In sports, a dynasty often comes with an archrival whom it must beat multiple times en route to their multiple titles.
When the New England Patriots won three Super Bowls in four years, their last two titles came after beating Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys' first two 1990s titles required them to beat Steve Young's San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
En route to winning the first two Super Bowls, the Vince Lombardi-led Green Bay Packers had to beat the Cowboys in the NFL title game. The second one came in the Ice Bowl, when Bart Starr scored the game-winning touchdown with less than 15 seconds remaining on a quarterback sneak.
In Super Bowl X, the Tom Landry-led Cowboys now found themselves in a battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the title of "Team of the '70s."
After the losses to the Packers and failing to beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V, the Cowboys got the Super Bowl monkey off their backs by beating the Miami Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl VI. The Steelers won Super Bowl IX by beating the Minnesota Vikings 16-6.
The battle for Super Bowl title No. 2 started off in the Cowboys' favor, as Roger Staubach threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Drew Pearson to give Dallas the 7-0 first-quarter lead. From there, the Lynn Swann show turned the tide in favor of the Steelers.
It is not a usual occasion for a Super Bowl MVP award to go to a wide receiver who only caught four passes. But the passes that Swann did catch would be some of the most memorable in the big game's history (and accounted for 161 of Terry Bradshaw's 209 passing yards).
Under today's NFL rules regarding concussions, Swann may not have played in this game after suffering a concussion in the AFC Championship Game against the Oakland Raiders. He could not practice in the first week after that game and had a hard time concentrating in the second week of practice.
But with two spectacular catches in the first half, Swann erased any doubt about his ability to play. The first catch was a 32-yard reception in which he leaped acrobatically over Mark Washington and tip-toed inbounds along the sidelines.
That first-quarter catch set up a seven-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to tight end Randy Grossman that tied the score at 7-7.
In the second quarter, Swann caught his second pass of the game, a 53-yard reception in which he leaped over Washington and cradled the football in his chest in mid-air after the pass was tipped.
The catch did not lead to any points, as Roy Garela missed a 36-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first half. However, it would become a standard by which great Super Bowl catches are measured, shown on highlight reels for decades to come.
Swann's final catch came with 3:02 remaining in the game. With Pittsburgh leading 15-10, Bradshaw threw a 64-yard pass to Swann, who ran a post pattern past Washington and caught the pigskin to score what would be the game-winning touchdown.
After throwing the pass, Bradshaw was hit by Cliff Harris and Larry Cole, with Cole delivering a blow to Bradshaw's jaw with his helmet. An illegal hit by today's NFL standards.
As a result of the hit, Bradshaw didn't see Swann run down the field for the touchdown. Regardless, the Steelers had a seemingly-comfortable 21-10 lead.
I say seemingly only because Roger Staubach, a.k.a. Captain Comeback, was on Dallas' sideline.
Captain Comeback threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Percy Howard, who beat a stumbling Mel Blount. Then the Cowboys got the ball back after their defense forced the Steelers to turn the ball over on downs.
With 1:28 remaining and no timeouts, Dallas had the ball trailing 21-17. Staubach managed to get the Cowboys to the Steelers' 38-yard line with three seconds remaining.
Three weeks earlier, Staubach led the Cowboys to a 17-14 victory over the Vikings in the NFC Divisional Playoffs by throwing a 50-yard touchdown heave to Drew Pearson with 24 seconds remaining. The play would coin the term "Hail Mary" as the standard definition of a miracle touchdown pass.
With a Super Bowl victory on the line, Captain Comeback went for Pearson once again hoping for another "Hail Mary" touchdown. Instead, Glen Edwards clinched the Steelers' second consecutive title by intercepting Staubach's heave.
For those keeping track of Super Bowl victories in the 1970s at the time, the scoreboard read Steelers 2, Cowboys 1.
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