Canal Street Chronicles
With New Orleans set to hold its 11th Super Bowl, let’s take a look back at some of the previous big games held in the Big Easy
With the Super Bowl set to be played in New Orleans for a record-tying 11th time, now is a great opportunity to look back at the previous 10 Super Bowls hosted by the city. Many of those Super Bowls in New Orleans have launched or validated some of the greatest dynasties in NFL history, and have also been the finale to some of the greatest postseason runs we have ever seen. With this in mind, and Super Bowl LIX on the horizon, let’s take look back and rank the previous Super Bowls hosted by New Orleans.
Entering this Super Bowl the Dallas Cowboys had come to be known as “next year’s champions” due to their recent proclivity for losing on the big stage. Despite a 52-16-2 record and a roster full of Hall of Famers, over the previous five seasons the Cowboys had lost two NFL Championship Games and Super Bowl V the previous year. The Cowboys would prove their greatness in Super Bowl VI however by dominating the Miami Dolphins in a 21-point win. The difference between this and the previous Cowboy teams would prove to be future Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach. After winning an early season QB controversy, Staubach went 13-0 in games he started and won Super Bowl MVP.
The game was relatively mundane, as the Dolphins were unable to find the end zone, making them the only team to fail to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl until the Rams in 2018. Mike Ditka caught a touchdown pass early in the 4th quarter to seal the Cowboys first ever championship, while cornerback Herb Adderley won his third Super Bowl in the last six years after winning Super Bowls I and II with Green Bay. This would be the last game the Dolphins would lose until the 1973 season.
Another uncompetitive Super Bowl featuring the Cowboys, this time against a Broncos team featuring an all-time great defense known as the “Orange Crush”. Denver had beaten the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC playoffs, the two teams that had combined to win the previous three Super Bowls, but still entered the first ever Super Bowl played in the Superdome as 6-point underdogs to the powerhouse Cowboys. Denver starter Craig Morton, the quarterback that Roger Staubach had beaten out in Dallas in 1971, would complete the same number of passes to the Cowboys as he did to the Broncos, throwing 4 interceptions and completing just 4 of 15 passes, only one of which went for positive yards. The Broncos were unable to keep up with Staubach and rookie running back Tony Dorsett, as they would fail to score...
