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It’s week 17 of this fast-moving NFL season, and one of the matchups pits the Chicago Bears versus the San Francisco 49ers. We’ll harken back to January 6, 1985, when these 2 franchises faced off in the NFC Championship game for the 1984 season. The Bears had snuck into the playoffs and held an 11-6 record, while Bill Walsh’s 49ers were a powerhouse at 16-1. Coach Mike Ditka’s club was on the verge of building something special, and 1985 would be a big year for them, but in this contest they were a year early in their development. Chicago’s defense, a solid unit, held the high-powered SF offense to 2 first half Ray Wersching field goals, and the Niners held a slim 6-0 lead.

Unfortunately the Bears’ offense never got untracked in the game, managing only 186 yards of total offense. They were also hampered by the fact that starting quarterback Jim McMahon was sidelined with a lacerated kidney, forcing backup Steve Fuller into action.  Although their offense was the centerpiece, the San Francisco defense was a solid unit also. They sacked Fuller 9 times in this game. In workmanlike style, the 49er offense took over in the second half. Wendell Tyler scored the only touchdown of the third quarter on a 9 yard run, while Joe Montana hit Freddie Solomon with a 10 yard fourth quarter scoring pass to wrap up a 23-0 49er shutout victory. Chicago’s lone bright spot was a 92 yard rushing day for Walter Payton, while Dwight Clark and Solomon garnered 83 and 73 yards receiving respectively for their team.

San Francisco’s unstoppable freight train motored into the Super Bowl and demolished Dan Marino’s Miami squad 38-16 in the Super Bowl. For the Bears, they would have to wait another year before they could dominate the league and record their famous “Super Bowl Shuffle” video, a cocky gesture that they backed up by going on to win the 1985 Super Bowl in a rout over the New England Patriots.

Bears’ Fuller turned head over heels by 49er defense

This week’s Throwback Thursday feature pits 2 teams that meet on the NFL slate of games in week 16, the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers. The game took place on September 16, 1962 at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium. It marked the “homecoming “of a Lions’ legend, quarterback Bobby Layne. The combative signal caller had led the Motor City club to 3 NFL titles in the 1950s (although Tobin Rote started the last one in 1957). Layne was angered when the Lions traded him to Pittsburgh in the middle of the 1958 season, after an injury and amid gambling accusations that were never proven. Layne angrily proclaimed after the trade that the Lions “wouldn’t win again for another 50 years”, a proclamation that has held true since Detroit is one of the few NFL franchises that has never reached the Super Bowl. This was actually the second time that these 2 teams had met since the trade. In 1959 they battled to a 10-10 tie in a contest that saw Layne account for all 10 Steeler points with a field goal and a touchdown pass to Tom Tracy, but that game was played in the Steel City.

So that set the stage for the legendary QB to return to the place he had led to glory the previous decade. Some of the excitement was let out of the return by the fact that Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback was actually Ed Brown for this 1962 season opener. After a scoreless first quarter Detroit’s Milt Plum, who had been acquired from Cleveland prior to the ’62 season, tossed a 1 yard touchdown pass to Gail Cogdill. Pittsburgh countered that when Brown connected with Preston Carpenter on a 43 yard bomb to tie the score. The Lions owned the rest of the first half, as fullback Nick Pietrosante rambled 22 yards for a touchdown, and Plum threw for another score to Cogdill, this one a 21 yarder. The Lions took a 21-7 lead into halftime.

Things didn’t change in the second half. Detroit’s Dan Lewis closed out the third quarter and opened the final one with 1 yard touchdown runs to up his club’s lead to 35-7. Layne eventually entered the game, replacing the ineffective Brown, but he didn’t have much luck either, completing 5 of 10 passes for 76 yards. A Wayne Walker field goal and another Plum touchdown pass, of 9 yards to Pat Studstill, finished the scoring as the Lions grabbed a convincing 45-7 win. No revenge was had by Layne, but he really couldn’t be faulted, as he was put in a hopeless situation, and also was at the tail end of his career, with 1962 being his last season.

Bobby Layne, one of the last of the no face mask players

In the past we have featured NFL preseason games on Throwback Thursday, mainly because in the 1960s after the merger, the exhibition contests between NFL and AFL teams were battles for pride. We are featuring another preseason contest this week, played on August 5, 1961, but for another reason. It was a match between the second year expansion Dallas Cowboys and the shiny new expansion Minnesota Vikings, 2 franchises who meet this week. This was the first time the Minnesota franchise took the field in their history, and the game was played in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was common in that era for NFL teams to play their exhibition games in non-NFL cities, as the league was still fighting for as much exposure as they could get. South Dakota was not necessarily a good choice however, as the game drew a little less than 5,000 fans, causing the promoters to lose money.The established NFL teams did the new expansion teams no favors in those days, as both the Cowboys in 1960 and Vikings in ’61 were forced to stock their rosters with aging castoffs from the other clubs. The rise of the AFL in 1960 drained the talent pool even more.

Game program from Vikings’ first ever contest

With a year’s head start on their opponent, Dallas was superior, scoring first on a touchdown run of 15 yards by L.G. Dupre, then adding another in the second quarter on a pass from Eddie LeBaron of 14 yards to flanker Frank Clarke. The Vikings then countered with an 80 yard drive culminating in the first touchdown (albeit a preseason one) in team history as a pair of castoff vets connected  on a 14 yard pass, with George Shaw finding back Hugh McElhenny. A 36 yard pass from Shaw to Paul Winslow highlighted the drive. Minnesota’s special teams apparently hadn’t been prepared yet, as the extra point try was blocked. As is common in exhibition contests, a second Cowboy quarterback, Don Meredith, took over and after a fumbled punt drove his team to another score, this time a 1 yard run by Amos Marsh. This gave Dallas a 21-6 halftime lead. Another lost Viking fumble set up the only score of the third quarter, a 15 yard field goal by Allen Green. Norris Stevenson caught a 32 yard touchdown pass from Meredith to open the final quarter, upping Dallas’ lead to 31-6.

A bright ray of hope for Minnesota’s future entered the game after that, as rookie QB Fran Tarkenton took the field. The scrambling signal caller produced immediate results, as he hit Don Ellersick for a 36 yard score. A Meredith to Clarke 7 yard TD toss ended the scoring, giving the Cowboys the win by the final 38-13 count. The Vikings, on opening day of the regular season that year, shocked the gridiron world by trouncing the Chicago Bears 37-13, but would lose to the Cowboys twice in the first 4 weeks on their way to a final record of 3-11. Dallas finished the year at 4-9-1, moving another year closer to respectability under coach Tom Landry.

Vikings’ Paul Winslow swarmed by Dallas defenders

On November 30, 1980 the Philadelphia Eagles faced the San Diego Chargers at Jack Murphy Stadium, and with the now Los Angeles Chargers taking on the Eagles on Monday night to close out the weekly NFL slate of games, the 1980 clash will be our Throwback Thursday feature. The game was a bit of a clash of titans at that time. The Eagles entered the match with an 11-1 record, sitting atop the NFC East standings on their way to a Super Bowl appearance. Meanwhile, the Chargers were in their “Air Coryell” era, an offensive machine named for head coach Don Coryell.

Despite the Eagles owning a stout defense, San Diego owned the entire first half. The Air Coryell machine, powered by quarterback Dan Fouts, opened the first and second quarter scoring with touchdown passes of 14 and 17 yards to All Pro tight end Kellen Winslow. Add in 2 Rolf Benirschke field goals (and a missed extra point) and the Chargers led 19-0 at the halftime break. Coryell’s club may have gotten a little complacent with that lead as the second half unfolded. Costly fumbles (a total of 3 on the day) allowed the Eagles to rally. Star running back Wilbert Montgomery provided the only scoring in the third quarter with a 1 yard touchdown plunge, while Benirschke booted his third field goal in the final quarter to up his team’s lead to 22-7.

The proud Eagles stormed back to put a scare into their hosts. Quarterback Ron Jaworski, nicknamed “The Polish Rifle”, engineered a pair of touchdown drives, ending with scoring passes of 16 yards to tight end Keith Krepfle and 11 yards to Montgomery. With no 2 point conversion option available at that time, the Eagles fell short by a point, losing by a 22-21 count. The Chargers’ dynamic wide receiver, John Jefferson, burned the Philly defense with 8 catches for 164 yards to complement Winslow’s 6 grabs for 89 yards and 2 TDs. Montgomery led the Eagle attack, totaling 139 yards of offensive production.

Both teams qualified for the postseason, with the Eagles advancing all the way to the Super Bowl, where they would lose to the team that eliminated the Chargers in the AFC Championship game, the Oakland Raiders.

Chargers’ John Jefferson beats the Eagles’ defense (Focus On Sport/Getty Image)

On December 15, 1962 the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, two teams that face each other on this week’s NFL schedule, were involved in a contest at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium, a game that is our feature for our Throwback Thursday post. It was the final game of the regular season for both clubs, and both were eliminated from postseason play (which amounted to just a championship matchup of the Eastern and Western Division winners at that time). To make matters worse this basically meaningless game would be played on a rain-soaked field that turned into a Mud Bowl. The playing surface became so bad in the second half that neither team could muster up a score.

The teams traded touchdowns in the first quarter, as 49er quarterback John Brodie snuck in from a yard out and Cleveland fullback Jim Brown rambled in from 5 yards out. A missed extra point by the Browns left them behind at 7-6. Brown’s second score of the game, a 12 yard scamper, along with Lou Groza’s extra point put the Browns up 13-7.

Muddy Browns’ defense awaits the action

San Francisco’s Tommy Davis kicked a 14 yard field goal before the half ended to close the Niners’ deficit to 13-10, but that would end the scoring, and the clubs sloshed through the mud the second half without generating points. The win allowed Cleveland to at least salvage a winning record as they finished 7-6-1, but there was disappointment also. Brown, who in my opinion is the greatest football player of all time, fell 4 yards short of passing the 1,000 yards rushing mark for the fourth consecutive season , despite gaining 135 yards on 22 carries in the messy weather.

A muddy and disappointed Jim Brown leaves the field

It’s week 12 of the NFL season already, and the Detroit Lions take on the New York Giants in one of the week’s matchups. For our Throwback Thursday feature this week, we’ll land on December 7, 1958 for a contest between these teams. The Giants were one of the league’s powerhouse franchises in those days, and the Lions were defending champions. As for this season, however, entering this week 11 matchup the Giants were surging toward an Eastern Division title while the Lions had a bit of a championship hangover as they were 4-5-1 and completely  out of the Western race.

The first score of this game would ultimately be the difference. Detroit back Gene Gedman was tackled in his own end zone by defensive end Jim Katcavage for a safety. Pat Summerall booted an 18 yard field goal to close out the opening quarter scoring, giving the Giants a slim 5-0 advantage. New York jumped out in front 12-0 in the second quarter on a 6 yard touchdown toss from quarterback Charlie Conerly to fullback Alex Webster. Detroit’s anemic offense managed a Jim Martin field goal to cut the lead to 12-3 at halftime. The Lions showed some life in the third quarter. Tobin Rote, who completed only 6 passes for 32 yards in the game, found Ken Webb with a 2 yard completion for a TD. Then linebacker Wayne Walker returned a recovered fumble 34 yards for a score that shockingly pulled Detroit into the lead at 17-12.

The Giants scored in the final quarter on a 1 yard run by Frank Gifford to nail down a 19-17 win, but it took stopping a fake punt to set up the winning drive, and also a blocked field goal as time expired to secure the victory.

Giants’ DE Jim Katcavage

We’re headed into week 11 of the NFL season, and one of the matchups on this week’s slate of games finds the Kansas City Chiefs facing their AFC West division rivals, the Denver Broncos. Our Throwback Thursday time machine will land on October 11, 1964 for an AFL contest between the 2 teams. These clubs were like night and day as far as success on the field goes during the 10 years of the AFL’s existence. The Dallas/Kansas City franchise won 3 league titles, including the final one in 1969, while Denver failed to compile a winning record in any of the 10 years of the league’s stand-alone existence.

So it was not surprising that when they took the field for this matchup, in the league’s fifth year, that the Broncos had not beaten the Chiefs in 8 attempts to that point. There was no reason to expect that this streak would end on this day, as Denver entered the contest winless at 0-4. There was determination, and perhaps a bit of embarrassment, on the Bronco sideline, and they managed the only score of the opening quarter on a 4 yard touchdown run by running back Charlie Mitchell. As is common with losing teams, Denver missed the extra point, which allowed the Chiefs to take the lead at 7-6 when Len Dawson found end Chris Burford for 17 yards and a TD. The rest of the half was a field goal kicking contest between Denver’s Gene Mingo, who booted 17 and 47 yarders, and K.C.’s Tommy Brooker, who connected from 37 and 48 yards. This left the Chiefs with a slim 13-12 lead.

There’s no telling whether keeping the score close motivated the Broncos or if coach Mac Speedie fired them up with a speech, but the lowly Denver squad came out fired up in the second half. They dominated the third quarter, as quarterback Jacky Lee hit star receiver Lionel Taylor with a 13 yard scoring toss, then heaved a 58 yard touchdown bomb to Mitchell. Lee, who had come to Denver on a strange “lend-lease” trade with Houston that saw the Oilers loaning the QB to the Mile High club for 2 years, found Taylor again for a 34 yard score to open the final quarter, and Denver found themselves in the unusual position of holding a commanding 33-13 lead.

Vagabond AFL quarterback Jacky Lee

Kansas City was too proud of a team to not fight back, and indeed they did. Dawson connected with his tight end, Fred Arbanas, for a 33 yard score, then hit Burford from 21 yards out to cut the final deficit to 33-27, as Denver held on to win. It was a satisfying result for the long-suffering Broncos, although it didn’t last long as the Chiefs would win the next 11 matchups between the Western Division foes. Still, it was a fine effort from Lee, who bounced around the AFL with 3 different teams but won 3 championships as a backup, and Mitchell, who garnered 127 yards from scrimmage and who earned a doctorate in education after his playing days ended.

Dr. Charles Mitchell, later in life

On this week’s NFL slate of games, the Atlanta Falcons meet the Indianapolis Colts. Our Throwback Thursday feature game took place on December 6, 1998 at the Georgia Dome between these 2 clubs. The final result was a 28-21 Falcons’ victory, but it was a groundbreaking contest for the Atlanta franchise for a shocking reason. The teams had met 10 times prior to this game since the Falcons entered the NFL as an expansion team in 1966, and amazingly the Colts had won all 10. If ever there was going to be an ideal time for Atlanta to break that streak, this would be it. The Falcons, under coach Dan Reeves, entered the contest with a 10-2 record, and would ultimately wind up qualifying for the first Super Bowl appearance in club history. Indy, on the other hand, sported a 2-10 mark and were led by a struggling rookie quarterback – some guy named Peyton Manning.

Manning looked like anything but a scuffling rookie to start the game, as he engineered a pair of touchdown drives that culminated with scoring passes of 11 yards to running back Marshall Faulk and 30 yards to receiver Torrance Small. The lowly Colts now led 14-0. Would they shock the world and continue their crazy domination of the Falcons? Atlanta QB Chris Chandler cut the deficit in half with a 40 yard touchdown toss to Tony Martin, but Faulk scored again, this time on a 3 yard run, to put the Colts up 21-7. Atlanta was just too good of a club to stay down, and they rallied to score twice, on touchdown runs of 1 yard by Jamal Anderson and 3 yards by Chandler (with 5 seconds left in the half), to tie the game at 21-21 going into the break.

The defenses of both teams rose up in the second half, with the only score coming on a third quarter 3 yard pass from Chandler to Terance Mathis, giving the Falcons a 28-21 lead that wound up being the final score. Statistically, Atlanta had a 100 yard rusher in Anderson (30 carries for 122 yards) and a 100 yard receiver in Martin (7 catches for 140 yards). Anderson’s “Dirty Bird” touchdown celebration dance was a feature of the team’s surprising Super Bowl season, and as for the Colts, although the ’98 season was a wash, they faced a bright future with Manning under center as he matured into a Hall of Famer.

Jamal Anderson does his “Dirty Bird” TD celebration

This week the New York Giants face the San Francisco 49ers, so we’ll harken back to January 22, 2012 to an NFC Championship game played between these 2 clubs for our Throwback Thursday feature. Playing at home at Candlestick Park and sporting a 14-4 record, the Niners were favored over the 12-7 wild card Giants. Halfway through the opening quarter, San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith found his tight end, Vernon Davis on a 73 yard scoring pass, but the Giants would do the only scoring in the second stanza, taking a 10-7 lead into the locker room after a 6 yard Eli Manning TD toss to Bear Pascoe and a Lawrence Tynes field goal. Davis, who had a massive day with 3 receptions for 112 yards, hauled in a 28 yard pass from Smith to give his club a 14-10 lead after 3 quarters.

Both defenses dominated a lot of this contest, with the Giants registering 6 sacks and the 49ers sacking Manning 3 times and forcing a pair of turnovers. Manning broke the ice in the final quarter with a go-ahead 17 yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham, who would have a heroic effort a couple of weeks later. David Akers tied the game with a short field goal to send it into overtime, where coach Tom Coughlin’s gritty Giants would eke out a 20-17 win on a Tynes field goal.

The upset win set up a Deja Vu championship game in Super Bowl XLVI, as the Giants upset New England 21-17, with Manningham making an incredible sideline catch that helped set up the winning touchdown, similar to the David Tyree “helmet catch” that set up the winning score in Super Bowl XLII, which saw the Giants stun the previously unbeaten Patriots.

49ers’ Alex Smith feeling the heat

On this week’s NFL schedule the Green Bay Packers meet the Pittsburgh Steelers, a contest that finds quarterback Aaron Rodgers of Pittsburgh facing his old team. These 2 clubs will also be the feature of this week’s Throwback Thursday post, as we travel back to December 17, 1967 for a game played at legendary Lambeau Field. It was the final week of the regular season, and the Packers had already wrapped up first place in the Central Division, while the Steelers were finishing up another dismal losing season. It’s debatable how much effort Green Bay put into winning this game, although their coach, Vince Lombardi, wasn’t one to accept anything less than maximum effort. A telltale sign might be that Green Bay’s third string quarterback, Don Horn, saw the lion’s share of playing time over Bart Starr and even backup Zeke Bratkowski.

Game program from 12/17/67

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, saw this as a major opportunity to win a little respect against the league’s defending champions. The Steeler defense opened the scoring when defensive lineman Ben McGee intercepted a pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown. The Packers got on the board early in the second quarter on a Don Chandler field goal, but Pittsburgh upped their lead to 14-3 when former Packer Earl Gros scored on a 22 yard run. Horn hit speedy back Travis Williams for a 29 yard touchdown pass before the half ended, cutting Green Bay’s deficit to 14-10. Pittsburgh’s defense again clamped down in the third quarter. After Mike Clark connected on a field goal to give his club a 17-10 lead, another Steeler defensive lineman got on the score sheet as Chuck Hinton scooped up a fumble (1 of 5 Packer turnovers on the day) and rambled 27 yards to paydirt. Travis Williams would score the only touchdown of the final quarter to pull the Pack to within a score at 24-17, but that turned out to be the final as the Steelers sent Lombardi off to the playoffs with a loss. Green Bay still finished with a 9-4-1 record, winning their division and fighting all the way through those playoffs to their second consecutive Super Bowl win, while Pittsburgh languished in another losing season with an opposite record than Green Bay’s at 4-9-1.

Motivated Steeler defense awaits the action