The Road To The Title In The West

We won three more games in a row before we met the Vikings for the second time, in Baltimore on November 15. They were only a game and a half behind us—still within reach. And even if we lost to them but still took the Western Division, most of the shine would be rubbed off. How can you really be the best if you lose twice to the same club?

I knew the Vikings would try to ram the ball down our throats; they had gained 313 yards on the ground against us in the first game and controlled the ball all the way, so I knew Van Brocklin would stick with at least that much of a winning game plan. So we set up our defense to contain the running as much as possible. We knew that Tarkenton would roll out of the pocket to get away from our rush, looking for time to hit the cracks in our zone pass defense. The cracks usually open up 12 to 15 yards downfield, and in the first game he hit them real well. Usually against a roll-out quarterback my theory is to let him roll. Once you make the quarterback run he's playing your game; most quarterbacks can't throw well from a run, and quarterbacks kill you throwing, not running. But with Tarkenton you can't do that. Because he throws well running, you have one of two choices: you either use your linebackers to lay back and seal up the cracks, or you use them to force, to come after the quarterback and make him unload. We used them to force, and it worked. The Vikings had scored 34 points on us in the first game; in the second we held them to 14. Their running game still worked; they ran better against us in both games than any other team we played.

There were three key plays in this game, all by our offense. And one substitution helped. The first key came late in the game, when we were behind 14-10. It was fourth down and seven yards to go, and we were in field-goal range. The decision I had to make was whether to go for the first down and maybe a touch, or kick the field goal, which would make it 14-13 and put us in field-goal range of a victory. Lou Michaels was a little off that day, so I decided to go for the first down. I did not send in a play; I had faith in Unitas' call. He called a screen pass off a fake into the line by the halfback and threw out to Moore. Lenny caught the ball, got two blocks and picked up the first down.

Two plays later, we got the touchdown that won the game. Berry was hurt for this game, and I had put Willie Richardson in his place. Richardson broke a pass pattern earlier in the game and Unitas seemed upset, so I took Richardson out and put in Alex Hawkins. I don't like to use Hawkins on the offensive unit; he is so valuable as captain of our special units that I like to keep him in that capacity. But he is a good, steady receiver, and this was a big game. So I put him in.

Unitas felt that Hawk could get loose with an outside move on the back covering him, so he first ran an out, then an in pattern, and he was open both times. Two plays after we picked up the first down, Unitas called the out again, and Hawkins made an unbelievable catch for the touchdown that won us the game. If we had kicked the field goal we probably would have lost, since the Viking ground game was going real well against us and all they would have had to do was control the ball for a 14-13 victory.

The third key play was not as dramatic as the first two, but it may have been just as important. We took the ball away from them again after the touchdown, since they had to throw and go for a big gain to set up a score.

When we got the ball it was up to us to grind it out. We had third and four, and if we missed on this first down the Vikings would have one last shot at a touchdown or a field goal. The Vikings looked for a short pass, and they went to double coverage on our prime receivers. And Johnny, in a typical Unitas move that combined intelligent, quick analysis of a defense with the daring to call an unorthodox play, called a quarterback draw.

He dropped back in the pocket and cocked his arm, and the pass defenders flew out of there. Then he tucked the ball under his arm and ran up the hole in the middle for the first down. Then we ran the clock out, and I told Johnny just to take the ball and fall down. But even on the quarterback sneaks he was looking for a hole to run through. He likes to make yards even running out the clock.

We finally wrapped up the Western Division championship against the Los Angeles Rams. I don't think there was any single important play in this game. If there was a trademark on this Colt win, it was our defense. We got to the Ram quarterbacks 11 times on their pass attempts and threw them for nearly 100 yards in losses. And it's a good thing we did, because their front four—Lamar Lundy, Merle Olsen, Rosey Grier and David Jones—reached Johnny five times, which is a lot. We had no luck throwing against the Rams, mainly because of that pressure. The Ram front line is going to be one of the best in the business. We hit two good long passes, though, when Johnny reached Berry behind Aaron Martin, the rookie corner back, and John Mackey beat the Rams' strong-side safety for a long gain.

For some reason, Rosey Grier always has a good day against Jim Parker, our All-Pro guard, but we got a big touchdown in the game when Lenny Moore followed Parker on an inside trap for a touchdown. The Ram game was not one of our best, but it did clinch the Western Division championship for us.