Super Bowl V — 1970 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Chuck Howley, LB, Dallas Cowboys

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Note: Johnny Unitas started at quarterback for Baltimore but suffered a rib injury early and did not return; backup Earl Morrall relieved him (7/15, 147 yards per the box score, not included above) and led the game-winning drive - the mirror image of Super Bowl III's Morrall/Unitas situation three years earlier.

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl V, the first championship game played after the full AFL-NFL merger, pitted the Baltimore Colts against the Dallas Cowboys in a sloppy, turnover-riddled contest often ranked among the least aesthetically pleasing Super Bowls ever played, yet one still remembered for its late drama and a genuinely unique piece of trophy history. Baltimore won 16-13 on a last-minute field goal, capping a game that featured a Super Bowl-record 11 combined turnovers -- seven by the winning Colts alone, still the most ever committed by a Super Bowl champion. The game opened with three consecutive three-and-outs before Dallas cashed a turnover into a field goal. Baltimore answered with a spectacular touchdown when a deflected pass off two different receivers' hands somehow found tight end John Mackey, who completed a 75-yard scoring play. Dallas regained the edge before halftime, blocking the extra point and building a 13-6 lead behind Tom Landry's defense. The third quarter passed scoreless amid a wave of turnovers on both sides, and Baltimore -- forced to turn to backup quarterback Earl Morrall after starter Johnny Unitas exited with a rib injury in the second quarter -- mounted a furious final-period comeback, scoring 10 unanswered points, the last of them a game-winning 32-yard field goal by rookie Jim O'Brien with five seconds remaining. Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley, who intercepted two passes and forced a fumble, was named Super Bowl MVP despite playing for the losing team -- the only time in Super Bowl history the award has gone to a member of the defeated side. Howley reportedly considered the honor "meaningless" given the loss and initially declined it, before accepting the accompanying station wagon as a gift for his wife. Dallas set Super Bowl records that still stand for futility, committing 10 penalties for 133 yards, while the Cowboys' collapse extended a reputation, fair or not, as a team that could not close out big games -- a narrative they would spend the following year (and the next Super Bowl) erasing. For Baltimore, the win was a measure of redemption after the franchise's stunning Super Bowl III loss to the Jets two years earlier, even if the manner of victory -- backup quarterback Morrall going 7 of 15 for 147 yards, and a game that head coach Don McCafferty (a rookie head coach, the first to win a title in his debut season) largely survived rather than dominated -- left the outcome feeling more like a battle of attrition than a decisive statement. Tom Landry, whose team committed the giveaways that ultimately doomed it, still observed afterward that he had "not been around many games where the players hit harder," a nod to the game's ferocious, if error-strewn, physicality. Some Colts players, including defensive tackle Bubba Smith, were reportedly so unhappy with the game's sloppy quality that they declined to wear their championship rings.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Super Bowl V
• Pro-Football-Reference: Super Bowl Game Summaries