It has been a long time between Super Bowl drinks for the Kansas City Chiefs. They will be playing either the San Francisco 49ers or Green Bay Packers on Feb. 2, 2020, after downing the Tennessee Titans, 35-24, Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
How long, you ask? How about 18,270 days since Jan. 11, 1970, and Super Bowl IV when the Chiefs became the second AFL team in a row to win the Super Bowl, following the New York Jets. It is 800 regular and post-season games for Kansas City since winning IV.
The Minnesota Vikings and Chiefs met at Tulane Stadium that Sunday. Hank Stram coached KC to a 23-7 victory in New Orleans. The Chiefs came into the game as double-digit underdogs yet throttled the Vikings, who have yet to win a Super Bowl.
The MVP of the game was KC QB Len Dawson, who He completed 12-of-17 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown, with one interception. The great Jan Stenerud kicked three field goals to give the Chiefs a 9-0 lead.
Viking quarterback Joe Kapp was 16-of-25 for 183 yards with two picks. John Henderson had seven catches for 111 yards in the losing cause.
Stram was mic’d up for the game and provided plenty of gems:
- Len Dawson: “C’mon Lenny! Pump it in there, baby! Just keep matriculating the ball down the field, boys!”
- Observing the confusion in the Vikings’ defense: “Kassulke (Viking SS Karl Kassulke) was running around there like it was a Chinese fire drill. They didn’t know where Mike (Garrett) was. Didn’t know where he was! They look like they’re flat as hell.”
- Before the Chiefs’ first touchdown, he sent in the play “65 toss power trap.” When the Chiefs scored on the play, Stram laughed while yelling to his players on the bench, “Was it there, boys? Was that there, rats? Nice going, baby! Haaa-haaa-haaa-ha-ha-ha! Haaa! The mentor! 65 toss power trap! Yaaa-haaa-haaa-ha-ha! Yaaa-ha-ha! I tell ya that thing was there, yes sir boys! Haa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Wooo!!”
- As the referees were spotting the ball before a measurement to determine if the Vikings got a first down, Stram yelled to the officials, “Make sure you mark it right! Oh, you lost your place! Measure it, take the chains out there! Oh, they didn’t make it! My God, they made that by an inch! He definitely gave them an extra foot. Bad! Very bad!”
- Another time, the refs overruled what looked like a Minnesota fumble. Stram: “Mr. Official, let me ask you something. How can six of you miss a play like that? Huh? All six of you! When the ball jumped out of there as soon as we made contact?… No. What??”
- After Frank Pitts gained on the reverse in the third quarter, when the chains were stretched and the Chiefs indeed had the first down, Stram was then heard saying to the refs, “Ya did good, you marked it good. You did a helluva job, nice going!”
- On Otis Taylor’s touchdown reception that clinched the game, Stram is heard yelling and laughing.
The anthem was played by Doc Severinsen, of “Tonight Show” fame.
CBS had the TV rights to the game and it was called by Jack Buck and Pat Summerall. Buck’s son, Joe, will be on the call Feb. 2, with Troy Aikman when FOX broadcasts Super Bowl LIV from Miami.
To give you an idea of how long it has been, Patrick Mahomes Sr., father of Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, was not born at the time the Chiefs beat the Vikings. The elder Mahomes, who went on to pitch in MLB, was born on Aug. 9, 1970.
The NFL Draft in 1970 saw the Pittsburgh Steelers choose Terry Bradshaw with the No. 1 overall pick. The New York Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA title, with Game 7 being the famed “Willis Reed” contest. The World Series was won by the Baltimore Orioles, who rebounded from being stunned by the New York Mets in ’69, to down the Cincinnati Reds in five games.
Richard Nixon was the President of the United States. Jimi Hendrix died on Sept. 18 at the age of 27. Janis Joplin passed away on Oct. 4. Former heavyweight champ Sonny Liston died on Dec. 30.