Super Bowl IV - WikiHQ

thumb|190px|[[Buck Buchanan (#86) and Curley Culp (#61) of the Chiefs defense stopping a Vikings' rushing play in Super Bowl IV]]

Super Bowl IV was an American football game played on January 11, 1970, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the fourth and final AFL–NFL World Championship Game in professional football prior to the AFL–NFL merger taking effect the following season. The American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football League (NFL) champion Minnesota Vikings by the score of 23–7. This victory by the AFL squared the Super Bowl series with the NFL at two games apiece as the two leagues merged after the game. This was the first major professional sports championship won by a Kansas City-based team.

Despite the AFL's New York Jets winning the previous season's Super Bowl, many sports writers and fans thought it was a fluke and continued to believe that the NFL was still superior to the AFL, and thus fully expected the Vikings to defeat the Chiefs; the Vikings entered the Super Bowl as 13½ point favorites. The Vikings posted a 12–2 record in , then defeated the Los Angeles Rams 23–20 for the Western Conference title, and the Cleveland Browns 27–7 in the NFL Championship Game. The Chiefs, who previously appeared in the first Super Bowl, finished the regular season at 11–3; they continued with two road wins in the AFL playoffs, dethroning the New York Jets 13–6, and then taking down division rival Oakland Raiders 17–7 in the final AFL title game.

Under wet conditions, the Chiefs defense dominated Super Bowl IV by limiting the Vikings' offense to only 67 rushing yards, forcing three interceptions, and recovering two fumbles. The Chiefs' Len Dawson became the fourth consecutive winning quarterback to be named Super Bowl MVP. He completed 12 of 17 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown, with one interception. Dawson also recorded three rushing attempts for 11 yards.

Super Bowl IV is also notable for NFL Films miking up the Chiefs' Hank Stram during the game, the first time that a head coach had worn a microphone during a Super Bowl.

The Chiefs would not win or appear in another Super Bowl until Super Bowl LIV in 2020.

Background

Host selection process

The NFL awarded Super Bowl IV to New Orleans on March 19, 1969, at the owners' meetings held in Palm Springs, California. It marked the first of eleven (as of 2024) Super Bowls to be held in New Orleans. Two cites were in consideration for the game, Miami being the other. After two consecutive Super Bowls played at the Miami Orange Bowl (II and III), owners by a roughly three-quarters vote, opted out of giving Miami the game for a third straight year. Some owners felt that since an AFL town had hosted the game two years in a row, that an NFL town should get another turn to balance out the hosting duties. New Orleans mayor Victor H. Schiro was joined by George W. Healy Jr. (editor of the Times-Picayune) and Al Hirt. They highlighted the superior seating capacity (80,982) of Tulane Stadium, as well as the local accommodations. Healy and Miami mayor Stephen P. Clark became locked in a debate during a press conference while the deliberation and voting was going on behind closed doors.

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings, led by head coach Bud Grant, entered the game with an NFL best 12–2 regular season record, leading the older league in total points scored (379) and fewest points allowed (133). They had scored 50 or greater points in three different games. They lost their first and last games of the season, but in between had 12 straight victories, the longest single-season winning streak in 35 years. The Vikings broke the previous record of 11 consecutive wins set by the 1964 Colts. Their defense, considered the most intimidating in the NFL, was anchored by a defensive line nicknamed the "Purple People Eaters", consisting of defensive tackles Gary Larsen and Alan Page, and defensive ends Carl Eller and Jim Marshall. The secondary was led by Bobby Bryant (8 interceptions, 97 return yards), Earsell Mackbee (6 interceptions, 100 return yards), and Paul Krause (5 interceptions, 82 return yards, 1 touchdown). However, Bryant missed the Super Bowl due to injury.

On offense, quarterback Joe Kapp was known for his superb leadership and his running ability, both throwing on the run and running for extra yards. And when Kapp did take off and run, instead of sliding when he was about to be tackled like most quarterbacks, he lowered his shoulder and went right at the tackler. This style of play earned him the nickname "Indestructible". In the NFL Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns, he collided with linebacker Jim Houston while running for a first down, and Houston had to be helped off the field after the play ended. Also, Kapp was known for being an extremely unselfish leader: when he was voted the Vikings Most Valuable Player, he turned the award down and said that every player on the team was equally valuable: "There is no one most valuable Viking. There are 40 most valuable Vikings."

Running back Dave Osborn was the team's top rusher with 643 yards and seven touchdowns. He also caught 22 passes for 236 yards and another touchdown. In the passing game, Pro Bowl wide receiver Gene Washington averaged 21.1 yards per catch by recording 821 yards and nine touchdowns from 39 receptions. Wide receiver John Henderson caught 34 passes for 553 yards and 5 touchdowns. The Vikings' offensive line was anchored by Pro Bowlers Grady Alderman and Mick Tingelhoff.

By winning the 1969 NFL Championship, the Vikings became the last possessors of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy. The trophy was thought to have been lost by the Vikings following the merger, but it was found at the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 2015.

Kansas City Chiefs

thumb|160px|[[Ten-year AFL patch worn by the Chiefs in Super Bowl IV]]

Meanwhile, it seemed that the Chiefs, led by head coach Hank Stram, and especially quarterback Len Dawson, were jinxed throughout the year. In the second game of the regular season, Dawson suffered a knee injury that kept him from playing the next six games. Then in the following week, second-string quarterback Jacky Lee went down for the season with a broken ankle in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. However, third-string quarterback Mike Livingston engineered five wins of the next six starts, with Dawson coming off the bench in the second half of the sixth to clinch the win. The Chiefs (11–3) managed to finish in second place behind the Oakland Raiders (12–1–1) in the AFL's Western Division, after suffering a tough 10–6 loss to Oakland in the final game of the regular season. After that game, many sports writers and fans heavily criticized the team and Dawson for the poor play calling (Dawson called between 80 and 90 percent of the plays during the season).

After a 34–16 road win over the New York Jets on November 16, the Chiefs clinched a playoff spot at 9–1 with four games remaining. Wanting to set itself up more like the NFL right before the merger, the AFL expanded its 1969 playoffs to four teams, with the second place teams from each division traveling to play the first place teams from the other division (Western champion vs. Eastern runner-up, and vice versa). As a result of the new playoff format, many critics thought the Chiefs entered the playoffs through a "back-door" as the runner-up in the Western division. However, Dawson silenced the critics and led Kansas City to a strong finish with two road wins in the playoffs, defeating the defending champion Jets 13–6, and the Raiders (who had beaten them 41–6 in the previous year's postseason and won seven of the last eight meetings, including twice in the 1969 season) 17–7 in the AFL Championship Game. This essentially made the Chiefs the first wild card team to play in the Super Bowl. (Dawson said he thought both the Jets and the Raiders could have beaten the Vikings.)

Offensively, the Chiefs employed innovative formations and strategies designed by Stram to disrupt the timing and positioning of the defense. Besides Dawson, the Chiefs main offensive weapon was running back Mike Garrett (1965 Heisman Trophy winner), who rushed for 732 yards and 6 touchdowns. He also recorded 43 receptions for 432 yards and another 2 touchdowns. Running back Robert Holmes had 612 rushing yards, 266 receiving yards, and 5 touchdowns. Running back Warren McVea rushed for 500 yards and 7 touchdowns, while adding another 318 yards returning kickoffs. In the passing game, wide receiver Otis Taylor caught 41 passes for 696 yards and 7 touchdowns. The offensive line was anchored by AFL All-Stars Ed Budde and Jim Tyrer. According to Len Dawson, placekicker Jan Stenerud and punter Jerrel Wilson were the best kickers in football.

The Chiefs then faced the Raiders, who took a 7–0 lead over them in the first quarter, but that was their only score of the game. Meanwhile, Dawson's 41-yard completion to Frank Pitts in the second quarter set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Wendell Hayes. Then in the third quarter, Emmitt Thomas' clutch interception in the end zone and Dawson's long completion to Taylor sparked a 95-yard drive that ended with a touchdown run by Robert Holmes. Kansas City went into the fourth quarter with a 14–7 lead, and held on for the win by forcing four turnovers (3 interceptions and a turnover on downs) in the final period.

Meanwhile, the ninth-year Vikings recorded their first postseason win in franchise history by defeating the Los Angeles Rams 23–20. Though the Rams held the lead for most of the time in regulation, Kapp led a touchdown drive to give the team a 21–20 fourth quarter lead. Eller made a key play to preserve the lead, sacking Rams quarterback (and 1969 NFL MVP) Roman Gabriel in the end zone for a safety and Alan Page intercepted a pass with thirty seconds remaining.

Then Minnesota quickly demolished the Cleveland Browns in the NFL championship game, jumping to a 24–0 halftime lead and going on to win 27–7.

Super Bowl pregame news and notes

Many sportswriters and fans expected that the Vikings would easily defeat the Chiefs. Although the AFL's New York Jets won Super Bowl III at the end of the previous season, many were convinced that it was a fluke. They continued to believe that all of the NFL teams were far and away superior to all of the AFL teams. And regardless of the differences among the leagues, the Vikings simply appeared to be a superior team. Minnesota had the NFL's best record and outscored their opponents by 246 points, while Kansas City had not even won their own division. The Chiefs also had played only five games in the regular season against teams who finished with winning records, and eight against teams who finished with losing records, while the Vikings played seven against teams with winning records and seven against teams with losing records. Including playoffs, Minnesota had not lost a game against a winning team.

Super Bowl IV provided another chance to show that Dawson belonged at the same level with all of the great NFL quarterbacks. But five days before the Super Bowl, news leaked that his name had been linked to a Detroit federal gambling investigation. Although Dawson was eventually cleared of any charges, the controversy added to the pressure he was already under while preparing for the game, causing him to lose sleep and concentration. "It was, beyond a doubt, the toughest week of my life," said Dawson.

Bud Grant became the first Super Bowl coach not to wear a tie. His counterpart, Hank Stram, wore a three-piece suit, with a red vest and a blazer with the Chiefs' helmet logo emblazoned on the breast pocket.

All seats for the game were priced at $15; the previous year's prices were $12, $8 and $6. The attendance mark of 80,562 is the highest of the first four pre-merger Super Bowl games played.

Broadcasting

American television

Super Bowl IV was broadcast in the United States by CBS with play-by-play announcer Jack Buck (his only Super Bowl on television) and color commentator Pat Summerall, with Frank Gifford and Jack Whitaker reporting from the winning and losing locker rooms, respectively. After the season, Summerall was transferred to work alongside Ray Scott, whose broadcast partner Paul Christman died on March 2, 1970. This was the last Super Bowl that Gifford worked for CBS, as he left following the 1970 season to become the play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football. Gifford did not work another Super Bowl until Super Bowl XIX, the first Super Bowl to air on ABC.

While the game was a sellout, the NFL's unconditional blackout rules prohibited the live telecast from being shown in the New Orleans area (the NFL allowed a tape-delayed broadcast to be aired at midnight by local affiliate WWL-TV).

CBS erased the videotape a few days after the game, as the network had done following the broadcasts of Super Bowl I and II. Videotape was expensive and television networks did not believe that old games were worth saving. For many years, the only known extant recording of the broadcast was one sourced from the CBC archives. The network and its French-language counterpart Télévision de Radio-Canada carried the broadcast, and it was saved because of Vikings coach Bud Grant's history in the CFL and the close proximity of Minnesota to Canada. CBC transferred the footage to black-and-white film using the kinescope process soon after the original broadcast, enabling reuse of the videotape. However, a color videotape of the first three quarters and a portion of the fourth quarter, including the pregame show and original commercials, was discovered in 2023 and is publicly available.

44.27 million people in the U.S. watched the game on television, resulting in a rating of 39.4 and a market share of 69.

Hank Stram and NFL Films

The night before the game, Ed Sabol of NFL Films met with Hank Stram and convinced him to wear a hidden microphone during the game so that Stram's comments could be recorded for the NFL Films Super Bowl IV film. This was the first time that a head coach had worn a microphone during a Super Bowl, although Stram had done so during the regular season in a home game against the Boston Patriots. Sabol and Stram agreed that the microphone would be kept secret. Sabol had his top sound man Jack Newman, who had also wired Vince Lombardi in a previous playoff game, conceal the microphone on Stram and monitor the sound throughout. However, some Chiefs players noticed that Stram's demeanor deviated from his normal form during the game, ostensibly because he was aware of the microphone. Linebacker Willie Lanier commented that "Hank seemed somewhat more animated", quarterback Len Dawson "wondered why he was being so joyous and chattering all the time" and halfback Mike Garrett recalled that Stram "was in rare form and pretty glib".

Stram's awareness of the microphone likely resulted in a direct impact on the game itself. Dawson later recalled that "I thought there was something wrong with Hank" because Stram selected the Chiefs' offensive play calls during the game and communicated them directly to Dawson, while Dawson had routinely called his own plays during the season. On offense, the Vikings' inside running game depended on center Mick Tingelhoff blocking linebackers. Stram put 285-pound Buck Buchanan or 295-pound Curley Culp nose to nose in front of Tingelhoff, who weighed only 235 pounds. To Minnesota's credit, the NFL used the so-called light "greyhound" centers while the AFL used big centers. It was a mismatch that disrupted the Vikings' running game; it also kept quarterback Joe Kapp from moving outside the pocket. Left defensive end Jerry Mays said of the odd line formation, "...we never played it that much before. Minnesota's recognition was destroyed." Included was a 20-yard reception by wide receiver Frank Pitts after Vikings cornerback Ed Sharockman gambled trying to make an interception. Kansas City then scored on placekicker Jan Stenerud's Super Bowl record 48-yard field goal. This record stood for 24 years until broken by Steve Christie in Super Bowl XXVIII. (According to Dawson, the Vikings were shocked that the Chiefs attempted a 48-yard field goal. Stenerud was among the first soccer-style placekickers in professional football. The others included brothers Charlie and Pete Gogolak. The soccer-style placekickers used the instep of the foot while the conventional professional football placekickers kicked straight on with their toes. "Stenerud was a major factor," Dawson said.)

Kansas City is, , the only team in the Super Bowl era to win the title without allowing as much as 10 points in any postseason game.

Box score

Final statistics

Sources:The NFL's Official Encyclopedic History of Professional Football, (1973), p. 144, Macmillan Publishing Co. New York, NY, LCCN 73-3862, NFL.com Super Bowl IV, USA Today Super Bowl IV Play by Play, Pro Football Reference Super Bowl IV, Super Bowl IV Play Finder KC, Super Bowl IV Play Finder Min

Statistical comparison

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"

!Minnesota Vikings

!Kansas City Chiefs

|First downs||13||18

|First downs rushing||2||8

|First downs passing||10||7

|First downs penalty||1||3

|Third down efficiency||3/9||7/15

|Fourth down efficiency||0/0||0/0

|Net yards rushing||67||151

|Rushing attempts||19||42

|Yards per rush||3.5||3.6

|Passing – Completions/attempts||17/28||12/17

|Times sacked-total yards||3–27||3–20

|Interceptions thrown||3||1

|Net yards passing||172||122

|Total net yards||239||273

|Punt returns-total yards||2–1||1–0

|Kickoff returns-total yards||4–79||2–36

|Interceptions-total return yards||1–0||3–24

|Punts-average yardage||3–37.0||4–48.5

|Fumbles-lost||3–2||0–0

|Penalties-total yards||6–67||4–47

|Time of possession||25:27||34:33

|Turnovers||5||1

Individual leaders

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="6" style=";"|Vikings passing

!C/ATT1

!Yds

!TD

!INT

!Rating

|Joe Kapp

|16/25

|183

|52.6

|Gary Cuozzo

|1/3

|16

|12.5

! colspan="6" style=";"|Vikings rushing

!Car2

!Yds

!TD

!LG3

!Yds/Car

|Bill Brown

|26

|10

|4.33

|Oscar Reed

|17

|15

|4.25

|Dave Osborn

|15

|2.14

|Joe Kapp

|4.50

! colspan="6" style=";"|Vikings receiving

!Rec4

!Yds

!TD

!LG3

!Target5

|John Henderson

|111

|28

|10

|Bill Brown

|11

|John Beasley

|41

|26

|Oscar Reed

|16

|12

|Dave Osborn

|11

|10

|Gene Washington

|Bob Grim

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="6" style=";"|Chiefs passing

!C/ATT1

!Yds

!TD

!INT

!Rating

|Len Dawson

|12/17

|142

|90.8

! colspan="6" style=";"|Chiefs rushing

!Car2

!Yds

!TD

!LG3

!Yds/Car

|Mike Garrett

|11

|39

|3.55

|Frank Pitts

|37

|19

|12.33

|Wendell Hayes

|31

|13

|3.88

|Warren McVea

|12

|26

|2.17

|Len Dawson

|11

|3.67

|Robert Holmes

|1.40

! colspan="6" style=";"|Chiefs receiving

!Rec4

!Yds

!TD

!LG3

!Target5

|Otis Taylor

|81

|46

|Frank Pitts

|33

|20

|Mike Garrett

|25

|17

|Wendell Hayes

|Warren McVea

|Gloster Richardson

1Completions/attempts

2Carries

3Long gain

4Receptions

5Times targeted

Records set

The following records were set or tied in Super Bowl IV, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. The minimums are shown (in parentheses).

{| class="wikitable"

!colspan=3|Player records established in IV

|Highest passing completion percentage, career, (40 attempts) || 63.6% (28–44)|| Len Dawson (Kansas City)

|Most receptions, career || 10 || Otis Taylor

|Longest kickoff return || 33 yards || Clint Jones (Minnesota)

| Most punts, career || 11 || rowspan=3|Jerrel Wilson (Kansas City)

|Highest punting average, game (4 punts) || 48.5 yards (4–194)

|Highest punting average, career (10 punts) || 46.5 yards (11–511)

|Longest field goal || 48 yards || Jan Stenerud (Kansas City)

{| class="wikitable"

!colspan=3|Team records set

Players' shares

As with the previous three Super Bowls, the players' shares were $15,000 each for the winning team and $7,500 each for the losing team. This was in addition to the league championship money earned a week earlier, approximately $8,000 each.

Officials

Referee: John McDonough (AFL) #11
Umpire: Lou Palazzi (NFL) #51
Head linesman: Harry Kessel (AFL) #34
Line judge: Bill Schleibaum (NFL) #28
Back judge: Tom Kelleher (NFL) #25
Field judge: Charlie Musser (AFL) #55

This was the first Super Bowl for all six officials, and the only one for McDonough, Kessel and Schleibaum.

Note: A seven-official system was not used until

Notes

References

External links

https://www.pro-football-reference.com – Large online database of NFL data and statistics
Super Bowl play-by-plays from USA Today (Last accessed September 28, 2005)
(via the National Football League (NFL)'s official YouTube channel)
Super Bowl IV Box Score at Pro Football Reference

Background

Host selection process

Minnesota Vikings

Kansas City Chiefs

Super Bowl pregame news and notes

Broadcasting

American television

Hank Stram and NFL Films

Box score

Final statistics

Statistical comparison

Individual leaders

Records set

Players' shares

Officials

See also

Notes

References

External links