In a recent edition of On this date featured the Minnesota Vikings first-ever playoff game, a 24-14 loss to the Baltimore Colts in the 1968 Western Conference playoff game.
Despite the loss, the season wasn’t over for the Vikings.
They would then play the Dallas Cowboys at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Dallas had lost the Eastern Conference playoff game to the Cleveland Browns 31-20.
So what’s the story about the extra game?
It started in 1959 when the new AFL was gearing-up to play a full fall season to compete against the NFL.
Television coverage was still sparse for the NFL, with few games being shown on television during the season.
Meanwhile, the AFL got a full network contract to show their games on ABC during the season, and often, these were doubleheader games. NBC would contract the AFL later.
To help get more exposure for their teams, the NFL devised the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl, named after retiring NFL Commissioner Bert Bell, who served in the role from 1946-1959.
The game matched the two losers of the divisional round, to establish the third-best team in the NFL, while giving the viewers one more game to view the product.
Not all were thrilled with the idea of playing an exhibition game after they lost in a Divisional playoff. The players were game to play, as it was another paycheck to earn ($1,200 for each winning player, and $500 for each player on the losing squad), back when players had to get offseason jobs to make ends meet.
However, legendary Hall of Fame Coach Vince Lombardi, whose Packer teams played in two of these games (winning one and losing the other), told the players that the game wasn’t the “Loser’s Bowl” it was the “S**t Bowl.”
The games were played in front of crowds in the 17,000-20,000 range. The AFL and NFL eventually agreed to play in Super Bowl games (known as the AFL-NFL World Championship until Super Bowl III), and interest in the game waned even further for players and fans.
The game was played in the off week between the Conference Championship and the Title/Super Bowl Games. The AFL never held a similar game.
The Vikings and Cowboys played in the Orange Bowl in Miami in front of tens of thousands of empty seats.
No footage exists of this game, either broadcast or NFL Films. And there are almost no photos of the game available and almost no news services reported it in their paper the next day.
Despite all of that, it was important enough to the NFL that the number one CBS broadcast team of Ray Scott and Paul Christman would call the action live.
The game was played on Sunday, Jan. 5, 1969 on a sloppy, muddy mess of a field in Miami before an announced crowd of 22,961.
Minnesota jumped to a 13-0 lead in the first period as Bobby Bryant returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown and Fred Cox kicked two field goals.
Quarterback Don Meredith rallied the Cowboys to within 13-10 at halftime. Meredith completed 15 of 24 passes for 243 yards and one touchdown and was voted the outstanding player of the game.
Dallas Coach Tom Landry sent Craig Morton in at quarterback for the second half and he threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Craig Baynham for the only score of the second half and Dallas would win 17-13.
Playoff Bowl scores
01-07-1961: Detroit Lions 17, Cleveland Browns 16
01-06-1962: Detroit Lions 38, Philadelphia Eagles 10
01-06-1963: Detroit Lions 17, Pittsburgh Steelers 10
01-05-1964: Green Bay Packers 40, Cleveland Browns 23
01-03-1965: St. Louis Cardinals 24, Green Bay Packers 17
01-09-1966: Baltimore Colts 35, Dallas Cowboys 3
01-08-1967: Baltimore Colts 20, Philadelphia Eagles 14
01-07-1968: Los Angeles Rams 30, Cleveland Browns 6
01-05-1969: Dallas Cowboys 17, Minnesota Vikings 13
01-03-1970: Los Angeles Rams 31, Dallas Cowboys 0
Records by team
Teams listed alphabetically
Baltimore Colts 2-0 1.000
Cleveland Browns 0-3 .000
Dallas Cowboys 1-2 .333
Detroit Lions 3-0 1.000
Green Bay Packers 1-1 .500
Los Angeles Rams 2-0 1.000
Minnesota Vikings 0-1 .000
Philadelphia Eagles 0-2 .000
Pittsburgh Steelers 0-1 .000
St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 1.000