Super Bowl X — 1975 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Lynn Swann, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Note: Terry Bradshaw suffered a concussion on his own touchdown pass to Lynn Swann - Pittsburgh's final offensive snap of the game - and did not return to the sideline afterward, a genuine in-game injury though it did not require an on-field QB change. Swann's 4 catches for 161 yards and the touchdown earned him Super Bowl MVP.

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl X delivered back-to-back titles for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who edged the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in a game frequently cited as the most exciting of the first ten Super Bowls, punctuated by one of the signature individual performances in the game's early history. Dallas, appearing as the first NFC wild-card team ever to reach the Super Bowl, gave the two-time-champion Cowboys franchise of Super Bowls V and VI a shot at revenge against a Pittsburgh team seeking to become just the second franchise to repeat as champion. The teams traded touchdowns in the first quarter to open 7-7, and Dallas grabbed a 10-7 lead into the fourth quarter behind Roger Staubach, who threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns despite being sacked seven times by Pittsburgh's relentless pass rush. Pittsburgh then scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to take control, but Dallas would not go away quietly, pulling back within four points at 21-17 late in the game before safety Glen Edwards sealed the win with an end-zone interception on the game's final play. Wide receiver Lynn Swann, playing through the aftereffects of a serious concussion suffered in the AFC Championship Game, was named Super Bowl MVP after catching just four passes but for a Super Bowl-record 161 yards and a touchdown, including a spectacular, contorted 53-yard sideline grab often ranked among the greatest catches in Super Bowl history, and a decisive 64-yard touchdown reception late in the game that proved the difference. Terry Bradshaw completed just 9 passes but for 209 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Swann for the clinching score just before absorbing a hit that knocked him briefly unconscious. Franco Harris added 82 rushing yards, while linebacker Jack Lambert delivered a game-high 14 tackles and became a symbol of Pittsburgh's ferocious identity, memorably shoving a Dallas defender off his own kicker, Roy Gerela, after a Cowboys player had knocked Gerela down following a missed field goal. Beyond Swann's virtuoso performance, the game carried real symbolic weight: it was the first Super Bowl matchup between two franchises that had each already won a championship, a marker of how quickly the still-young Super Bowl era was producing genuine dynasties and rivalries. Dallas's presence as a wild-card entrant -- a first in Super Bowl history -- also validated the format changes the NFL had made to its playoff structure earlier in the decade, opening the postseason to non-division-winning teams for the first time. For Pittsburgh, the win confirmed that the Steel Curtain team that had broken through in Super Bowl IX was no fluke, extending what would become a run of four championships in six seasons and cementing Chuck Noll's Steelers, rather than any single dominant star, as the standard of excellence in the mid-1970s NFL.

Sources

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