The American Football League presented an unconventional style of the game perfectly suited to the 1960s. When the AFL and NFL warred, then settled on a merger, the Super Bowl was formed. It seemed only a matter of time before the AFL would win the big one against the NFL. Super Bowl III was that time. The upstart New York Jets, riding a Beatles image, struck one mighty blow against a Baltimore Colts franchise that had known only bereavement all decade long. Interviews with over a dozen sports figures on the Jets, Colts, rival teams, and the media recall what was later termed the greatest football game of the 20th centuryand the greatest day in the history of the New York Jets.
The Green Bay Packers had to call on all their strength in character to even reach the 1967 NFL Championship Game. There, they met a Dallas Cowboys squad that had been named ""Speed Inc."" Everyone will remember that championship game as ""The Ice Bowl"" for its brutal temperature and wind chill. They will also remember it as the greatest game in Green Bay Packers history. It certainly was a testament to the pride that fueled Vince Lombardi, who was about to step down as Packer coach.
ESPN's Dan Patrick once described ""The Catch"" as the play that marked the end of one NFL dynasty and the start of another. But ""The Catch"" was really the penultimate event of one of the most remembered NFC Championship games in history.
Football had not reached American mainstream, but two franchises were about to change all that. One was the New York Giants, the big-town team with the great defense. The other was the young Baltimore Colts, with a proven leader at quarterback. Together they spent December 28, 1958 writing the pages of what has been called ""The Greatest Game Ever Played.""
On January 2, 1982, the Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers played an extreme game of extremes to many extremes. The ""Air Coryell"" Chargers, with their high-voltage offense and dismal defense, qualified to battle a Dolphin team with the ""Killer Bees"" (or ""B's"") defense and the two-quarterback system known as ""Woodstrock."" Add to that the humidity of an 85° night, and you have one of the greatest games in NFL history. The results of this overtime thriller would be indelibly burned into the minds of all who were at the Orange Bowl.
John Elway's coming-out party occurred in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter of this AFC Championship Game. When it looked as if the Browns were going to Super Bowl XXI, Elway conducted ""The Drive"" (which was enshrined in the Football Hall of Fame long before Elway was inducted).
For sympathy, NFL Films presented this game for fans of the Baltimore Colts past to watch and feel all sorts of mixed emotions. Baltimore had been crowned the AFC East Champions for the third straight year in 1977, but could not win a playoff game. Now came their last great chance, against the defending Super Bowl champion Oakland Raiders. The result was a classic game that has somehow escaped some people's minds.
The Browns had waited an entire year to exact something on the Denver Broncos. It appeared the 1987 AFC Championship would be anticlimactic, as Denver pulled away to an 18-point lead. But the Browns would attempt one of the playoff's most forgotten comebacks.
Eleven years after ""The Catch"" shifted the balance of power in the NFL to San Francisco, the new-look Dallas Cowboys were ready to reclaim their place on top of the mountain. To do that, they had to beat the 49ers in the 1992 NFC Championship Game.
The hungry Houston Oilers were anxious to throw a monkey off their back when the faced the Buffalo Bills in the 1992 AFC All-Wild Card Game. It seemed the less-than-capacity crowd at Rich Stadium was down for the count with the rest of the Bills, as Houston raced to a 35-3 lead. What happened next, with Frank Reich running the offense for an injured Jim Kelly, can only be described as the greatest moment in Bills' history and the beginning of the death of the Houston Oilers.
The inconsistent 49ers and the proven Green Bay Packers met head-to-head as the 1998 NFC playoffs began. San Francisco had basically earned their 13-3 record by themselves, with no front office. The Packers, owned by a city, may have been a wild card, but they could still get the job done. Many people's jobs seemed to be on the line for this 1998 NFC Wild Card Game, and indeed, once it was over, a lot of men did change jobs.
Super Bowl XIII was the first-ever rematch between two teams who were virtually the same as when they had met in a prior Super Bowl. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys met again in Miami to determine who would be named Team of the 1970s.
Colin Kaepernick completed six of 11 passes at least 15 yards downfield, including 3-of-3 and a 20-yard touchdown when targeting Michael Crabtree. Crabtree has caught a touchdown pass on such throws in three of his past four games, and has been utilized downfield much more in Kaepernick's eight starts this season, compared with Alex Smith's nine starts. --Kaepernick has completed 53.8 percent of his throws at least 15 yards downfield this season