National Football League

Best Super Bowl ever? Cowboys, Steelers had epic bout 43 years ago

Updated Jan. 17, 2023 11:00 a.m. ET

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As Super Bowl LVI approaches Sunday in Los Angeles, it's fun to look back at some of the best matchups and ponder whether the L.A. Rams and Cincinnati Bengals will stage a contest that can live up to the game's rich history.

The bar for Sunday's contest will be high, as there have been a number of memorable moments in the game's history.

There was the time Tom Brady led the Patriots on a massive comeback to edge the Falcons in 2017, the game's lone overtime finish. 

And the time the Giants ended the Pats' run at perfection in 2008, thanks in large part to David Tyree's famous "helmet catch." 

And the time the Jets shockingly upset the Chiefs in 1969, a win that made good on Joe Namath's legendary guarantee.

But for Skip Bayless, we have to go back 43 years for the greatest Super Bowl ever — Super Bowl XIII in 1979 between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys.

"The most special week of my entire career"

Skip Bayless reflects on Super Bowl XIII between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys, which he says was a memorable week for many reasons.

For Bayless, the game was great for many reasons, the first of which was the show around the game. It was held in Miami, and the days leading up to the contest were a party.

"The [hotel] lobby would be filled with celebrities and celebrity wannabes, high rollers and low rollers and bejeweled sun goddesses," Bayless recalled on his podcast, "The Skip Bayless Show." "It was a floor show and I was in my element."

The game also pitted two great franchises against each other, and each team was loaded with stars. There were 17 future Hall of Fame players in the game, including starting quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach. Both coaches — Pittsburgh's Chuck Noll and Dallas' Tom Landry — would also be enshrined in Canton.

Then there was the game itself, a dramatic back-and-forth affair. The Steelers led 21-17 entering the final quarter, but burst out to a 35-17 lead on a 22-yard touchdown run by Franco Harris, followed by an 18-yard TD pass from Bradshaw to Lynn Swann. 

The Cowboys rallied, though, cutting it to 35-31 on a short pass from Staubach to Butch Johnson with 26 seconds left. Pittsburgh would run out the clock from there.

In Bayless' mind, the game turned on two plays — a flag on Dallas corner Benny Barnes for tripping Swann, and Jackie Smith's drop of a would-be touchdown pass from Staubach in the third quarter. The Cowboys settled for a field goal on that drive instead.

"[He was] wide open and as he fell back it just hit him right in the hands and bobbled it and he couldn't hold it and he dropped it," Bayless said. "I'm sure [Smith] is still haunted by that memory."

After the game, Bayless said he landed a bombshell story when Cowboys safety Charlie Waters pulled him aside and told him he was furious with Landry for consistently having them play man coverage on first downs.

"[Waters] said Pittsburgh knew every first down that we were in straight man on Lynn Swann and [John] Stallworth. And they couldn't cover 'em. And Terry Bradshaw ate them alive on first downs."

Bradshaw would pass for 318 yards and four touchdowns on the way to Super Bowl MVP honors.

"I went with that story and it was a mindblower," Bayless said. "It was a bombshell of a story, co-signed by Cliff Harris, the other safety.

"And what a week that was. What a time in my life that was. I look back on that week as the single most special week of my career."

You can watch the "The Skip Bayless Show" on YouTube or subscribe on podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts.

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