Dallas Survives a Scare, Wins Super Bowl

The National Football League, rocked by questions of loyalty, franchise upheaval and squabbles with Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, can still count on one enduring tradition: The National Football Conference beating the American Football Conference in the Super Bowl.

The domination continued for the 12th consecutive year Sunday in Super Bowl XXX, with Dallas quelling a late Pittsburgh rally and securing a 27-17 victory over the Steelers in Sun Devil Stadium before a crowd of 76,347, collecting its third Vince Lombardi Trophy in the past four years.

“I want to say to Jerry Jones something that’s very important,” said Dallas Coach Barry Switzer, who survived a season of criticism to earn his first Super Bowl victory to go along with a national championship he won at the University of Oklahoma. “He said to me all year: ‘Are you having a good time now?’ Well, I want to tell you, we did it our way, baby. We did it. We did it. We did it.”

But the Steelers threw a mighty scare into the favored Cowboys before becoming another AFC victim. Pittsburgh surprised Dallas with a fourth-quarter onside kick, recovered by Deon Figures. It was parlayed into a 1-yard Bam Morris touchdown run to pull the Steelers three points short of the Cowboys with 6:36 to play.

Pittsburgh was on the move again with an opportunity to tie or jump ahead of the Cowboys, but Dallas cornerback Larry Brown, who had to contend with the death of his infant son, Christopher, earlier this year, ended the drama. Brown, who was named the game’s most valuable player, stepped in front of a misguided Neil O’Donnell pass for his second interception of the game, each setting up a short touchdown run by Emmitt Smith.

“I just thank God he gave me the strength to get through this year; it stays on your mind, but you have to move on,” said Brown, who attended Los Angeles High School and Southwest Community College in Los Angeles before moving on to Texas Christian. Brown’s son died in November after being born three months prematurely. “To me it’s a team MVP. With Deion Sanders on the other side of the field, that made people throw my way.”

While Los Angeles is without a team, the Houston Oilers are headed for Nashville, and Baltimore and Cleveland play tug-of-war for the Browns franchise, the Cowboys have again entrenched themselves as “America’s team.” Jones, the rebel owner of the Cowboys who has gone contrary to NFL rules to make his own marketing deals, spent $42 million in bonuses to keep all hands happy this season. In addition to signing Sanders to a five-year, $35-million contract, Jones has already ensured the return of stars Smith, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin.

“If I have done anything at all,” said Jones, “it’s demonstrating to these players that I will do anything within my power to help us win.”

The Steelers played the good guys to the controversial Cowboys coming into the Super Bowl. Owned by the Rooney family since 1933 and coached by a hard-crusted, Pittsburgh-born-and-raised Bill Cowher, the Steelers had come to this moment with a reputation for never quitting.

Pittsburgh overcame a 3-4 start to the season to win eight in a row. They rallied in the AFC championship game to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, and after trailing 13-0 against the Cowboys, they began yet another comeback.

Wide receiver Yancey Thigpen, the Steelers’ season record-holder with 85 receptions, caught a six-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds left in the half to make it 13-7. Falling behind again 20-7, they fought back with 10 points before Brown’s interception sealed their fate.

“If anybody was watching their TV today, they saw a great Super Bowl, and they had to recognize the heart of this team,” Steeler linebacker Levon Kirkland said. “We had our chance; we went into the locker room at halftime believing we could come back and win. We wanted to shock the world, and we were so close to doing it.”

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