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Pivotal Pro Football Moments
pivotal NFL postseason moment: A decision by a coach or an action by a player that establishes, continues or changes the momentum of a playoff game.
A Tale of Two Halves
1969 NFL Division Playoff: Los Angeles Rams @ Minnesota Vikings
The Los Angeles Rams won their first 11 games before traveling to play the 10-1 Vikings in Week 12. Minnesota prevailed 20-13, which started a three-game losing streak for the Rams to end the regular season. They still won the NFL Coastal Division, but the losses forced them to travel to the cold North for their rematch with the Vikings in the Division round of the playoffs. Could the Rams make the transition from sunny California to the Minnesota tundra?
Forecasts indicated a high of 22° with a 30% chance of snow. The temperature prediction proved to be accurate, but no snow fell during the game, and the wind was negligible.
    L-R: Joe Kapp and Bud Grant, Roman Gabriel, George Allen, Maxie Baughan Minnesota QB Joe Kapp recalled the game as "a story of two heavyweights standing toe-to-toe ... waiting to see who would blink first. ... Both teams featured awesome defenses. The game could have been a horror film entitled The Fearsome Foursome Meets the Purple People Eaters. The defense that smelled blood first would win."
The Viking offense featured a balanced attack that led the NFL in scoring. The Rams played a more wide-open style led by the league's Most Valuable Player that year, Roman Gabriel.
Baughan Injured
Throughout his 12-year head coaching career, Rams coach George Allen preferred veteran players for his team, especially for his offensive and defensive leaders. His quarterbacks and defensive captains called their own plays on the field. In Allen's mind, veterans knew how to make instant adjustments during the game, and young players did not.
So it was a big loss when 31-year-old MLB Maxie Baughan, limping on a bad right knee that had been injured the week before, had to go to the sideline for good late in the first quarter.
   L-R: Bob Klein, Gene Washington, Bruce Gossett Rams Start Strong
If ever a game was a tale of two halves, this was it. Surprisingly in the frigid weather, the Rams dominated the first half.
Playing as if it were a summer day, QB Roman Gabriel led a pair of touchdown drives of 45 and 56y and two marches of 65 and 36y that led to one missed and one made field goal, all in the first half.
The first drive began when Kapp and HB Bill Brown botched a handoff, and the Rams recovered. Eight plays later, the Rams scored on a 3y pass from Gabriel to TE Bob Klein. Rams 7, Vikings 0.
Minnesota answered back with a 75y, ten-play to tie the game. The key play was Kapp's 27y strike to WR Gene Washington to the four. Dave Osborn vaulted over from there.
Rams 7 Vikings 7. But that was the last time the Viking offense came close to scoring in the first half. In fact, they ran only nine plays in the second quarter. So the Rams added to their lead with a 20y Bruce Gossett field goal and a 2y touchdown pass to TE Billy Truax in the last minute of the half.
Halftime score: Rams 17 Vikings 7
Kapp recalled the adjustments made in the locker room at halftime. "We knew we had to go back to the quick outs and running up the middle. We knew we could score if we just got the ball more often and made better use of it. We'd only had five possessions and twenty-four plays in the first half. The defense was confident they could shut teams out and that they had won games by themselves in the past. There was no room for doubt. Each of us, each of the forty, had to contribute. We all had to get the job done."
    L-R: Billy Truax, Bill Brown, Bob Brown, Carl Eller Penalties Hurt Rams
The Rams led the NFC in penalties, and that hurt them in the second half although several were controversial. The Rams moved to midfield, but T Bob Brown was called for clipping even though some observers thought the block was legal because it was inside the tackle box. That canceled a run that would have moved the chains. Instead, the Rams had to punt for the first time in the game.
Viking DE Carl Eller recalled the battle on the line of scrimmage that day.
"I had the misfortune of having to line up against Bob Brown on every play. Brown may have been the first of the 300-pound linemen. He was listed at 275 pounds, but I'm sure he was bigger And he didn't just like to block you or keep you away from his quarterback. That wasn't enough for Bob. He had a different attitude than most offensive linemen. He wanted to hit you and inflict pain and pound you and beat you down. There were plays where if you'd slip and you were out of a play, most offensive linemen would just let up, but not Bob. If you let your guard down for just a second, he would pound on you. He had no mercy. "Sometimes I used my quickness to beat a lineman and sometimes I used my strength and just overpowered a lineman, but with Brown I had to use my entire gamut of moves. I knew it was going to be a long afternoon. "And as the afternoon went on, Brown and the Rams were controlling the line of scrimmage." Washington Beats Man-to-Man Coverage
Kapp led a touchdown drive to cut the lead to 17-14 aided by three penalties, including pass interference and unnecessary roughness. The biggest gain came on a 41y bomb to Gene Washington. Dave Osborn scored the touchdown on a 1y leap. Rams 17 Vikings 7
 Dave Osborn goes over the top for the Vikings' first touchdown. (Sports Illlustrated) "The Rams tried to cover us man-on-man," said Washington, "and I think we showed that any team that tries to do that is in trouble."
Finding its rhythm, the Minnesota defense shut out the Rams the rest of the quarter despite Kapp throwing two interceptions.
Truax Drops Pass
The Rams were still on top 17-14 early in the fourth quarter and facing third-and-six on the Minnesota 20 when the game started to get away from them. Gabriel fired a pass to Billy Truax for what should have been a first down, but the normally sure-handed tight end couldn't hold on. So the visitors settled for a Gossett field goal to lead 20-14 instead of 24-14.
Eller: "Things didn't look good for us when Gossett hit another field goal in the fourth quarter, but luckily our quarterback didn't know the meaning of the word quit."
Kapp: "At this point, I was fuming, and when the Rams got a field goal out of it, I knew that unless we started cutting it, everything was over." Vikings Finally Go Ahead
Kapp engineered a 65y drive to take the lead. He hit WR John Henderson for 20y to move across midfield. On 2nd-and-nine from the Ram 27, he scrambled for 8y. On 3rd-and-one, Deacon Jones met RB Osborne behind the line but fell off as the Viking halfback spun away and got the first down. Kapp scrambled 12y to the four. Then he leaped over from the two to give Minnesota their first lead of the game. Vikings 21 Rams 20.
 Kapp leaps into end zone to give Vikings their first lead. Eight and a half minutes remained in the game, plenty of time for the Rams to come back. But they would have to regain the momentum they enjoyed in the first half.
Kapp: "We'd slugged it out for 51 minutes, but now knockdown punches had been recorded, and they don't decided football games by judges' points. You could tell it was getting colder because more and more Rams players were hudding near their heaters. The game would be won by the team that could stay together for nine more minutes."
It took the Vikings only two plays to add to their lead.
Ron Smith took the kickoff 1y deep in the end zone and foolishly tried to run it out. Dale Hackbart, a fired-up kamikaze, sideswiped him at the 12 with a loud crunch you could hear all over the field. On the first play, Gabriel dropped back for a pass, but before he even got set to throw, he was hauled down by Eller for a safety. Vikings 23 Rams 20.
Eller: "Earlier in the game, the Rams had success with a play in which Gabriel did a little roll out to my side. Brown let me come up the inside and sealed me off, allowing Gabriel to get outside. He had a ton of time to find an open receiver, although he also could have easily run the ball for a big gain.
"After that, in the back of my mind, I kept waiting for them to run that play again. When they got the ball deep in their territory late in the game, I had a feeling they were going to that play. "Sure enough, they did. I saw it developing, but I knew I had to rush in a way that wouldn't let on that I had guessed the play. I took Brown upfield but maintained my leverage and didn't widen my stance. I took him a little bit inside. Gabriel read the block and thought I was falling for the play again. He tried to come around us, but I knew what was coming. "I got free from Brown, and my momentum carried me right into Gabriel. He was big, about 220 pounds, so he wasn't the kind of quarterback you could tackle with one hand or just push down. But with my momentum carrying me, I hit him square and took him down in the end zone for a safety." The Rams weren't about to go down without a fight, but this time it was a defensive tackle that thwarted them. Starting from their 15, they moved to midfield. On the next play, Alan Page couldn't get a good charge, so he dropped back and stretched out his arms. With his line of vision blocked, Gabriel threw the ball right into Page's hands.
Page: "It was the first interception I've ever made, but it couldn't have come at a sweeter time. I think that I, especially, made amends for a lot of things in the second half. The Rams ran over the inside in the first half, and that meant that they were running over me."
Rams G Tom Mack recalled: "One play I'll never forget in that game was when the Vikings' Alan Page intercepted a slant-in pass thrown by Roman Gabriel when we were driving late in the game. Page was made out to be the hero for making a spectacular play, but that wasn't exactly the true picture. The play was a pass over the middle. Our center, Ken Iman, and I double-teamed Page on the block. We fired out and knocked him three yards off the line of scrimmage. He kept his balance and straightened up, and Gabe threw the ball right to him. Ken and I did our job, and we turned the guy into a hero. We knocked him right back into the interception." The Vikings ran out the remaining 39 seconds to earn their second trip to the Super Bowl.
FINAL SCORE: VIKINGS 23 RAMS 20.
Post Game
Rams coach George Allen shook his head and murmured softly, "It's hard to believe we lost. Everything we did was on the button. To prepare and work as hard as we did and then to lose ..." It was the second time in three years that the Rams had lost the Western Conference playoff in wintry weather. But Allen didn't blame the field, which he said was in "great shape." He admitted that losing Baughan "hurt us a great deal."
Allen praised the victors. "The Vikings were a better team today. Kapp did an outstanding job. ... They have a strong, balanced team without any apparent weaknesses."
Vikings coach Bud Grant praised the Ram quarterback. "I thought there was no question that Roman Gabriel proved today that he's the Most Valuable Player in the league. ... He was the outstanding player on the field."
Kapp: "Let me say that we beat an outstanding football team. A great one."
References The Football Game I’ll Never Forget: 100 NFL Stars’ Stories, selected by Chris McDonell (2004) Joe Kapp, the Toughest Chicano: A Life of Leadership, Joe Kapp with J.J. Kapp, Robert G. Phelps, and Ned Averbuck (2020) Coach George Allen: A Football Life, Lee Elder (2023) |