The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys were the only two teams to have won two Super Bowls at this point, and when they got together in Miami for the Super Bowl, they produced one of the best championship games the league had seen and one of the greatest talent collections ever put together. Pittsburgh won a 35-31 game with fourteen future Hall of Famers on the field and became the NFL’s most decorated franchise of the Super Bowl era.
The 1978 Dallas Cowboys were coming off a Super Bowl title and they made a strong running at a repeat bid, with a second half surge and a run through the NFC playoffs. In the end, the push for two in a row came up just short.
The 1978 Houston Oilers came into the season looking to break dry spell for their franchise and they moved aggressively draft Heisman Trophy-winning running back Earl Campbell, a hero of the University of Texas. The Oilers, one of the most successful teams in the first years of the AFL when it was founded in 1960, had never made the playoffs since the merger with the NFL in 1970. Campbell made the difference in 1978’s success.
The 1978 Los Angeles Rams had about as chaotic a beginning to the season as one could imagine—they fired their head coach in the preseason. The Rams had a conclusion to the season that was quite typical—for the fourth time in five years, they lost the NFC Championship Game.
Fran Tarkenton enjoyed a Hall of Fame career, most of it in the Twin Cities. He began his career in Minnesota in 1961 and after a brief time with the New York Giants (1967-71), finished it back in the Upper Midwest with seven more years. The 1978 Minnesota Vikings were Fran’s last ride, and while it certainly wasn’t his best year, the 38-year-old vet packed it full of enough key moments to steal one more division title.
It wasn’t an easy path for the 1978 Denver Broncos to get back to the playoffs. They got inconsistent play at quarterback and no go-to running back ever emerged. But a defense that was rugged an opportunistic helped them survive a competitive four-way race and win the AFC West.
The Miami Dolphins had been the NFL’s great team of the early 1970s, producing an undefeated Super Bowl champion in 1972, and repeating as champs in 1973. But after a last-second playoff loss in 1974 to the Oakland Raiders the Dolphins briefly disappeared from the radar. They missed the postseason three consecutive years. The 1978 Miami Dolphins marked the return of head coach Don Shula to the playoff festivities.
The 1978 New England Patriots entered the season with a dark cloud hanging over them. Wide receiver Darryl Stingley suffered a horrific injury in the preseason, a broken neck that left him paralyzed for life. After an inspiring season that saw them exceed expectations, the Patriots managed to end the year with a series of self-inflicted wounds.
This article offers a snapshot of 1978 sports, a year that saw dynasties reign–the Yankees and Canadiens repeated, the Steelers and Alabama football won the first of consecutive titles and Kentucky won in college hoops.