Super Bowl XI — 1976 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Fred Biletnikoff, WR, Oakland Raiders

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Note: Minnesota's Fran Tarkenton was relieved late in the game by Bob Lee (7/9, 81 yards, 1 TD per the box score) - not included in the passing table above, which reports only the starter's line, consistent with this build's per-game convention.

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl XI finally delivered the Oakland Raiders a championship after nearly a decade of near-misses, as the Raiders throttled the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 at the Rose Bowl, ending a run of six AFC/AFL Championship Game losses since the franchise's Super Bowl II defeat to Green Bay in 1968. For veterans like cornerback Willie Brown, guard Gene Upshaw, receiver Fred Biletnikoff, and running back Pete Banaszak -- all holdovers from that earlier loss -- the win was described as validation "for the other Raiders who came before and didn't have a chance." The game began scorelessly through the first quarter, with both teams squandering scoring chances, before Oakland pulled away in the second, scoring 16 unanswered points on a field goal and two short touchdowns (a 1-yard pass to Dave Casper and a 1-yard Pete Banaszak run) to lead 16-0 at the half, during which Minnesota mustered just one first down. Oakland extended the margin to 19-0 in the third quarter before Minnesota's Sammy White caught a touchdown pass late in the period to get the Vikings on the board. Cornerback Willie Brown put the game away in the fourth quarter with a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown, and though Minnesota added a garbage-time score, the 32-14 final reflected Oakland's total dominance -- 429 total yards to Minnesota's 353, and a striking 266 rushing yards on 52 carries against a Vikings defense that had entered the game as one of the league's most respected units. Wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff was named Super Bowl MVP despite modest raw numbers -- just four catches for 79 yards and no touchdowns -- an unusual selection explained by how consistently his possession catches set up three of Oakland's touchdowns; for decades he remained the only receiver ever to win the award without reaching 100 receiving yards, a distinction that stood until Cooper Kupp's Super Bowl LVI performance. Running back Clarence Davis quietly authored one of the more efficient rushing days in Super Bowl history, gaining 137 yards on just 16 carries (8.5 yards per attempt) behind the dominant left-side blocking of tackle Art Shell and guard Upshaw, while quarterback Ken Stabler managed the offense efficiently, completing 12 of 19 passes for 180 yards and a score. The victory carried several historical footnotes: it was the earliest calendar-year Super Bowl played to that point, and remains the only Super Bowl at which the national anthem was not performed (Vikki Carr instead sang "America the Beautiful"). For Minnesota, the loss was the third of what would become four Super Bowl defeats for a Bud Grant-coached team that dominated its era in the regular season yet could never close out a championship, a frustration that mirrored, in reverse, the very drought Oakland had just broken. John Madden, promoted rapidly from linebackers coach to head coach years earlier, delivered the franchise's first title and cemented his own Hall of Fame coaching credentials in the process.

Sources

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