The View From Wisconsin
Just a random set of rants from a Sports Fan from Wisconsin.
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Random Super Bowl Trivia
Some random trivia and observations about the Super Bowl:
- Both Green Bay and Pittsburgh have won two Super Bowls in a row; Pittsburgh did so twice (Super Bowls IX and X, and XIII and XIV).
- Pittsburgh and Green Bay have both lost once in the Super Bowl - the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX to the Cowboys, and the Packers two years later in Super Bowl XXXII to the Broncos.
- The Packers lead the all-time series between the two teams, 18 to 14. The Packers won the first nine games in the series, between 1933 and 1946.
- The Steelers have won the last three games in a row against the Packers; all three have come since the last time Green Bay was in the Super Bowl.
- The last game played between the two teams, on December 20, 2009, was decided on the final play of the game. Ben Roethlisberger threw a 19-yard pass into the left front corner of the end zone to Mike Wallace. Replay upheld the catch, determining that Wallace had both feet in bounds. Jeff Reed kicked the extra point with no time remaining to win the game, 37-36. It was the first time a game in NFL history had a final score of 37-36. Roethlisberger had 503 yards passing (a Steelers record) with three TD's - and five sacks; Aaron Rodgers threw for 383 yards and three TD's, with only one sack. There were only 125 combined yards rushing in the game on 31 attempts (compared to 94 total pass attempts).
- The most one-sided game between the two teams came on November 23, 1941 - two weeks before Pearl Harbor and three prior to the Packers' only playoff loss to the Bears. The Packers defeated the Steelers 54-7 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
- The Steelers have only scored 30 or more points on the Packers six times in the 32 game series between the two squads. Green Bay has won only two of those games (October of 1951 and November of 1969).
- Green Bay has never been shut out by Pittsburgh in NFL play; Pittsburgh has been shut out three times by the Packers - but not since 1938, and not as they have been known as the Steelers.
- The Packers have never been shut out in a post-season game in franchise history. They have posted two shutouts in their playoff history - both against the New York Giants, and both in the NFL championship (1939, 27-0; and 1961, 37-0).
- The Steelers were shut out once in their post-season history - their very first playoff game, the 1947 Eastern Division playoff against Philadelphia. Pittsburgh lost to the Eagles, 21-0. They have never shut out an opponent in their playoff history.
- Overall, the Packers are 28-16 in the post-season, compared to the Steelers' 33-19 record. The Steelers, however, have won all 33 of their games since moving to the AFC in 1970. The Packers have gone 16-13 in the playoffs since the merger.
- The Steelers have had seven players named to five or more AP All-Pro teams in their franchise history (Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Alan Faneca, Dermontti Dawson, Joe Greene, Mike Webster and Rod Woodson). The Packers have had eight players named to five or more AP All-Pro teams (Don Hutson, Forrest Gregg, Jim Ringo, Willie Wood, Willie Davis, Henry Jordan, Jerry Kramer and Lavvie Dilweg).
- The Packers would be the third team to win the Super Bowl with three different quarterbacks. The Giants won the Super Bowl with Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler, and Eli Manning; the Redskins won with Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien.
- Aaron Rodgers will be the fourth quarterback from the University of California to start in the Super Bowl. The three others - Joe Kapp, Craig Morton (twice) and (technically) Vince Ferragamo - all lost in their Super Bowl appearances.
- Only three teams have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl since 2003 - the Steelers, the Patriots and the Colts.
- Since the Packers last appeared in the Super Bowl (in 1996), 10 different teams have represented the NFC in the game: New Orleans, Arizona, New York Giants (2), Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Saint Louis (2), and Atlanta.
- Only four teams have never appeared in a Super Bowl: Houston, Jacksonville, Detroit and Cleveland. The Lions and the Browns have both won NFL championships, prior to the Super Bowl, but have never made it to the Super Bowl. The Browns and the Jaguars both made it as far as the AFC championship, but lost.
- Every team in the NFC, except for the Lions, have played in at least one Super Bowl since 1990. (That includes the Seattle Seahawks, who played for many years in the AFC.)
- Three things have never happened in a Super Bowl: a punt has never been returned for a touchdown; a team has never been shut out from scoring; and the game has never been tied after regulation.
- The longest punt return in Super Bowl history was in Super Bowl XXIII, when San Francisco's John Taylor returned a punt by Cincinnati's Lee Johnson across midfield for a 45-yard return.
- The fewest points scored in a Super Bowl - and the only time the losing team did not score a touchdown - was Super Bowl VI, when the Miami Dolphins (making their first Super Bowl appearance) lost to Dallas, 24-3. Dolphins K Garo Yepremian kicked a 31-yard field goal with four seconds left in the first half for Miami's only score against the Cowboys.
- The closest that any Super Bowl has come to going to overtime was in Super Bowl V, when the then-Baltimore Colts defeated the Cowboys, 16-13. Jim O'Brien kicked a 32-yard field goal with five seconds left in the game; had Dallas blocked the kick (or O'Brien missed the kick), it's likely the Cowboys would have simply ran the clock out and gone to overtime.
- The only time a Super Bowl was won on the last play of the game by a field goal was in Super Bowl XXXVI. Patriots K Adam Vinatieri kicked a 48-yard field goal with no time left on the clock to defeat the St.Louis Rams, 20-17; the ball was snapped with seven seconds left in the game.
- The only time a Super Bowl was decided by a defensive play on the last play of the game was in Super Bowl XXXIV. The Tennessee Titans were losing to the Rams, 23-16, with six seconds to go in the game. The Titans had first and goal at the Rams' 10 yard line. QB Steve McNair passed to WR Kevin Dyson, who was diving for the end zone; LB Mike Jones stopped Dyson a few inches short of the goal line. Had Dyson scored, the Titans could have sent the game into overtime by kicking the extra point. (Rumors have it, however, that Titans head coach Jeff Fisher would have tried to go for a two-point conversion if Dyson had scored.)
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Joseph Houk. All rights reserved.
