Chuck Noll and Vince Lombardi became champions with teams that were tough and fundamentally sound.
Chuck Noll and Vince Lombardi were two of the greatest coaches in NFL history, but they were very different. Lombardi coached the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s. He was tough on his players and motivated his team with emotional talks. Noll coached the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s and 1980s. He was direct and a man of few words. But both coaches accomplished two goals: 1. Create the toughest team in the NFL. 2. Created the most fundamentally sound team in the NFL. And with that objective, the championships arrived.
Lombardi’s catchphrase, “winning is everything”, has often been misunderstood to mean that winning by any means is acceptable. But his players would probably tell us that “any medium” had more to do with his coaching than the things they would do to opposing teams. Sacrificing their bodies and routinely using every ounce of energy in practice, they became a formidable team on the field. Lombardi sought to have his players better prepared than any other team.
Noll’s catchphrase was “whatever it takes”. Once again, she is easily misunderstood. Noll expanded on the notion to say that “whatever it takes to become the best team” was his meaning. For Noll, like Lombardi, it was about sacrificing for the team, working for the team, playing his part for the team.
For both Lombardi and Noll, their focus on toughness and fundamentals was forever on display and remembered in two of professional football’s greatest moments.
Packers’ 1967 NFL Championship Game: The Ice Bowl
The Packers played the Dallas Cowboys for the NFL Championship on the last day of the year in 1967. The Packers had a secret weapon: Mother Nature. Few NFL games have been so well celebrated and commemorated. The Packers had seen a lot of cold weather before this game, but the so-called “Ice Bowl” was the beginning of much of the lore and legend surrounding Lambeau Field. From this game forward, Green Bay fans would not only tolerate the cold at Lambeau, they would enjoy its “frozen tundra.”
The Cowboys led, 17-14, on the Packers’ frigid home field in the fourth quarter. With just 4:50 left, Lombardi’s offense went 68 yards downfield toward goal and began a 12-play game-winning drive. They would need almost every second.
A determined Bart Starr completed a flat pass to Donny Anderson for a 6-yard gain. Chuck Mercein found enough room to run outside for a first down. Starr threw one up the middle to Boyd Dowler over the 50-yard line and Cornell Green, struggling with his balance, was able to grab and throw Dowler hard over the tackle onto the frozen ground. It was nip and tuck all the way. Anderson received a handoff from Starr, but was tackled in the backfield. It was a second down and the first was 19 yards to go on a field that was quickly turning into an ice rink. Starr looked around and threw Anderson a walk-off pass that the running back turned into another 12-yard gain. Starr followed up with another short pass to Anderson, who won the first down. Chuck Mercein was the next target and after the catch he ran the ball to the Dallas 11-yard line. Mercein’s hand was hot and he took a handball from Starr and ran it down the middle to the 2-yard line. Anderson ran within inches of goal and a first down. The Cowboys’ tough and determined defense blocked two runs from Donny Anderson. Time stopped when Starr went to the sideline and told Lombardi that since the running backs were slipping, he would take the ball himself on a wedge play, which normally goes to the fullback. Lombardi responded, “Then do it and let’s get out of here.” As Starr jogged back onto the field, the tension in the stands was almost unbearable.
Starr stood behind center with 13 seconds remaining at the 1-yard line with no timeouts. He raised his hands to calm the crowd and the ball broke into a quick count. Jerry Kramer jumped over Cowboys great defensive tackle Jethro Pugh, hitting him low, followed by Packers center Ken Bowman hitting Pugh high. The cleats scraped the ice and Pugh was pushed back. Starr followed Kramer and dove into the end zone to score. Mercein, who thought Starr was going to pass him, played along and raised his arms in the air to let the umpires know he wasn’t pushing Starr into the end zone, an infraction that could have caused the game for the Packers. . Millions of viewers thought Mercein was pointing at a marker! The crowd realized that Starr had scored and out of an arctic field of dreams came the deafening roar of the crowd. Chandler kicked the extra point and the Packers won, 21-17.
Steelers defining moment
The defining moment that ended the chain of frustration and put the Steelers on a new path to winning came at the end of the divisional playoff game on December 23, 1972. Pittsburgh had the ball at its own 20-yard line with just 1 minute left. and 20 seconds. go behind the Oakland Raiders 7-6. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw wasn’t a miracle worker these days, and five plays later, the Steelers were still 60 yards from the ground with just 22 seconds remaining. Bradshaw threw “Frenchy” Fuqua up the middle, but Raiders defensive back Jack Tatum slammed into Fuqua and the ball with such force that the ball flew backward as if it had been redirected by an unknown hand. Franco Harris calmly grabbed the ball from his laces and dodged tacklers on his way to the end zone to score and win. The work was called “The Immaculate Reception”. Although the Steelers lost the AFC Championship to the Dolphins, they impressed football fans, their competitors, and more importantly, themselves. they had arrived. Noll’s Steelers were winners and now with the Immaculate Reception, it seemed like they had fans in high places.
Harris epitomized what it meant to play fundamentally well and give it all he had. Although he was apparently out of the play, he kept his head on it and when the ball bounced off Tatum, he was able to pick it up and run for the score. The extra point gave the Steelers a 13-7 win.
In the closing moments of both games, the players took stock of themselves and played solid fundamental football as a team.