Super Bowl 1977

Following an owner’s meeting that was held in Honolulu on March 19, 1975, Super Bowl XI was awarded to Pasadena.

Super Bowl X was played between the AFC’s Oakland Raiders and NFC’s Minnesota Vikings to decide which team would be crowned champions of the 1976 football season.

The Raiders emerged victorious having clocked up a score of 32 versus the Viking’s 14.

Notable for:

• This is the earliest scheduled Super Bowl, taking place on January 9^th. To avoid the playoff games being held on Christmas Day, the league had purposely brought the season forward by one week.
• It was also the first Super Bowl to end during daylight.
• Super Bowl XI was the first time the Ben Davidson Rule went into force. According to this rule, players were no longer permitted to attack a ball carrier who fell to the ground and did not continue to advance. This rule was designed to prevent players from being injured when they posed no risk of attack.
• The Raider’s Ken Stabler became the first left-handed quarterback in history to win the Super Bowl. It wasn’t until 18 years later that Steve Young, the San Francisco quarterback joined him in this achievement.

Super Bowl XI got off to a relatively uneventful start with both teams taking a defensive position and gradually attempting to establish their game strategy. However, the second quarter saw more action, with Oakland’s Casper and Banaszak each scoring touchdowns and place kicker Errol Mann adding a field goal to establish a lead of 16-0, which they held going into halftime.

Oakland extended their lead to 19-0 in the third quarter with another field goal from Mann. It was at this point that the Vikings started to fight back. Tarkenton completed a successful eight-yard touchdown pass to White. However, despite their best efforts, the Vikings were unable to prevent the Raiders from scoring two more times: Banaszak secured his second touchdown of game and Willie Brown executed an impressive interception that he returned 75 yards to score. The Vikings recovered their score with a late touchdown, but it was not enough and Oakland secured their first ever Super Bowl Championship win.

Fred Biletnikoff was voted MVP having executed 4 catches for 79 yards to set up three of Raider’s touchdowns.