Super Bowl VII - Minnesota Vikings vs Miami Dolphins: First Half
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Part 1 - Pregame | Part 3 - 2nd Half
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Part 1 - Pregame | Part 3 - 2nd Half
The drab game was played on a drab day – overcast, foggy, and chilly (52°). Super Bowl VIII is still the shortest in Super Bowl history – two hours and 27 minutes. It also ranks as one of the least exciting Super Bowls. Tex Maule started his article in Sports Illustrated this way: "Super Bowl VIII had all the excitement and suspense of a master butcher quartering a steer."
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Quarter 1 Miami won the toss and elected to receive. The choice paid off as they immediately took control of the line of scrimmage and thereby took control of the game. Minnesota's fear that the Dolphins would "come out winging" were quickly substantiated.Fred Cox kicked to Jake Scott, who took the ball at the seven and sprinted straight up the right side to the 38. Paul Warfield, whose status was uncertain because of a pulled hamstring, came out with the starting unit but would not touch the ball on the opening possession. Mercury Morris took a pitch around right end for 4y. Larry Csonka took a quick handoff off right tackle to the 44.  Roy Winston tackles Larry Csonka on his first run. G Bob Kuechenberg later revealed that he noticed something in his film study about Alan Page. "Alan had the fastest inside move of anybody. I'm thinking, There's got to be something. ... When he's going inside, his inside foot is four or six inches further back than it is normally. I called my offensive line coach, Monte Clark, and said, 'I think I've got something on Page. If you block him by the book, there's no stopping him. He eats the book for breakfast.' I asked to change our blocking. Monte said, 'Let me talk to the boss.' Tomorrow comes and Monte says, 'Kooch, I've got bad news: Not only does the boss say no, he says hell no.' ... (On the game's first drive) I saw Alan's foot go back. The pass protection was supposed to be Jim Langer, the center, and me buddy-blocking the middle linebacker and Page. Well, Page just about took the handoff from Bob Griese. There was no way Langer could snap the ball and block him at the same time. No one could. I lost it at that point. I turned to the sideline and said, 'I'm doing it my way.' I did, and Alan Page never made a tackle after that."
 Bob Griese passes down the middle. Note the striped football. SB VIII was the only one played with striped footballs.  Mercury Morris takes handoff.  Larry Csonka scores the game's first touchdown. The team that scored the first touchdown had won each of the first seven Super Bowls. On television before the game, Jets QB Joe Namath said, "If Miami gets the kickoff and scores on the opening drive, the game is over."
The Dolphins' offensive game plan was designed to exploit the Viking defense's excellent pursuit. The Chiefs had used similar tactics against Minnesota in Super Bowl IV. In a 1974 book, Shula wrote: "In the case of Page, Eller and company, we wanted to try to turn their aggressiveness to our advantage. We decided to emphasize negative influence by misdirection and cross blocking, trying to make the Vikings Front Four commit to the influence of the play and then actually running it elsewhere. The Vikings responded as we anticipated. Then later in the game we found that the Vikings started hesitating, reducing their charge. When they did that, we beat them with straight blocking." Page admitted after the game that he knew the Vikings were in trouble "after the first few plays."  The No Name Defense L-R: 45 Curtis Johnson, 84 Bill Stanfill, 72 Bob Heinz, 75 Manny Fernandez, 83 Vern Den Herder, 59 Doug Swift, 25 Tim Foley Buoniconti after the game: We had a problem at first. We were confused by how they were lining up (with two tight ends and an unbalanced line), but we figured it out on the sideline before their second possession.
The Vikings nearly got a break that would have given them momentum when Mike Eischeid punted a line drive to Jake Scott, who took it on the run at the Miami 40 just before Ron Porter hit him. The ball squirted forward, and Terry Brown had a good shot at it for the Vikings, but Scott got it back at the 44.
D-coordinator Bill Arnsparger reflected on his 54 Defense years later. The key to our three years of success is we had people that really prepared and took the thing seriously during practice. Had it not been for Bob Matheson, we would not have played the three-man line. They'd put an end on him, and he had the ability to beat the end. But that opened up the middle for one of the inside backers, Nick or Mike Kolen, to be in the pocket quick. Tarkenton watched the punt from the sidelines. We had a good hit and forced the fumble. We had five men there, and they had one. Yet the ball went to them. Not only did they play exceptionally well, much better than we did, but they also had a few good bounces.
Miami continued its clinical dissection of the Vikings' defense. The Dolphins' second possession was a carbon copy of the first: 10 plays, broken into eight runs and two passes, this time for 56y and a touchdown. Morris eluded a crashing Marshall just after he took the ball and stutter-stepped around LE to the 49.
 Larry Little cuts down Marshall to allow Morris to run free.  Paul Krause (22) targets Morris. Griese: I sensed almost immediately that Csonka was running well. I just kept dialing his number.
A measurement showed the Dolphins a foot short of another 1st down. No problem. Morris replaced Kiick and lined up in an I behind Csonka. Larry took the quick handoff and moved through the hole opened by C Jim Langer to the 14. Griese then went to the air again, hitting right end Marlin Briscoe on a slant to the 1. Bob was now 4-for-4 passing. Kiick then tried to leap into the end zone at right tackle. The officials placed the ball a foot from the goal line. Then Jim followed Csonka into a pile at LG to just barely get into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season.
Dolphins 14 Vikings 0 (1:22)
 Wally Hilgenberg (58) confronts the official after Jim Kiick's touchdown. The head linesman signaling touchdown was Leo Miles, the first African-American to officiate a Super Bowl. After the game, C Jim Langer explained the Dolphins' blocking scheme. "What we did was split the defense. This creates a big running lane, and the back just cuts back into the hole. They had Alan Page on my head and Jeff Siemon over Bob Kuechenberg. On our plays to the right, I gave Page a shoulder and then slid around on Siemon. Kuechenberg and I formed a moving wall. That kind of seals that side off. We do a lot of what we call buddy-blocking."
West returned the kickoff from the 6 to the 24, but John Gilliam was detected holding. So the Vikings started from the 10. They did achieve their initial first down but no more on the possession. First, Tarkenton rolled right and flipped to Foreman to the 16. Oscar Reed tried to turn the corner at left end, but Fernandez collared him for no gain. On the next snap, Fran again rolled right and fired on the run to the second tight end, Doug Kingsriter, for a 1st down at the 27.Langer later added: "They weren't a physically strong team and we were. ... all our linemen were benching 400 pounds plus, and the Vikings weren't really on a weight program yet. They were great players and had great hustle, but physically they couldn't match up to us on the line. It was obvious from the beginning that our offense could overpower their defense." Kuechenberg added: "Page is as quick as anybody. We'd help Page get over the middle and then block so Larry could run behind him. ... Our game plan was to win on first down. That way you don't get a passing situation where Minnesota is the toughest. We were getting the good yardage on first down, and that was the key." Years later, Langer recalled: "We kept ripping huge holes into their defense, and Csonka kept picking up good yardage, especially to the right. We'd hear Alan cussing because those negative-influence plays were just driving him nuts. He didn't know what the hell to do." Vikings MLB Jeff Siemon, who never knew who would be blocking him each play, on the Dolphins: "They were a smaller front but had good leverage. We were a bend-but-don't-break kind of a defense, but we did give up some yards. Part of it was our lack of size and part of it was our predictability. Offenses knew what defensive line charge we were going to be in most of the time. We learned how to do it very well and effectively and, against most teams, we could prevail." END OF Q1: Dolphins 14 Vikings 0 Miami ran 20 plays in the first quarter to six for Minnesota and outgained the Vikings 118y to 16.
Quarter 2 Foreman slashed over right tackle for a gain of five to the 32. Then Reed moved the ball to the 36, a yard shy of a 1st down. Oscar tried to get the needed yardage at right tackle, but MLB Nick Buoniconti led the charge that stopped him 2' short. So Eischeid kicked to Scott, who wiggled for 7y to the 28. Officials call for measurement after Reed run.  Carl Eller and Griese follow ball on long incompletion.   Csonka on the loose (L) and following Kuechenberg (R). On the previous series, Hilgenberg had thrown an elbow through Csonka's facemask, cutting Larry above the eye, but had not been penalized. Larry said later, It was a cheap shot, but an honest cheap shot. He came right at me and threw an elbow right through my mask. I could see the game meant something to him.
Griese threw his first pass to Warfield, their patented down and out to the left. Bryant bopped Paul out of bounds at the Viking 43. Csonka banged up the middle to the 40 behind Moore and Kuechenberg's double team of Carl Eller. On 3rd-and-1, Griese gave the ball to Morris who burst up the middle behind Csonka to the 30. 1st and 10. Csonka slanted off right tackle, broke tackles, and careened to the 21. Griese tried Csonka up the middle, but this time Marshall and Siemon stopped him cold. TV announcer Ray Scott told his audience, I think we can label this maybe the most important play of this first half. It could decide whether the Dolphins do go on and really do break it wide open. Csonka tried the middle again and didn't make it. So Shula sent in the FG unit. Yepremian banged through the 28y FG. Dolphins 17 Vikings 0 (6:02)
Desperate to get something on the board before halftime, the Vikings mounted their best drive of the afternoon, finally reaching Miami territory. Starting from the 20 after the touchback, Tarkenton mixed passes and runs deftly. First, Foreman took a handoff around right end for just 2y.  Buoniconti hits Foreman. After conferring with the coaches on the sideline, Fran dropped back to pass and hit Gilliam running free over the middle at the 17. He was brought down at the 15 for a 30y gain, after which the Vikings immediately called timeout. The next call was an odd one but effective. Tarkenton then rolled right on a planned run to the seven.  Tarkenton on the run Buoniconti said afterward that Foreman tipped the 4th-and-one play. "I cheated up close because of the way Foreman lined up. It didn't look like he was going to get the football." Fernandez submarined the play, and "I really got a good hit on Reed."
With 30 seconds left, Csonka gained zero up the middle. After the Vikings used their last timeout, Larsen made his second straight tackle on Larry, this time for -1. Asked later why Reed had run the ball three straight times, Grant said the Vikings twice had converted that way in the NFC title game against Dallas. "If it's less than a yard, we go for it. We feel we have the plays to make it."  Gary Larsen tackles Csonka as Wright and Eller converge. The Miami defense had limited Minnesota to 31y rushing, 72y passing, and just four first downs. The Dolphins racked out 13 first downs and 152 total yards. Oddly enough, the Vikings led in time of possession 17:16 to 13:44. Grant made no halftime pep talk. He explained afterward: "When you get in the playoffs, it's not a matter of coaches out-coaching each other. It's up to the players." That's a strange comment from a coach who was being soundly outcoached.
The Texas band entertained at halftime along with Judy Mallett, Miss Texas 1973, playing the fiddle. The theme of the show was "A Musical America."
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