1975: Goal-Line Stand Preserves Bengals Win Over Oilers & “White Shoes” Johnson

The matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Oilers on October 5, 1975 at the Astrodome promised to be a good one. Both AFC Central teams had won their first two games heading into the Week 3 contest. Cincinnati, under 67-year-old founding Head Coach Paul Brown, was coming off of a disappointing 7-7 season in ’74 after having won the AFC Central with a 10-4 mark in 1973. QB Ken Anderson (pictured at right), a precision passer who led the NFL in that category in ’74, was off to another fine start.

Meanwhile, the Oilers were on the rise under a new head coach, Bum Phillips. After back-to-back 1-13 records in 1972 and ’73, they had risen to 7-7 under the guidance of Sid Gillman, who chose to turn over the head coaching duties to Phillips, a veteran assistant coach who had most recently been Houston’s defensive coordinator; later he also inherited Gillman’s position as general manager.

The first quarter was scoreless. Cincinnati finally got on the board in the second quarter when Anderson tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to RB Lenvil Elliott. However, Houston WR Billy “White Shoes” Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 64 yards and RB Fred Willis (a former Bengal) capped the possession with a dive into the end zone from a yard out to tie the score.

Johnson struck again before the half when he returned a 53-yard punt by David Green for 30 yards to set up a 37-yard field goal by Skip Butler that gave Houston a 10-7 halftime lead.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati missed opportunities to score further in the first half as Anderson tossed an interception and FB Boobie Clark fumbled the ball away on the Houston 19 yard line.

There was just one score in the third quarter, but it was once again a big play by Houston’s Johnson as he returned a punt for a 63-yard touchdown. The Oilers were up 17-7 thanks to the heroics of the 5’9”, 170-pound wide receiver/kick returner from Widener who had set up both first half scores and directly produced the third.

However, Houston turnovers set up two fourth quarter touchdowns by the Bengals. First, CB Ken Riley recovered a fumble deep in his own territory and returned it 43 yards. Six plays later, RB Stan Fritts caught a pass from Anderson for a 17-yard touchdown that narrowed the Oilers’ margin to three points. Then, LB Al Beauchamp recovered a fumble at the Houston 41 on the Oilers’ next possession. Anderson tossed another TD pass, of six yards to WR Isaac Curtis, seven plays later. With less than nine minutes remaining to play, the Bengals were now ahead by 21-17.


The lead hardly appeared to be safe when the Oilers, thanks to a long pass interference penalty, found themselves with a first-and-goal situation at the Cincinnati one yard line. In the key defensive stand of the game, the Oilers attempted four straight runs into the center of the line and came up empty. Bengals MLB Jim LeClair (pictured at right) made two of the tackles on his own in the goal-line stand, and assisted on the other two. With 5:18 remaining in the game, Cincinnati took over on downs.

On the first play after the change of possession, Anderson was tackled in the end zone for a safety that narrowed the Bengals’ lead to two points. But later Riley intercepted a pass to thwart Houston’s last effort, and Cincinnati escaped with a 21-19 win.

Ken Anderson said afterward, “The only thing we didn’t want to do was panic. We were only down by 10 and you can come back from that.” The Bengals led in total yards (262 to 176) and first downs (18 to 13). They lost 107 yards on seven penalties and Anderson was sacked seven times for a loss of 34 more, but the Oilers suffered five critical turnovers.

Anderson completed 19 of 28 passes for 210 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Neither club ran the ball effectively, and of Cincinnati’s 86 yards on 37 carries (2.3-yard average), Boobie Clark contributed the most with 29 yards on 13 attempts; he also caught the most passes with 5, for another 29 yards. Stan Fritts added 28 yards on 8 carries and Lenvil Elliott 27 yards on 6 rushes. Elliott also had the most receiving yards, with 49 on three catches that included a TD.

The biggest contributor for the Oilers had been Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, who had 263 yards in kick returns for the day (136 on four kickoffs and 127 on six punts); he added another 19 yards on two pass receptions. QB Dan Pastorini was successful on 11 of 23 passes for 93 yards with two of them intercepted. Rookie FB Don “Jaws” Hardeman ran for a team-leading 33 of Houston’s 83 rushing yards, on 16 carries. WR Ken Burrough led the receivers with four catches for 47 yards.

In the highly competitive AFC Central, Cincinnati went on to win its first six games and finished with an 11-3 record, second to the 12-2 Steelers and good enough for a wild card spot in the playoffs. In Paul Brown’s last game as a head coach, they lost a close Divisional playoff contest to Oakland. Houston recovered to win its next four games and came in third with a very respectable 10-4 tally, the club’s best since 1962.

Ken Anderson again led the NFL in passing with a 93.9 rating and also topped the league with 3169 yards and 8.4 yards-per-pass attempt. His 60.5 completion percentage ranked second, as did his low 2.9 percentage of interceptions.

As this game exemplified, Billy “White Shoes” Johnson (pictured below) in his second year had established himself as one of the most exciting players in the league. He ranked fourth in the league with his 1820 all-purpose yards and was the top punt returner with a 15.3-yard average on 40 returns, which included three touchdowns.

1982: 49ers Defeat Bengals in Super Bowl XVI

The teams that met in Super Bowl XVI following the 1981 NFL season were both new participants and were not favored to be playing for a title at the beginning of the year. The San Francisco 49ers, under innovative third-year Head Coach Bill Walsh, had gone 6-10 in 1980 (and, moreover, had back-to-back 2-14 seasons in 1978 and ’79) and didn’t give cause for optimism when they lost two of the first three games in ’81. But they caught fire and went 12-1 the rest of the way, winning the NFC West with a 13-3 overall record. In his first full season as the starting quarterback, Joe Montana (pictured) broke out in a big way as he passed for 3565 yards and led the league with a 63.7 completion percentage. WR Dwight Clark may not have been fast, but he was reliable and caught 85 passes for 1105 yards. The defense had three rookies starting in the secondary, but CB Ronnie Lott and FS Dwight Hicks rose to the occasion.

The Cincinnati Bengals, coached by Forrest Gregg, were also coming off a 6-10 season in ’80. They dominated the AFC Central with a conference-best 12-4 record in ’81. Along with their new tiger-striped uniforms, another new addition was rookie WR Cris Collinsworth, who caught 67 passes for 1009 yards. Along with TE Dan Ross (71 receptions, 910 yards), they helped veteran QB Ken Anderson revitalize his career as he threw for a career-high 3754 yards and led the NFL in passing (98.4). FB Pete Johnson led the ground attack with 1077 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The 49ers defeated the Giants in the Divisional round and then won a thrilling 28-27 NFC Championship game over Dallas. Cincinnati got past Buffalo in the Divisional playoff and handily beat the Chargers for the AFC title on a bitterly cold day that gounded San Diego’s potent aerial attack.

Super Bowl XVI was held at the Pontiac Silverdome on January 24, 1982 with 81,270 in attendance. It was the first such contest to be held in a cold-weather city, but while the weather conditions were icy in the Detroit area, inside the domed stadium it was a comfortable 70 degrees. The Bengals got the first break of the day as 49ers RB Amos Lawrence fumbled the opening kickoff and Cincinnati recovered at the San Francisco 26 yard line. But six plays later, Hicks intercepted a badly thrown pass by Anderson at the five and returned it 27 yards.

The 49ers proceeded to drive down field, with Montana effective on short passes and, on a double-reverse, hit TE Charle Young for a 14-yard gain on a third-and-one play. The 68-yard, 11-play drive ended with a one-yard quarterback sneak by Montana for a touchdown and 7-0 lead.

Cincinnati drove deep into San Francisco territory, but early in the second quarter they again turned the ball over as Collinsworth was stripped by CB Eric Wright after making a 19-yard gain and CB Lynn Thomas recovered for the 49ers at their own eight yard line. Montana again led a methodical drive, going 92 yards on 12 plays and ending up with another touchdown, this time on an 11-yard pass to RB Earl Cooper.

San Francisco placekicker Ray Wersching squibbed the ensuing kickoff, and Bengals WR David Verser fumbled; while Cincinnati recovered, it was at their three yard line. Seven plays later the Bengals punted and the 49ers drove to a 22-yard field goal by Wersching with 15 seconds left in the half. That wasn’t it for the first half scoring, however – Wersching again squibbed the kickoff (what he referred to as a “knuckleball”), taking advantage of the artificial turf and its tendency to make the ball bounce unpredictably, and once more the Bengals had difficulty fielding the kick as RB Archie Griffin fumbled at the 11 yard line. San Francisco’s LB Milt McColl recovered at the four, and Wersching booted a 26-yard field goal with five seconds left to provide the 49ers with a 20-0 halftime lead.

Cincinnati came out strong in the third quarter, driving 83 yards in nine plays highlighted by a 13-yard Anderson pass to WR Isaac Curtis on a flea flicker play. Anderson ended the possession with a five-yard TD run. Later in the quarter the Bengals drove deep into 49ers territory once again, highlighted by a 49-yard Anderson-to-Collinsworth pass and a two-yard run by Pete Johnson on fourth-and-one at the Niner five. With first-and-goal at the three, Anderson handed off to the power-running Johnson once more, who bulled down to the one. On second down, it was Johnson again, attempting to follow All-Pro OT Anthony Munoz into the end zone from the left side but being held to no gain. Anderson tried a quick pass to his right to RB Charles Alexander, who was hit hard by LB Dan Bunz and stopped short of the goal. Now with fourth-and-inches, the Bengals went back to Johnson and he attempted to score over right tackle but was stopped by Bunz and LB Jack “Hacksaw” Reynolds. The 49ers defense had held.

The 49ers punted following the ensuing possession and the Bengals got the ball back on their own 47. Now in the fourth quarter, Cincinnati again drove deep into San Francisco territory, this time scoring on a four-yard TD pass from Anderson to Dan Ross. With the score 20-14, the Niners responded by turning conservative, abandoning the short passing game and featuring the ground attack. The 50-yard drive ended with a 40-yard Wersching field goal and resulting nine-point lead.

With just over five minutes remaining in the game, Eric Wright picked off an Anderson pass at midfield that effectively sealed the win. Ray Wersching kicked his fourth field goal of the contest from 23 yards out to pad the lead at 26-14. Cincinnati scored once more on a three-yard Anderson-to-Ross pass with 15 seconds left, but any chance for a miracle finish was ended when the 49ers recovered the onside kick that followed. The final score was 26-21.

The Bengals outgained the Niners, 356 yards to 275, but were undone by four turnovers (to San Francisco’s one) and the failure to score in the third quarter thanks to the goal line stand. Joe Montana, the game’s MVP, completed 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards and a TD with no interceptions. Dwight Clark and the other starting wide receiver, Freddie Solomon, both caught four passes, while Solomon had the most yards with 52 to Clark’s 45. The running game accounted for 127 yards on 40 attempts, with Ricky Patton topping the group with 55 yards on 17 carries.

Cincinnati’s Ken Anderson (pictured below) had to pass often, 34 times in all, and completed 25 of them for 300 yards and two touchdowns as well as two interceptions. Dan Ross set a Super Bowl record (tied three times since) with 11 pass receptions, for 104 yards and two scores. Cris Collinsworth accumulated 107 yards on his 5 catches. Pete Johnson was held to just 36 yards on 14 rushes.

Summing up the feeling of coming up short after an outstanding season, Anderson said, “When you walk out on the field for this game, it’s the greatest feeling in the world. And when you walk off after the game, and you haven’t won, it’s the worst feeling in the world.”

San Francisco fell back to earth in the strike-shortened ’82 season, going 3-6, but then commenced on a remarkable run in which the team never had fewer than 10 wins in any of the next 16 seasons – until 1999, long after Montana and Walsh were gone from the scene. There would be four more championships in that span. Cincinnati made the playoffs again in 1982 with a 7-2 tally, lost in the first round, and fell into mediocrity for most of the next five years until returning to the postseason – and a Super Bowl rematch with the 49ers – following the 1988 campaign.