Has there ever been a Super Bowl MVP on the losing team?
If you are named the Super Bowl MVP, your name will go down in history, but if you don’t win the game and get the award, you go down in infamy.
Could you imagine? Playing in the biggest game of your life. Being the best player on the field, and getting named the MVP of the Super Bowl, but not winning the game?
The Blooper Bowl welcomed merger
It’s a bittersweet scenario that has only played out once in the history of the NFL. Super Bowl MVP is an award that means very little if you don’t actually win the game. The Lombardi Trophy generally is accompanied by the Super Bowl MVP trophy in the post game celebration, but that’s not the case all the time, or at least that wasn’t the case for Dallas Cowboy linebacker Chuck Howley.
Let’s paint the picture. It’s 1971, the Dallas Cowboys have made it to Super Bowl V taking on the Baltimore Ravens. It was the first Super Bowl played after the AFL/NFL merger. The game would go down in history as the “Blooper Bowl” for the sloppy play from both sides.
Super Bowl V was played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida and with a name like the Blooper Bowl, you start to understand why the Super Bowl MVP was given to a player from the losing team. The fact is, neither team really did much to win the game.
Colts win, Howley crowd MVP
It was a game that saw 11 turnovers between both teams with five giveaways coming in the fourth quarter. The Colts turned the ball over seven times, but the Cowboys could only score 13 points off those turnovers. Mostly because Dallas committed a Super Bowl record with 10 penalties amounting in a total of 133 yards.
Dallas took a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter thanks to a couple of Mike Clark field goals. Baltimore scored the opening touchdown of the game less than a minute later, tying the game with a 75 yard pass from Johnny Unitas to John Mackey but the Colts missed the PAT to keep it tied at 6-6. Dallas went up 13-6 midway through the second quarter only to be leveled with a 4th quarter TD by Baltimore scored by Tom Nowatzke. Jim O’Brien kicked the game winning field goal with seconds left on the clock.
While O’Brien had a cry for the Super Bowl MVP, his missed PAT early in the game kind of dampened his case. Both teams threw three interceptions each, Baltimore lost four fumbles while Dallas lost one. Dallas Cowboys LB Chuck Howley was named MVP after picking off two passes and making two tackles, but initially refused the award. He eventually accepted the award as it not only came with the trophy but also a station wagon, which he gave to his wife.
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