'75 STL Cardinals win CFL Championship 45-20 over '79 SD

After a long 14 game season + 2 rounds of playoffs the CFL Championship was on the line at the New Orleans Super Dome. Both teams never made it to the Super Bowl in real life. Both teams were coached by Don Coryell in real life and featured the "Air Coryell" style of football that was light years ahead of it's time and is still played today in the modern era. Coryell NEVER had a playbook yet always had the most sophisticated offenses. QB's Jim Hart (STL) and Dan Fouts (SD) thrived under his system. He won 5 division titles during his combined tenure with both franchises. Sadly his best shot at the Super Bowl was squashed by a -52 degree day in Cincy where the vertical attack was rendered useless. At 83 years young he is still going strong in retirement. This CFL Super Bowl is a salute to him as both of his teams are well represented.

On to the game: The match featured two teams that were almost mirror images of each other. San Diego had a more complete passing game and St. Louis had the edge with the running game and Special Teams. Neither team had a robust defense, so a low scoring smashmouth game was not in the mix. Both SAT coaches were experienced in Championship Games. Coach Geller having won the BAD Early 70's Championship with the 71-Chargers and Coach Weiss having won 2 CFL Championships (58-Colts and 73-Dolphins).

Both teams went 3 and out in their first possessions. A combination of nerves and the "feel out" process could be attributed to that result. The Chargers put together a nice drive that lasted 9 plays and culminated in a 33 yard FG by wood as the Cardinal defense bent, but did not break. On the ensuing kickoff the Chargers cleverly squibbed the ball away from elite return man Terry Metcalf and the Cardinals started on their own 21. The Charger defense expected Jim Otis to get an inside handoff and bit on Jim Hart's play fake. Mel Gray caught the ball around midfield in stride and was not to be denied. In just one play Hart to Gray went 79 yards and the Cardinals were now up 7-3.

Coach Geller is one cool cookie. Some might have been upset or panicked after a lighting strike like the one the Cards just posted, but not Stu. Methodically and purposefully he mixed in the run along with his potent pass attack to drive the Chargers 56 yard in 9 plays and notch another Mike Wood FG to make the score 7-6. Let it be said right now the 1979 Chargers had a very weak running game. Mike Thomas and Clarence Williams scared no one, other than Coryell himself. Coach Geller found ways to time and time again get them to run for decent yardage vs the Cardinal defense that was keying the pass and conceding the run.

On the Cardinals next possession they were able to get 1 first down, but were forced to punt. Jeff "I can play on both teams if I want" West pinned the Chargers deep in their own territory (their 6 yd line) with a nifty 51 yard boot. The Chargers again drove deep into Cardinal territory with a drive that mirrored their previous scoring attempt. Unfortunately for them it stalled on the Cardinal 37, just a tad out of Mike Wood's range. Jeff West came on again to punt and pinned the Cards deep in their own zone on their 13.

What happened next can only be described as a drive for the ages. It was a drive quite similar to the opening drive in SBXLII that the Giants had vs the Patriots. Deep in their own zone the Cardinals fashioned together a 16 play / 87 yard drive that lasted almost 7 and a half minutes and culminated with Jim Hart's QB sneak from the 1 foot line. The key play occurred early on when the Cards faced a 3rd and 1 from their own 22. If they don't make it, they would be forced to punt and SD would have had excellent field position. Hart hit Steve Jones with a quick slant for 6 yards to move the chains. 6 different Cardinal skill players touched the ball on the drive as Hart was the master of "spreading it around".

With the score 14-6 the Cardinals attempted a squibb kick (since there was a little over a minute left to play in the half), which no Charger wanted to pick up. Ripe for the taking Jerry Latin of St. Louis fell on the pigskin and the Cards had the ball once again deep in Charger territory (SD's 23). That edge in special teams began to show it's face and put Charger hopes in jeopardy.

This mini-drive would be Terry Metcalf's chance to shine. The Cards had all 3 of their timeouts left, so the ground game was still a viable option. San Diego anticipated the pass and did not have the correct personnel on the field to stop the nimble Metcalf who ran the ball 3 times during the drive for 20 yard to put the ball on the Charger 3 yard line. Anticipating that the Chargers would gear up to stop the run Hart called for a quick toss to 2nd string TE J.V. Cain who was standing alone on the 1 yard line with no one to stop him from scoring. Just like that the score was now 21-6 as both teams headed for the locker room and the half time show was set to begin.

As it usually the case, second halves start slow due to the lost momentum from the elongated halftime performances. St. Louis went three and out and the Mike Fuller pulled off a nifty 27 yard return to the Cardinal 31 yard line. Giving the Chargers a short field is a sure recipe for failure as they cashed in with a touchdown six plays later. 3rd and goal from the Cardinal 4 saw Fouts find John Jefferson in the back of the endzone for a quick 6.

With the Cardinal lead cut to 8 (21-13) the Chargers decided to squibb the ball again and keep it out of the hand of the dangerous Metcalf. Starting on their own 39 St. Louis had fantastic field position. 6 plays later Hart hit Metcalf for a 14 yard TD strike to increase the lead back to 15 points and 3 scores. Hart again spread the ball out evenly as Metcalf, Gray, Earl Thomas and TE Jackie Smith all caught passes on this 6 play 61 yard drive.

Down by 15 with 6:23 left to go in the 3rd the Chargers needed a spark. The Cardinal coaching staff knew that San Diego needed 3 scores to win and time was at a premium, so they were content to sit back and give up the run and underneath passes. Time and time again Fouts went to the delayed draw to Williams and Thomas to keep the drive alive. Williams even caught a huge 3rd and 3 pass for 10 yards as Jefferson and Joiner were getting double coverage. It all came down to a 4th and 3 from the Cardinal 5 yard line with 13:35 left on the clock in the 4th. The Chargers were able to methodically move 79 yards, but they did chew up 7 minutes of clock time, which was not their preference. Sometimes you are forced to take just what the defense allows you to have. San Diego needed 3 yards to get a new set of downs from about the Cardinal 2. The option to kick the field goal and cut the deficit to 12 was never an option. When you move the ball all the way down the field like SD did you need to come away with 7, not 3. This looked to be the seminal moment in a classic offensive showdown. San Diego decided to go with a draw play by Mike Thomas, which had been so successful up until this point. Playing a hunch and going against sound logic the Cards stacked 8 men in the box and keyed all of their efforts on Thomas to stop him dead cold in his tracks. Cardinal players were jumping up and down as if they clinched the Lombardi Trophy.

NEVER celebrate until the game is over. Professionals are supposed to follow that axiom. Perhaps St. Louis' premature celebration pumped up the Chargers or perhaps it was poor play calling + poor execution. We might never know. With the ball on their own 5 logic would have dictated that the Cardinals attempt to run the ball and chew up clock. Trying to feed off of their new found momentum St. Louis decided to go for the throat with another play action pass to Mel Gray. Some might call this their bread and butter play. Others might call it stupid. In any case Gray caught the ball and looked to have a nice 7 yard gain out to their 12, but Woody Lowe stripped him of the ball before his knee touched the poly turf. Lowe picked it up and just like that the Chargers were back within striking distance. There's a fine line between being too conservative and too aggressive in Championship games and the Cardinals stepped over it.

Back in business Fouts and company would waste no time as Mike Thomas caught an 8 yard pass 3 plays later to cut the Cardinal lead to 28-20. With 8:01 left to play this game was now closer than Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus at a photo shoot.

Mike Wood's right leg was pumped as he blasted the kickoff past an anxious Metcalf and out of the end zone. Taking over on their own 20 with more than half the 4th quarter left the Cardinals needed to right the ship and quick. The Chargers decided to key on Jim Otis and stay in a standard set. The Cardinals decided to give the ball to Metcalf who was begging for the ball since he had been so neutralized on special teams. While the defensive flow headed toward Otis Metcalf found a hole to run behind Dan Dierdorf and Conrad Dobler. The "Odd Couple" managed to block the aggressive Charger front long enough for Metcalf to get though and sprint 57 yards to the Charger 23 where the amazing Woody Lowe made, for the moment, what was a game saving tackle. On the following play the Chargers limited Otis to 2 yards and fully expected the Cardinals to protect the ball and keep it on the ground. That conventional logic made sense to most. Unfortunately for San Diego the Cardinal brain trust decided to air it out and Jackie Smith took a medium pass 21 yards to paydirt...but wait a marker was down. As referee Jim Tunney turned on his mic the Super Dome went silent. The outcome of the game lie in the balance and this call would either give St. Louis a commanding 15 point lead or keep the status quo. When the words "defensive encroachment" left Tunney's mouth the Super Dome crowd erupted. With 6:18 left to play the score was now 35-20 Cardinals. The players wearing red displayed complete elation, while those with white jerseys looked dower.

Desperation time had arrived. San Diego was now forced to go to the air and go deep. Short sustained drives with chicanery would no longer suffice. Action was needed. After another special teams mix up the Chargers were forced to start on their own 15. Fouts came out slinging and hit Jefferson with a 15 yard strike out to their own 30. On the next play he threw a similar pass to Mike Thomas, but Pete Barnes had it read like a cheap novel with a predictable plot as he stepped in front of Thomas to pick it off. Barnes wasn't content to just pick off the ball, he rambled an additional 15 yards to the Charger 31. Penalties and conservative play calling netted 1 yard on this drive as the Charger D held strong. Jim Bakken came on to kick a 47 yard FG to increase the Cardinal lead to 18 and all but seal the deal.

After Bakken's touchback Fouts came out gunslinging again and found a similar fate as Norm Thompson jumped in front of Charlie Joiner for a 38 yard pick 6 to boost the score to 45-20 and make the game look lopside, when in reality it was a very competitive event for 3 1/2 quarters.

The game ended when Jim Hart took a knee on his own 31 yard line and time expired. The 1975 St. Louis Cardinals were crowned CFL Champions and the best team of the latter half of the 1970's. Coach Weiss was happy to be awarded his 3rd Shapiro Trophy (CFL's version of the Lombardi Trophy) in 6 seasons. The winning coach thanked his players for carrying him through the long and challenging season as well as Coach Geller for being a good friend and an equal adversary.

QB Jim Hart was named MVP after posting an unheard of 132 QB Rating. On the day Hart was 13-21-193-4TD's and no INT's.