Super Bowl VIII

Super Bowl VIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1973 season. The Dolphins defeated the Vikings by the score of 24–7 to win their second consecutive Super Bowl, the first team to do so since the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowls I and II, and the first AFL/AFC team to do so. The Dolphins also became the first team to reach three consecutive Super Bowls.

The game was played on January 13, 1974, at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas. This was the first time the Super Bowl venue was not home to an NFL franchise. At the time, the Astrodome seated just over 50,000, and was considered too small to host a Super Bowl. This was also the first Super Bowl not to be held in either the Los Angeles, Miami or New Orleans areas. It was also the last Super Bowl, and penultimate game overall (the 1974 Pro Bowl in Kansas City played the next week was the last) to feature goal posts at the front of the end zone (they were moved to the endline, in the back of the end zone, the next season).

This was the Dolphins' third consecutive Super Bowl appearance. They posted a 12–2 record during the regular season, then defeated the Cincinnati Bengals and the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs. The Vikings were making their second Super Bowl appearance after also finishing the regular season with a 12–2 record, and posting postseason victories over the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys.

Super Bowl VIII was largely dominated by the Dolphins, who scored 24 unanswered points during the first three quarters, including two touchdowns on their first two drives. Minnesota's best chance to threaten Miami occurred with less than a minute left in the first half, but Vikings running back Oscar Reed fumbled the ball away at the Dolphins' 6-yard line, and his team was unable to overcome Miami's lead in the second half. Dolphins fullback Larry Csonka became the first running back to be named Super Bowl MVP; both his 145 rushing yards and his 33 carries were Super Bowl records. Csonka broke the previous record for yards rushing (121) and carries (30) set by Matt Snell (who was also a fullback) in Super Bowl III.

As of , this is Miami’s most recent Super Bowl victory, and they currently hold the tenth longest championship drought in the NFL.

Background

Host selection process

The NFL awarded Super Bowl VIII to Houston on March 21, 1972, at the owners' meetings held in Honolulu. For the first time, multiple Super Bowl sites were selected at a single meeting, as hosts for both VII and VIII were named. Houston became the first Super Bowl host city provided with more than one year to prepare for the game, and lead time has grown substantially in succeeding years. Five cities, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Dallas, and New Orleans, prepared serious bids, while San Francisco (Stanford Stadium) withdrew from the running a week prior to the vote. After nine deadlocked votes, Bud Adams recommended awarding two consecutive sites. This compromise mirrored an idea brought up in 1971 by representatives from Miami. Los Angeles won on the ninth ballot and was named host of VII, while second place Houston was named the host for VIII.

Miami Dolphins

Although the Dolphins were unable to match their 17–0 perfect season of 1972, many sports writers, fans, and Dolphins players themselves felt that the 1973 team was better. While the 1972 team faced no competition in the regular season that had a record of better than 8-6 and/or .500, the 1973 team played against a much tougher schedule, which included games against the Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Dallas Cowboys (all playoff teams). Additionally, they played against a resurgent Bills squad which featured 2,000-yard rusher O. J. Simpson, and a Cleveland Browns team that finished over .500. Miami finished with a 12–2 regular season, including their opening game victory over the defending 1972 NFC West champions, the San Francisco 49ers. With this win, the Dolphins tied an NFL record with eighteen consecutive wins. The Dolphins' streak ended in week two with a 12–7 loss to the Raiders in Berkeley, California.

Just like the two previous seasons, Miami's offense relied primarily on its rushing attack. Fullback Larry Csonka recorded his third consecutive 1,000-rushing-yard season (1,003 yards), while running back Mercury Morris rushed for 954 yards and scored 10 touchdowns. Running back Jim Kiick was also a key contributor, rushing for 257 yards and catching 27 passes for 208 yards. Quarterback Bob Griese, the AFC's second-leading passer, completed only 116 passes for 1,422 yards, but threw more than twice as many touchdown passes (17) as interceptions (8), and earned an 84.3 passer rating. He became the first quarterback to start three Super Bowls and is joined by Jim Kelly and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to start at least three consecutive Super Bowls. Wide receiver Paul Warfield remained the main deep threat on the team, catching 29 passes for 514 yards and 11 touchdowns. Marlin Briscoe added 30 receptions for 447 yards and 2 scores. The offensive line was strong, once again led by center Jim Langer and right guard Larry Little. Griese, Csonka, Warfield, Langer, Nick Buoniconti and Little would all eventually be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bobby Beathard was also elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Miami's "No Name Defense" continued to dominate their opponents. Future Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti recovered three fumbles and returned one for a touchdown. Safety Dick Anderson led the team with eight interceptions, which he returned for 163 yards and two touchdowns on route to winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year. And safety Jake Scott, the previous season's Super Bowl MVP, had four interceptions and 71 return yards. The Dolphins were still using their "53" defense devised at the beginning of the 1971 season, in which Bob Matheson (#53) would be brought in as a fourth linebacker in a 3–4 defense, with Manny Fernandez at nose tackle. Matheson could either rush the passer or drop back into coverage.

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings also finished the regular season with a 12–2 record, winning their first nine games before a 20–14 loss on Monday Night Football to the Atlanta Falcons. The Vikings' other loss was a 27–0 shutout in Week 12 to the eventual AFC Central Division Champion Cincinnati Bengals, whom the Dolphins defeated in the AFC divisional playoffs.

Minnesota's offense was led by 13-year veteran quarterback Fran Tarkenton. During the regular season, Tarkenton completed 61.7 percent of his passes for 2,113 yards, 15 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He also rushed for 202 yards and another touchdown. The team's primary deep threat was Pro Bowl wide receiver John Gilliam, who caught 42 passes for 907 yards, an average of 21.6 yards per catch, and scored eight touchdowns. Tight end Stu Voigt was also a key element of the passing game, with 23 receptions for 318 yards and two touchdowns.

The Vikings' main rushing weapon was NFL Rookie of the Year running back Chuck Foreman, who rushed for 801 yards, caught 37 passes for 362 yards and scored six touchdowns. The Vikings had four other significant running backs – Dave Osborn, Bill Brown, Oscar Reed and future actor Ed Marinaro – who combined for 1,469 rushing/receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. The Vikings' offensive line was also very talented, led by right tackle Ron Yary and six-time Pro Bowl center Mick Tingelhoff.

The Minnesota defense ranked second in the league in fewest points allowed (168) and was again anchored by a defensive line nicknamed the "Purple People Eaters", consisting of defensive tackles Gary Larsen and Alan Page, and defensive ends Jim Marshall and Carl Eller. Behind them, Pro Bowl linebacker Jeff Siemon had 2 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries. Cornerback Bobby Bryant (seven interceptions, 105 return yards, one touchdown) and safety Paul Krause (four interceptions) led the defensive secondary.

Playoffs

The Vikings earned their second appearance in the Super Bowl after defeating the wild card Washington Redskins, 27–20, and the NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys, 27–10, in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Dolphins defeated the AFC Central champion Cincinnati Bengals 34–16 in the divisional round, and the AFC West Champion Oakland Raiders, 27–10 for the AFC Championship. The Dolphins were the first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls. Just as in the regular season, Miami relied primarily on their run game in the playoffs, racking up 241 rushing yards against Cincinnati and 266 vs the Raiders. The ground game was particularly crucial against Oakland, as it enabled them to win despite completing just 3 of 6 passes for 34 yards in the game.

Super Bowl notes

This was the first Super Bowl in which a former AFL franchise was the favorite. The 1970 AFC champion Baltimore Colts had been the favorite in Super Bowl V, but they were an original NFL franchise prior the 1970 merger. Despite Miami being favored, Sports Illustrated predicted a Dolphin loss for the third consecutive year.

This was also the first Super Bowl played in a stadium which was not the current home to an NFL or AFL team, as no team had called Rice Stadium home since the Houston Oilers moved into the Astrodome in 1968. At the time, the Astrodome seated just over 50,000 for football, and was considered too small to host the Super Bowl. It was also the first Super Bowl game played on the then-popular AstroTurf artificial playing surface, not surprising since Houston's Astrodome was the first facility to install AstroTurf in 1966. (Super Bowl V and Super Bowl VI, the first two Super Bowls played on artificial turf were played on the competing Poly-Turf brand.) Indeed, a city in the state of Texas would not host another Super Bowl for exactly 30 years until Super Bowl XXXVIII (also in Houston, at what was then Reliant Stadium).

The Vikings complained about their practice facilities at Houston ISD's Delmar Stadium, a 20-minute bus ride from their hotel. They said that the locker room was cramped, uncarpeted, and had no lockers, and that most of the shower heads did not work (it was later discovered birds had nested there). The practice field had no blocking sleds. "I don't think our players have seen anything like this since junior high school", said Vikings head coach Bud Grant. The Dolphins, meanwhile, trained at the Oilers' facility, since they were an AFC team like Miami.

Having already become the first NFC Central team to even reach the NFC Championship Game, the Vikings became the first non-East Division team from either conference to play in a post-merger Super Bowl.

There were reports of dissension among the Dolphins arising from owner Joe Robbie's decision to allow married players to bring their wives at the club's expense. The single players were reportedly angry that they could not bring their girlfriends, mothers or sisters.

Vikings defensive tackle Alan Page and Dolphins left guard Bob Kuechenberg were former teammates at the University of Notre Dame, including participating in the Game of the Century seven years earlier. Kuechenberg, who would be blocking Page in the game, had sustained a broken arm in a game against the Colts and wore a cast while playing in the Super Bowl. Paul Warfield entered the game with a well-publicized hamstring injury to his left leg.

On television before the game, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath said, "If Miami gets the kickoff and scores on the opening drive, the game is over.". Indeed, the Dolphins became the first team to score a touchdown after receiving the game's opening kickoff.

The Dolphins, who were designated as the home team, were obligated by a now-defunct policy to wear their aqua jerseys despite having normally worn white jerseys for home games (though Miami wore aqua for its final two regular-season home games vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions). Also, the Dolphins wore two slightly different helmet decals; some had the decal which the team had previously used in the 1967 season (Bob Griese's rookie year) and would permanently adopt in 1974 (mostly linemen; with the mascot dolphin leaping through the sun), while others had the decal used in 1966 and again from 1968 to 1973 (with the mascot dolphin halfway through the sun).

Famed "Gonzo" writer Hunter S. Thompson covered the game for Rolling Stone magazine, and his exploits in Houston are legendary.

This was the only Super Bowl in which the game ball had white stripes. At the time, the league permitted striped footballs for night games, late afternoon games, indoor games, and other special situations. The NFL ended the use after the season, as the stripes were slippery and made the ball more difficult to throw.

Head linesman Leo Miles was the first African-American to officiate in a Super Bowl.

Broadcasting

The game was televised in the United States by CBS with play-by-play announcer Ray Scott and color commentators Pat Summerall and Bart Starr. This was Scott's final telecast for CBS. Midway through the following season Summerall would take Scott's place as the network's lead play-by-play announcer, holding the position through 1993, when CBS lost rights to the NFC television package to Fox.

This is the earliest surviving Super Bowl where the complete original broadcast exists on videotape. Earlier Super Bowls (such as III, V, VI, and VII) had most of the action preserved on videotape but had a portion of the game missing. All Super Bowls from here on out would be preserved in their entirety.

Entertainment

The Longhorn Band from the University of Texas at Austin performed during the pregame festivities. Later, country music singer Charley Pride sang "America the Beautiful" and the national anthem. This game marked the first time that "America the Beautiful" was performed before a Super Bowl game.

The halftime show also featured the Longhorn Band, along with Judy Mallett, Miss Texas 1973, playing the fiddle, in a tribute to American music titled "A Musical America".

The pre-game party was held on the floor of the Astrodome the night before the game. It was attended by the players, the coaches, media, and celebrities. Entertainment was provided by The La France Sisters and Charley Pride.

Game summary

The Dolphins' game plan on offense was to use misdirection, negative-influence traps, and cross-blocking to exploit the Minnesota defense's excellent pursuit. (The Kansas City Chiefs had used similar tactics against the same Vikings defensive line in Super Bowl IV). Wrote Jim Langer, "All this was successful right away. We kept ripping huge holes into their defense and Csonka kept picking up good yardage, especially to the right. We'd hear Alan [Page] cussing because those negative-influence plays were just driving him nuts. He didn't know what the hell to do." On defense, the Dolphins' goal was to neutralize Chuck Foreman by using cat-quick Manny Fernandez at nose tackle and to make passing difficult for Tarkenton by knocking down his receivers and double-teaming John Gilliam. They were also depending on defensive ends Bill Stanfill and Vern Den Herder to contain Tarkenton's scrambling. Coach Don Shula wrote, "In the case of Tarkenton we wanted to hem him in. In the case of Page, Eller and company, we wanted to try to turn their aggressiveness to our advantage. We decided to emphasize negative influence by misdirection and cross blocking, trying to make the Vikings Front Four commit to the influence of the play and then actually running it elsewhere. The Vikings responded as we anticipated. Then later in the game we found that the Vikings started hesitating, reducing their charge. When they did that, we beat them with straight blocking."

First quarter

As they had in the two previous Super Bowls, the Dolphins won the coin toss and elected to receive. The Dolphins dominated the Vikings right from the beginning, scoring touchdowns on two 10-play drives in the first quarter. Said center Jim Langer, "It was obvious from the beginning that our offense could overpower their defense."

Langer wrote that at halftime, "We definitely knew that this game was over." On the scoring play, Griese forgot the snap count at the line of scrimmage. He asked Csonka, who said "two." Kiick said, "No, it's one." Griese chose to believe Csonka, which was a mistake; it was "one." Griese bobbled the ball slightly, but still managed to get it to Csonka.

After an exchange of punts, Minnesota got the ball back at their 43-yard line after Larry Seiple's kick went just 24 yards.

Fourth quarter

The Vikings got on the board with a 10-play, 57-yard drive, with Tarkenton completing 5 passes for 43 yards, including a 15-yarder to Voigt on 3rd-and-8, and finished the drive himself with a 4-yard touchdown run, cutting Minnesota's deficit to 24–7. This was the first rushing touchdown by a quarterback in Super Bowl history.

Minnesota recovered the ensuing onside kick, but an offside penalty on the Vikings nullified the play, and they subsequently kicked deep. Miami went three-and-out, but Seiple boomed a 57-yard punt and Minnesota got the ball back at their own 3-yard line. Eight plays later, the Vikings reached the Miami 32-yard line, aided by the only penalty charged to Miami in the game (4 yards for pass interference on cornerback Tim Foley) and a 27-yard reception by running back Ed Marinaro. But after two incomplete passes, Tarkenton's pass intended for wide receiver Jim Lash was intercepted by Dolphins cornerback Curtis Johnson at the goal line and returned to Miami's 10 with 6:24 left in the game. Csonka and Kiick were the ball carriers on all 12 remaining plays. The Dolphins picked up two first downs by rush and two by penalty on Vikings defensive tackle Alan Page in running out the clock.

| state = uncollapsed

Final statistics

Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl VIII, Super Bowl VIII Play Finder Mia, Super Bowl VIII Play Finder Min

Statistical comparison

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

!Minnesota Vikings

!Miami Dolphins

|First downs||14||21

|First downs rushing||5||13

|First downs passing||8||4

|First downs penalty||1||4

|Third down efficiency||8/15||4/11

|Fourth down efficiency||0/1||1/1

|Net yards rushing||72||196

|Rushing attempts||24||53

|Yards per rush||3.0||3.7

|Passing – Completions/attempts||18/28||6/7

|Times sacked-total yards||2–16||1–10

|Interceptions thrown||1||0

|Net yards passing||166||63

|Total net yards||238||259

|Punt returns-total yards||0–0||3–20

|Kickoff returns-total yards||4–69||2–47

|Interceptions-total return yards||0–0||1–10

|Punts-average yardage||5–42.2||3–39.6

|Fumbles-lost||2–1||1–0

|Penalties-total yards||7–65||1–4

|Time of possession||26:15||33:45

|Turnovers||2||0

Individual statistics

{| class="wikitable"

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

!C/ATT1

!Yds

!TD

!INT

!Rating

|Fran Tarkenton

|18/28

|182

|67.9

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

!Car2

!Yds

!TD

!LG3

!Yds/Car

|Oscar Reed

|11

|32

|2.91

|Chuck Foreman

|18

|2.57

|Fran Tarkenton

|17

|4.25

|Ed Marinaro

|3.00

|Bill Brown

|2.00

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

!Rec4

!Yds

!TD

!LG3

!Target5

|Chuck Foreman

|27

|10

|John Gilliam

|44

|30

|Stu Voigt

|46

|17

|Ed Marinaro

|39

|27

|Bill Brown

|Doug Kingsriter

|Jim Lash

|Oscar Reed

|–1

{| class="wikitable"

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

!C/ATT1

!Yds

!TD

!INT

!Rating

|Bob Griese

|6/7

|73

|110.1

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

!Car2

!Yds

!TD

!LG3

!Yds/Car

|Larry Csonka

|33

|145

|16

|4.39

|Mercury Morris

|11

|34

|14

|3.09

|Jim Kiick

|10

|1.43

|Bob Griese

|3.50

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

!Rec4

!Yds

!TD

!LG3

!Target5

|Paul Warfield

|33

|27

|Jim Mandich

|21

|13

|Marlin Briscoe

|19

|13

1Completions/attempts

2Carries

3Long gain

4Receptions

5Times targeted

Records set

The following records were set or tied in Super Bowl VIII, 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 set in Super Bowl VIII

!colspan=3|Passing records

|Most completions, game || 18 || Fran Tarkenton (Minnesota)

!colspan=3|Rushing records

|Most yards, game || 145 || rowspan=5|Larry Csonka (Miami)

|Most yards, career || 297

|Most attempts, game || 33

|Most attempts, career || 57

|Highest average gain, career (20 attempts) || 5.2 yards (297–57)

!colspan=3|Combined yardage records †

|Most attempts, career || 60 || rowspan=2|Larry Csonka (Miami)

|Most yards gained, career || 314

!colspan=3|Fumbles

|Most fumbles recovered, game || 2 ||rowspan=2| Jake Scott (Miami)

|Most fumbles recovered, career || 2

!colspan=3|Special Teams

|Most punt return yards gained, career || 45 || Jake Scott (Miami)

|Most punts, career || 15|| Larry Seiple (Miami)

!colspan=3|Records tied

|Most touchdowns, game || 2|| rowspan=2| Larry Csonka

|- style="border-bottom: 2px solid gray"

|Most rushing touchdowns, game || 2

|Most touchdowns, career || 2 || rowspan=2|Larry Csonka Jim Kiick (Miami)

|- style="border-bottom: 2px solid gray"

|Most rushing touchdowns, career || 2

|- style="border-bottom: 2px solid gray"

|rowspan=2|Most fumbles, game || rowspan=2|1 || Fran Tarkenton Oscar Reed (Minnesota)

|- style="border-bottom: 2px solid gray"

| Jake Scott (Miami)

|Most punt returns, career || 6 || Jake Scott

† This category includes rushing, receiving, interception returns, punt returns, kickoff returns, and fumble returns.

{| class="wikitable"

!colspan=3|Team records

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

! width="150px" style=";" | Minnesota !! Position !! width="150px" style=";" | Miami

| colspan="3" style="text-align:center;" | Offense

| Carroll Dale || style="text-align:center;" | WR || bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Paul Warfield‡

| Grady Alderman || style="text-align:center;" | LT || Wayne Moore

| Ed White || style="text-align:center;" | LG || Bob Kuechenberg

| bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Mick Tingelhoff‡ || style="text-align:center;" | C || bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Jim Langer‡

| Frank Gallagher || style="text-align:center;" | RG || bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Larry Little‡

| bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Ron Yary‡ || style="text-align:center;" | RT || Norm Evans

| Stu Voigt || style="text-align:center;" | TE || Jim Mandich

| John Gilliam || style="text-align:center;" | WR || Marlin Briscoe

| bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Fran Tarkenton‡ || style="text-align:center;" | QB || bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Bob Griese‡

| Chuck Foreman || style="text-align:center;" | RB || Mercury Morris

| Oscar Reed || style="text-align:center;" | RB || bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Larry Csonka‡

| colspan="3" style="text-align:center;" | Defense

| bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Carl Eller‡ || style="text-align:center;" | LE || Vern Den Herder

| Gary Larsen || style="text-align:center;" | LT || Manny Fernandez

| bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Alan Page‡ || style="text-align:center;" | RT || Bob Heinz

| Jim Marshall || style="text-align:center;" | RE || Bill Stanfill

| Roy Winston || style="text-align:center;" | LLB || Doug Swift

| Jeff Siemon || style="text-align:center;" | MLB || bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Nick Buoniconti‡

| Wally Hilgenberg || style="text-align:center;" | RLB || Mike Kolen

| Nate Wright || style="text-align:center;" | LCB || Lloyd Mumphord

| Bobby Bryant || style="text-align:center;" | RCB || Curtis Johnson

| Jeff Wright || style="text-align:center;" | LS || Dick Anderson

| bgcolor="#FFCC00" | Paul Krause‡ || style="text-align:center;" | RS || Jake Scott

Officials

Referee: Ben Dreith (#12) first Super Bowl
Umpire: Ralph Morcroft (#15) second Super Bowl (II)
Head linesman: Leo Miles (#35) first Super Bowl
Line judge: Jack Fette (#39) second Super Bowl (V)
Back judge: Stan Javie (#29) second Super Bowl (II)
Field judge: Fritz Graf (#34) second Super Bowl (V)
Alternate referee: Dick Jorgensen (#60) later was an alternate for Super Bowl XV and worked Super Bowl XXIV on field
Alternate umpire: Frank Sinkovitz (#20) later worked Super Bowl XV on field

Note: A seven-official system was not used until the 1978 season.

Leo Miles was the first African-American to officiate in a Super Bowl.

References

External links

Super Bowl official website
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)
Super Bowl VIII Box Score at Pro Football Reference