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On this week’s NFL schedule the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Football Team face each other. For Throwback Thursday, we’ll highlight the NFC Championship game for the 1983 season, played between these 2 teams on January 8, 1984 that was a matching of wits between a pair of future Hall of Fame coaching legends – Bill Walsh of the 49ers and Washington’s Joe Gibbs. The Redskins entered the title game as the class of the NFC for the ’83 season, winning the NFC East title with a stellar 14-2 record. The Niners, on the other hand, had gone through a stretch where they lost 4 of 5 games, then rebounded to win their final 3 to clinch the NFC West crown at 10-6. A one point 24-23 win over Detroit advanced San Fran to the title game, while Washington had destroyed the Los Angeles Rams 51-7 to earn their title game berth.

The Redskins were heavy favorites, and played like it for the first three quarters of the contest. John Riggins, Washington’s hard-nosed back who would grind out 123 yards rushing on 36 carries for the day, scored a pair of touchdowns from 4 and 1 yard out to put the ‘Skins ahead 14-0. When Joe Theisman connected with Charlie Brown on a 70 yard touchdown pass to up the lead to 21-0 after 3 quarters, it looked like it would be smooth sailing to the Super Bowl for Washington. The 49ers were a proud franchise and weren’t about to go down quietly. They had won the Super Bowl just 2 years prior and although this was the pre-Jerry Rice, John Taylor, etc. era, Walsh had one potent weapon at his disposal, his unflappable quarterback, Joe Montana.

Joe Cool proceeded to mount a furious fourth quarter comeback. He guided 3 touchdown drives which he ended with scoring passes. A 76 yard hookup with his favorite target of that season, Freddie Solomon (4 catches for 106 yards on the day), was sandwiched between short scoring tosses to Mike Wilson. The stunned Redskins now found themselves in a 21-21 deadlock. With time running out, Theisman engineered a drive downfield, helped by some questionable penalty calls against the Niner secondary, the most costly being a defensive holding call against Ronnie Lott that prolonged the drive, cost San Francisco precious time when they got the ball back, and set up the game winning points. They were provided by the Redskins’ Mark Moseley, one of the last of the NFL’s straight-away kickers. Moseley, who had missed 4 field goal attempts in the game already, knocked a 25 yarder through the uprights to give his team a 24-21 win.

The 49ers felt they were robbed by the dubious penalties, but nevertheless Washington earned their second straight Super Bowl appearance. The defending champs may have been better off not advancing, as they were throttled 38-9 by the Raiders on Super Sunday.

John Riggins eyes the end zone vs. 49ers (Sports Illustrated photo)

The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles square off this week on the NFL schedule, so we’ll highlight a game between these 2 franchises played on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 1962. It was the first time the clubs matched up since the Eagles handed Packer coach Vince Lombardi his only post-season loss in the 1960 NFL Championship game. Played at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field, this game was hardly the same contest that was played 2 years earlier for the league title. Green Bay entered the game undefeated at 8-0 while the Eagles, who were considered a bit of a one-hit wonder when they won the crown in 1960, had fallen on hard times. Their record was a lowly 1-6-1 and they were slogging their way through a dreadful season. Now Lombardi was a devout Catholic and never known to be a vengeful person, but he was also a fierce competitor who blamed that 1960 defeat largely on himself. He also vowed to his players that it would never happen again and true to his word the Packers never lost another postseason game in his tenure as coach.

The first quarter was relatively quiet, with Green Bay taking a 7-0 lead on a short touchdown run by backup halfback Tom Moore. The flood gates opened in the second quarter, however, as the Packers racked up 28 unanswered points to lead 35-0 at the half. Fullback Jim Taylor scored twice on runs of 5 and 1 yard, while Moore remained a factor as he scored on a 7 yard run and threw a 25 yard halfback option pass touchdown to Boyd Dowler. Lombardi pretty much emptied the Packer playbook in this game, and his club threw a total of 5 of those HB option tosses in the game, 3 by Moore and 2 by the player usually tabbed to run the play, Paul Hornung. Taylor, who rushed for 141 yards on 25 carries for the day, finished the scoring in the third quarter by rushing 4 and 5 yards for TDs, as he found paydirt 4 times on the day. Packer quarterback Bart Starr cruised through the game, hitting timely passes to go with Taylor’s ground assault. Dowler and Max McGee both had over 100 receiving yards.

With a 49-0 lead now built up, Lombardi called off the dogs in the final period but his defense continued to manhandle  Eagle QBs Sonny Jurgensen and King Hill. Philly only totaled 86 yards of offense and 3 first downs the entire game on their way to the 49-0 shutout embarrassment. In contrast, Green Bay rolled up 624 yards of offense and a record 37 first downs in the totally one-sided contest. The Packers went on to win their second straight NFL title that season, while the Eagles finished 3-10-1 as they continued a downward spiral for several losing seasons afterwards.

Packers’ Jim Taylor (31) dominates the Eagles’ defense

One of this week’s matchups on the NFL schedule pits the Buffalo Bills against the Los Angeles Chargers, and for this week’s Throwback Thursday feature we’ll highlight a divisional playoff game played between these 2 teams on January 3, 1981. The game was played at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, where the Chargers were then located, and was a contest between 2 strong division champions. The Chargers were one of the NFL’s most potent offensive machines, with quarterback Dan Fouts guiding coach Don Coryell’s “Air Coryell” attack to the AFC West crown with an 11-5 record. The Bills were in their third season under coach Chuck Knox, who had built them into AFC East champs at 11-5 by making shrewd personnel moves that included trading away an aging O.J. Simpson and prying receiver Frank Lewis away from Pittsburgh.

Rolf Benirschke opened the scoring with a first quarter field goal for the Chargers, but Buffalo’s defense proved to be pretty stingy, as that was the only scoring San Diego could muster in the first half. Meanwhile, Bills’ signal caller Joe Ferguson, playing on an injured ankle, engineered a pair of scoring drives. Fullback Roosevelt Leaks ran in from a yard out for the first score, and Ferguson found Lewis open for a 9 yard touchdown pass. Surprisingly, Buffalo went into the locker room at halftime with a 14-3 lead. The Chargers came to life in the third quarter. Riding the strong running of Chuck Muncie and pinpoint passing by Fouts, they took the second half kickoff and drove for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10. Fouts connected with Charlie Joiner for a 45 yard gain, then hit Joiner again from 9 yards out for the score.

Unfortunately, Ferguson’s injured ankle began to stiffen, and his play suffered as he was sacked 3 times and intercepted 3 times on inaccurate throws caused by the bad ankle, which later was determined to be a hairline fracture. Safety Glen Edwards had 2 of the picks. The Charger offense never came close to their usual production, but got another Benirschke field goal and sealed a 20-14 victory when WR Ron Smith got behind the Bills’ secondary and hauled in a 50 yard scoring toss from Fouts. Although he didn’t reach the end zone at all, John Jefferson was the most productive Charger receiver in the game, catching 7 passes for 102 yards. Workhorse back Muncie gained 80 tough yards rushing and added 53 more on 6 receptions.

The win sent San Diego to the AFC Championship game the following week, but their Super Bowl hopes died there as they lost to their AFC West arch-rivals, the Oakland Raiders, who were in the process of making an improbable run as a wild card team to an NFL title.

Chargers’ Chuck Muncie gains some hard-earned yards