SUPER BOWL V WORLD CHAMPION BALTIMORE COLTS
Baltimore Wins the Blunder Bowl
by Rick Benson
Being one of what the late, great Baltimore sports writer John Steadman referred to as a “young old-timer”, I’ve had the opportunity to watch every single Super Bowl. And as a die-hard Baltimoron, the three Super Bowls won by Charm City’s finest rank as my favorites. And like the old saying that you never forget your first true love, I will never forget the Baltimore Colts victory in Super Bowl V. I still can remember the 32-yard game winning field goal by Jim O’Brien. I remember running outside with my childhood buddies Joey and Lenny Becker and screaming that the Colts were champs. Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” was everyone’s favorite song. “Laugh-In” was everyone’s favorite TV show. And while the Vietnam War and civil unrest kept the entire world from having joy, the city of Baltimore certainly had it. There’s nothing like being world champions in both football and baseball to give a seismic boost in civic pride and help people cope with their day-to-day struggles.
The Baltimore Colts had many of their greatest seasons in the pre-Super Bowl years and their first appearance in America’s game resulted in arguably the biggest upset in sports history. So their one and only Super Bowl victory that made them the 1970 World Champions was one for the ages---if you like train wrecks, miscues, injuries and low lights. The game had more turnovers (11) than a bakery at noontime. Seven of those turnovers were by the winning Colts; who also managed only 69 yards rushing and three third down conversions. A defensive player on the losing team was named the game’s MVP (Let that one marinade for a moment).
Both teams turned the ball over inside their opponent’s 10 yard line to kill scoring drives. The Colts first score came on an overthrown Johnny Unitas pass that was tipped by the intended receiver (Eddie Hinton) and the defender (Mel Renfro) and wound up in the hands of John Mackey for a 75-yard touchdown. Three future Hall of Famers (Bob Hayes, Roger Staubach and Unitas) were relegated to the bench. A starting wide receiver (Lance Rentzel) was suspended for indecent exposure. It was the kind of game that makes coaches seek psychiatric counseling. It prompted then President Richard Nixon to quip, “I hope I never make that many mistakes in one day.”
The Colts were clearly looking to atone for their embarrassing loss to the New York Jets--an 18-point underdog—in Super Bowl III two years prior. Jets quarterback Joe Namath made a career out of boldly predicting an upset victory; prompting many to surmise that Broadway Joe may have been spending too much enjoying adult beverages in the Gotham nightlife. To a man, every one of the Colts still felt that they were the better team and should have won. “There is no way (the Jets) should have beaten us,” said Colts middle linebacker Mike Curtis. “We were twice as good as the Jets and they were lucky that day.” With an opportunity for redemption before them, Colts safety Rick Volk summed up the team’s mindset, “Going to the game a second time took away some of the awe…we were able to focus better. There was no way we were going to let ourselves get beat again.”
The previous year, Coach Don Shula gladly departed to Miami as the chief scapegoat for Baltimore’s Super Bowl III defeat. Not surprisingly, Morrall soon joined him in Miami as he also took a lion-share of the blame as well. He stuck with Earl Morrall as his quarterback as Unitas was injured for most of the season but led the Colts to their only score in the fourth quarter; leading many to believe that the outcome would have been different had Unitas started. Morrall had a great regular season and was named league MVP, but benching Baltimore’s iconic legend quarterback was about as popular as a tax increase.
Super Bowl V as the first one to be held after the NFL and AFL merged; a merger brought on largely due to the Jets’ improbable win. The Colts were one of three NFL teams chosen to join the AFL teams in the new AFC; leading many to speculate that this was their punishment for their embarrassing Super Bowl III loss. Adding to that speculation was the choice of the other two teams—the Cleveland Browns (who fired their legendary coach and league favorite Paul Brown) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (at the time the league’s worst team; long before the Steel Curtain days). Their NFC opponent would be the Dallas Cowboys, an up and coming team that wasn’t arrogant enough yet to be hated while claiming to be America’s Team and not successful enough yet to attract legions of front-runners.
The Colts were a well-balanced veteran team led by Unitas who was now 37 years old and battling the injuries and hits from years of facing the league’s toughest and hardest hitting defensemen. He regained his starting spot after the Super Bowl III loss but had a so-so season in 1970. Lingering injuries gave Morrall some more opportunity but head coach Don McCafferty stuck with the Golden Arm as his starter. The Colts had a trio of top notch receivers: wide outs Hinton and Roy Jefferson and future Hall of Famer Mackey; who combined for 119 receptions, 1,917 yards and 15 touchdowns. Norm Bulaich (rhymes with goulash) emerged as the leading rusher and a solid pass catcher out of the backfield.
But Baltimore’s strength lied in their defense. Pro Bowl defensive tackle Bubba Smith anchored a strong front line while fellow Pro-Bowler Mike Curtis (5 interception and countless bone-crushing hits) and future Hall of Famer Ted Hendricks lead a solid linebacker core. A pair of Pro Bowl safeties, Volk and Jerry Logan added to the core that led the Colts to a conference best 11-2-1 record.
Despite losing their top running back Calvin Hill to a leg injury, the Cowboys were loaded with talent. Like the Colts, they had a dominating defense featuring Renfro and future fellow Hall of Fame tackle Bob Lilly, linebackers Chuck Howley and Lee Roy Jordan. Joining Renfro in the secondary was Herb Adderley, Charlie Wters and Cliff Harris. And also like the Colts, they had their own little quarterback controversy. Coach Tom Landry alternated between Staubach and Craig Morton before settling on Morton down the stretch, who responded with 15 touchdown passes and only 7 interceptions. On offense, the Cowboys were more run-oriented with rookie running back Duane Thomas averaging 5.1 yards per carry teaming up with fullback Walt Garrison; a terrific blocker and pass catcher.
The Blunder Bowl began as the Colts tried to gift wrap a score for Dallas as Howley picked off a Unitas pass and returned it into Baltimore territory. After stopping Dallas, the Cowboys got it back at the Colts 9 yard line on a fumbled punt return by Ron Gardin. The Colts defense came up big again and the Cowboys has to settle for Mike Clark’s 14-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead. Dallas next drive stalled again, aided by an intentional grounding penalty by Morton, and resulted in another Clark field goal. Next came the controversial twice tipped pass that resulted in Mackey’s 75-yard touchdown. But in true Blunder Bowl form, O’Brien’s extra point kick was blocked and left the game tied 6-6.
Dallas regained the lead 13-6 on a Morton to Thomas pass that was set up by a Unitas fumble. On Baltimore’s next possession, Unitas was intercepted by Renfro and suffered a rib injury on the play. The Colts defense held once again and Morrall led the offense down inside the Cowboys’ two-yard line. After Bulaich got stuffed three times by the Doomsday Defense, the Colts went for it on fourth down but failed to score on a Morrall pass to end the half with Baltimore still trailing 13-6.
Not to be outdone, the second half mistakes continued in full force. Baltimore’s Jim Duncan fumbled the opening kickoff in the second half and the Cowboys recovered. Dallas drove to the Colts’ 1-yard line before Curtis forced a Thomas fumble and Duncan redeemed himself by recovering the ball in the end zone for a touchback. The Colts then drove to the Cowboys' 44-yard line but came up empty when O'Brien's 52-yard field goal attempt fell short of the goal posts. However, instead of attempting to return the missed field goal, the Cowboys allowed it to bounce inside their own 1-yard line where it was downed by center Tom Goode (NFL rules prior to 1974 allowed a field goal that fell short of the goal posts to be downed just like a punt). "I thought it would carry into the end zone", Renfro explained after the game.
Dallas, backed up to its own end zone, punted after three plays. The Colts would have received the ball inside Dallas territory following the punt, but a 15-yard clipping penalty pushed the Colts back to their own 39 to begin the drive. Two plays later, Morrall completed a 45-yard pass to running back Tom Nowatzke to reach the Cowboys 15-yard line. But three plays later, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Morrall threw an interception to Howley in the end zone to preserve the Cowboys' 13-6 lead.
On Baltimore’s next possession, as if this game needed one more oddity, came one of the craziest plays in Super Bowl history. Trying to catch Dallas off-guard with a flea-flicker, running back Sam Havrilak took a handoff and ran right, intending to lateral the ball back to Morrall, but Dallas lineman Jethro Pugh stormed into the backfield and prevented him from doing so. Havrilak then threw a pass intended for Mackey, but it was caught instead by Hinton, who promptly took off for the end zone. However, as Hinton raced toward a touchdown, Cowboys defensive back Cornell Green stripped him from behind at the 11-yard line. The loose ball bounced wildly in the field of play but somehow evaded recovery. It was eventually pushed 20 yards through the back of the end zone for a touchback, thus returning the ball to the Cowboys at their 20-yard line.
Three plays after the turnover the Cowboys returned the favor. Morton threw a pass that was intercepted by Volk, who returned the ball 30 yards to the Cowboys' 3-yard line; giving Baltimore the break it needed. Two plays later, the Colts scored on a 2-yard touchdown run by Nowatzke. O'Brien nailed the extra point to tie the game at 13–13.
With less than two minutes remaining in regulation, Morton threw a pass that slipped through the hands of running back Dan Reeves and bounced for an interception into the arms of linebacker Mike Curtis, who then returned the ball to the Cowboys' 28-yard line. Two plays later, O'Brien kicked the 32-yard field goal that gave Baltimore its Super Bowl redemption.
In retrospect, it was a very sloppy game that earned the nickname “The Blunder Bowl”. But some hard-hitting aggressive play was certainly a factor in the 11 turnovers. The game’s hero O’Brien probably summed it up best: "It was really a hard-hitting game, It wasn't just guys dropping the ball. They fumbled because they got the snot knocked out of them."
