Super Bowl V was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1970 season. The Colts defeated the Cowboys by the score of 16–13. The game was played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, the first Super Bowl game played on artificial turf.
This was the first Super Bowl played after the completion of the AFL-NFL Merger. As per the merger agreement, all 26 AFL and NFL teams were divided into 2 conferences with 13 teams in each of them. Along with the Colts, the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to join the 10 AFL teams to form the AFC. The remaining 13 NFL teams formed the NFC. This explains why the Colts represented the NFL in Super Bowl III, but not the NFC for Super Bowl V. Baltimore advanced to Super Bowl V after posting an 11-2-1 regular season record. Meanwhile, the Cowboys were making their first Super Bowl appearance after posting a 10-4 regular season record.
The game is sometimes called the "Blunder Bowl" or the "Stupor Bowl" because it was filled with poor play, penalties, turnovers, and officiating miscues. The two teams committed a Super Bowl record 11 combined turnovers in the game, and the Colts' 7 turnovers are currently the most ever committed by a winning team in a Super Bowl. Dallas also set a Super Bowl record with 10 penalties, costing them 133 yards. It was finally settled with five seconds left when Colts rookie kicker Jim O'Brien kicked a 32-yard field goal. In order to win the game, Baltimore had to overcome a 13–6 deficit at the half, losing their starting quarterback in the second quarter.
It is the only Super Bowl in which the Most Valuable Player Award was given to a member of the losing team: Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley, who intercepted two passes (sacks and tackles were not yet recorded). Howley, the first non-quarterback to win the MVP award, refused to accept it because it was meaningless to him after his team lost. In a similar vein, Colts defensive end Bubba Smith would later refuse to wear his Super Bowl V ring because of the "sloppy" play.
Read more about Super Bowl V: Television and Entertainment, Game Summary, Final Statistics, Starting Lineups, Officials
Famous quotes containing the word bowl:
“It seemed a long way from 143rd Street. Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus going into downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Dancing with the Duke of Devonshire was a long way from not being allowed to bowl in Jefferson City, Missouri, because the white customers complained about it.”
—Althea Gibson (b. 1927)