed Miller, linebacker Curtis (2 INTs and 3 fumble recoveries) and cornerback Bobby Boyd (8 INTs). Smith and fellow rookie safety Rick Volk (6 INTs) made major contributions along with veterans Lenny Lyles (5 INTs), Jerry Logan, Billy Ray Smith, Dennis Gaubatz and Ordell Braase. Baltimore held opponents to 10 points or less in 10 of their 14 regular season games.
Baltimore breezed through the early part of the season; starting with five straight wins before a heartbreaking 30-20 home loss to the Cleveland Browns in late October. From that moment on, the Colts were invincible; winning their last eight regular season games (including shutouts of the Giants, Cardinals and Falcons) to finish 13-1 and take the Coastal Division title. After dispatching the Minnesota Vikings 24-14, the Colts got a long-awaited rematch with the Cleveland Browns. Not only did the Browns give Baltimore their only regular season blemish but many of this year’s Colts were on the 1964 team that got blanked by the Browns. No additional motivation was necessary.
Cleveland Browns (10–4) won the Century Division and defeated the Dallas Cowboys 31–20 in the Eastern Conference championship game. The Browns were led by head coach Blanton Collier, running back Leroy Kelly, and quarterback Bill Nelsen. Over 78,000 packed Cleveland Municipal Stadium; confident that the Browns mastery of the Colts would continue.
The game began promising for Cleveland as Browns defensive back Ben Davis wiped out a scoring change for Baltimore on their opening drive when he intercepted a pass from Earl Morrall on the Cleveland 14-yard line. The Browns then drove to the Colts 35-yard line, withBill Nelsen completing passes to Paul Warfield and Milt Morin for gains of 16 and 22 yards. However, Nelsen was dropped for a 7-yard loss on first down by Fred Miller and Ordell Braase. He managed to lead the team back to the 35 by the time they got to 4th down, but Cockroft 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked by defensive tackle Bubba Smith. The Colts then took over and drove to a 3-0 lead on a 28-yard field goal by Lou Michaels.
In the second quarter, Baltimore completely took over the game. Colts running back Tom Matte scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Colts a 10-0 lead. Later on, the Colts seemed to blow a scoring chance when tight end John Mackey lost a fumble that was recovered by Erich Barnes and returned 9 yards to the Browns 23. But on the next play, linebacker Mike Curtis intercepted a pass from Nelsen on the 33, leading to Matte's 12-yard touchdown run that gave Baltimore a 17-0 lead going into halftime.
After halftime, Cleveland forced a punt and got the ball on their own 40, where they proceeded to drive to the Colts 38. But once again their drive stalled and Cockroft missed a 50-yard field goal attempt. He got another chance as a result of a penalty on the play, but missed again from 45 yards on his next attempt. After an exchange of punts, Baltimore got the ball on the Cleveland 48 and drove to a 24-0 lead on Matte's third touchdown of the day. Meanwhile, Nelsen was benched and replaced by Frank Ryan, but this did nothing to improve Cleveland's misfortunes. On his first play, he fumbled the snap, and linebacker Don Shinnick recovered the ball on the Browns 20-yard line, leading to Michaels' second field goal, giving Baltimore a 27-0 lead on the second play of the 4th quarter. Ryan completed just 2 of 6 pass attempts for the rest of the game, while Colts running back Timmy Brown scored the final points on a 4-yard touchdown run.
Baltimore held Cleveland to just 173 total yards and avenged their only regular season loss of the year with a dominating shutout win. Cleveland crossed midfield only twice, just once in each half, and kicker Don Cockroft missed three field goal attempts. The only offensive star of the game was Matte who grew up in East Cleveland.
