A Running Game and Super Bowl VIII

All throughout the 1973 NFL season, pro football’s offensive strategy revolved around the running game, regardless of what team you talked about. Two of the best running teams in the league found themselves as competitors in Super Bowl VIII on January 13, 1974, at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas.

Both the Miami Dolphins and the Minnesota Vikings came to the ultimate game from different directions. But they both featured the art of running the football as their primary method of travel.

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Minnesota Viking Rushing Attack Turns Corner

Now before you start arguing with me that Fran Tarkenton was primarily a thrower of short passes as his team’s most common method of gaining yardage, you have to keep in mind that the Vikings did not have much of a running game in 1972.

They only gained a total of 1,740 rushing yards in 1972. As a result of that deficiency, Minnesota drafted a tailback out of the University of Miami by the name of Chuck Foreman as their first-round draft choice. By the end of the 1973 season, the Vikings gained a total of 2,275 rushing yards, which was 535 more yards than in the previous year.

Foreman himself led the team with 801 rushing yards in 1973, as he won the league’s Rookie of the Year award. Minnesota finished 1972 with a lackluster 7-7 record. They finished 1973 with a 12-2 record and the NFC Central Division championship.

1973 Dolphins' Running Game

The Miami Dolphins were several steps ahead of the Vikings by the time that Super Bowl VIII rolled around. The Dolphins had finished the previous year with a perfect record, going 17-0 on the way to a world championship in Super Bowl VII.

To set up their home in the never before visited town of Perfectville, Miami primarily employed their running game on offense. Fullback Larry Csonka, halfback Mercury Morris, and substitute running back Jim Kiick set a new NFL team record with 2,960 yards. The Dolphin runners also accrued a league-leading 26 touchdowns in 1972.

In 1973, however, everyone was wondering what Miami’s rushing attack would do, or even could do, for an encore. Moreover, wasn’t every one of Miami’s opponents now taking into account how best to stop the Dolphins’ running game? Miami head coach Don Shula’s blueprint therefore for his 1973 team was uniquely similar to that of his 1972 team. Shula was a believer in the “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” theory.

He figured that he had plenty of success in 1972 running the ball. Until opposing defenses were going to prove that they were able to stop his offense from running the ball, then he was going to continue running the ball. Shula had a couple of good reasons for doing this.

One, his running backs – all three of them – seldom fumbled the ball. As it turned out, Csonka, Kiick, and Morris fumbled the ball less in 1973 than they did in 1972.

Another reason for Shula featuring his running game over his passing game was their overall productivity. While it is true that his three main rushers ran for fewer yards in 1973 (2,214 yards) than they had in 1972 (2,638 yards), they were still a quality group of runners who could get the tough yards and still break some runs on occasion.

The Big Game

So, it would be a contest where the Vikings runners would face off against the Dolphins runners in Super Bowl VIII.

Miami’s rushing attack was naturally considered the stronger of the two teams, and by the end of the first quarter, no doubts remained as to this fact. Miami’s rushing attack accumulated 78 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter of Super Bowl VIII. The Vikings, in contrast, could only gain seven yards rushing and zero points in the same amount of time.

By the end of Super Bowl VIII, Larry Csonka would gain 145 rushing yards, score two touchdowns, and be named the game’s unanimous Most Valuable Player award, the first running back in Super Bowl history to earn that honor. Minnesota’s leading rusher in Super Bowl VIII was Oscar Reed, who carried the ball 11 times for only 32 yards, and who committed a crucial fumble deep in Miami territory late in the first half which the Dolphins recovered, and which kept the Vikings off of the scoreboard.

One could point out that Miami’s No-Name Defense was the key to beating Minnesota by a score of 24-7 in Super Bowl VIII. But an equal amount of credit certainly should go to the Dolphins rushing attack, an element which accrued a grand total of 196 yards rushing in Super Bowl VIII.

Podcast Trivia Time

Trivia Question:

One Minnesota Vikings running back would go on to an acting career in Hollywood after his pro football career. Who was he?

Trivia Answer:

Ed Marinaro, who starred in the television series Hill Street Blues in the 1980s.

Host and Author of Pro Football in the 1970s - Joe Zagorski

Throughout his days, Joe spent some time as a sportswriter and has been a member of the Pro Football Researchers Association since the mid-1980s. Joe is also a proud member of the Pro Football Writers of America.

Also, if you’re interested in picking one of Joe’s books up, all three are listed below.

Here, you can learn more about Joe and Pro Football in the 1970s.

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