Super Bowl XXX — 1995 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Larry Brown (CB, Dallas Cowboys)

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Note: Two of Neil O'Donnell's three interceptions were picked off by Dallas cornerback Larry Brown (77 combined return yards), a detail separately documented in this site's game-context narrative rather than in the passing table above.

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl XXX was the third championship-game meeting between the Cowboys and Steelers, two of the NFL's most storied franchises, and it delivered Dallas its third Super Bowl title in four seasons under Barry Switzer, closing out the core run of the team's 1990s dynasty. Dallas jumped ahead 10-0 in the first quarter and led throughout, though Pittsburgh, playing a physical and disciplined game under coach Bill Cowher, twice cut the deficit to three points in the second half and had genuine chances to complete a comeback. In the end, however, Dallas's ball-control offense and opportunistic defense proved decisive, and the Cowboys prevailed 27-17. Cornerback Larry Brown was named MVP for a performance defined not by gaudy statistics but by two enormous, game-turning plays: he intercepted Neil O'Donnell twice in the second half, both times setting up short-field Dallas touchdowns that were the difference in the final score. It was a surprising MVP selection given his modest career profile, and Brown became a much-scrutinized story afterward when he left Dallas for a lucrative free-agent contract with Oakland the following offseason, a deal that quickly turned into one of the more infamous free-agent busts of the era. Troy Aikman completed 15 of 23 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown, while Emmitt Smith rushed for 49 yards and two touchdowns, continuing his string of productive championship-game performances even as Pittsburgh's defense limited Dallas's overall rushing total to just 56 yards. Pittsburgh's O'Donnell threw for 239 yards but was intercepted three times, all costly, while running back Bam Morris rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown in a game where the Steelers' offense moved the ball reasonably well but repeatedly stalled or turned it over at critical moments. Brown's story carried an emotional undercurrent that was widely reported afterward: he and his wife had lost an infant son earlier in his career, and Brown spoke about channeling that grief into his preparation and performance, giving his unlikely MVP turn additional resonance beyond the box score. The game also marked the first time the Vince Lombardi Trophy was presented to the winning team on the field immediately after the final whistle, a presentation format that has continued in the decades since. The victory was the fifth Super Bowl championship in franchise history for Dallas, tying the team with San Francisco and Pittsburgh for the most in NFL history at the time, and it proved to be the last hurrah of the Cowboys' 1990s dynasty; the team has not returned to a Super Bowl since. For Pittsburgh, the loss extended the franchise's championship drought, though the Steelers would rebuild and return to (and eventually win) Super Bowl XL a decade later. The rivalry renewed in this game, dating back to Super Bowls X and XIII in the 1970s, gave Super Bowl XXX a sense of historical weight beyond the immediate stakes, pitting two of the league's most decorated franchises against each other one more time.

Sources

• Pro-Football-Reference: Super Bowl Index
• Wikipedia: Super Bowl XXX