Series / America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions

America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions is a documentary series airing on NFL Network that chronicles the Super Bowl champions, with an episode focusing on the team that won that year. Episodes consist of a compilation of archive footage, interviews with former players, coaches and personnel, and narration from various celebrities.

There is also a spinoff called America's Game: The Missing Rings, which discusses five teams that didn't win the Super Bowl.

Episodes in Chronological Order

• The 1966 Packers. Aired January 29, 2007. Featuring interviews from Bill Curry, Bart Starr and Willie Davis. Narrated by Donald Sutherland.
• The 1967 Packers. Aired April 16, 2007. Featured interviews from Chuck Mercein, Jerry Kramer and David Robinson. Narrated by Tom Selleck.
• The 1968 Jets. Aired April 2, 2007. Featuring interviews from Gerry Philbin, Don Maynard and Joe Namath. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1969 Chiefs. Aired December 8, 2006. Featuring interviews from Jim Lynch, Len Dawson and Willie Lanier. Narrated by Martin Sheen.
• The 1970 Colts. Aired February 9, 2007. Featuring interviews from Bill Curry, Mike Curtis, Charles "Bubba" Smith and Ernie Accorsi. Narrated by Ed Harris.
• The 1971 Cowboys. Aired January 5, 2007. Featuring interviews from Roger Staubach, Duane Thomas, and Bob Lilly. Narrated by Martin Sheen.
• The 1972 Dolphins. Aired February 3, 2007 on CBS. Featuring interviews from Manny Fernandez, Larry Csonka and Don Shula. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1973 Dolphins. Aired March 1, 2007. Featuring interviews from Dick Anderson, Bob Kuchenberg and Mercury Morris. Narrated by Ed Harris.
• The 1974 Steelers. Aired March 9, 2007. Featuring interviews from Andy Russell, Joe Greene and Franco Harris. Narrated by Ed Harris.
• The 1975 Steelers. Aired January 29, 2007. Featuring interviews from Dwight White, Mike Wagner and Lynn Swann. Narrated by Bruce Willis.
• The 1976 Raiders. Aired January 27, 2007. Featuring interviews from Ken Stabler, Phil Villapiano and John Madden. Narrated by Laurence Fishburne.
• The 1977 Cowboys. Aired January 27, 2007. Featuring interviews from Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson and Charlie Waters. Narrated by Laurence Fishburne.
• The 1978 Steelers. Aired February 2, 2007. Featuring interviews from Rocky Bleier, Mel Blount, Randy Grossman and Joe Greene. Narrated by Bruce Willis.
• The 1979 Steelers. Aired February 23, 2007. Featuring interviews from L.C. Greenwood, John Banaszak, and John Stallworth. Narrated by Ed Harris.
• The 1980 Raiders. Aired February 16, 2007. Featuring interviews from Matt Millen, Jim Plunkett, and Gene Upshaw. Narrated by Ed Harris.
• The 1981 49ers. Aired March 23, 2007. Featuring interviews from Dwight Clark, Randy Cross, and Ronnie Lott. Narrated by Gene Hackman.
• The 1982 Redskins. Aired March 22, 2007. Featuring interviews from Joe Theismann, Russ Grimm, and Rick Walker. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1983 Raiders. Aired November 24, 2006. Featuring interviews from Howie Long, Todd Christensen, and Marcus Allen. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1984 49ers. Aired January 29, 2007. Featuring interviews from Russ Francis, Keena Turner, and Dwight Hicks. Narrated by Gene Hackman.
• The 1985 Bears. Aired February 3, 2007 on CBS. Featuring interviews from Mike Singletary, Jim McMahon, and Mike Ditka. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1986 Giants. Aired January 19, 2007. Featuring interviews from Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor, and Phil Simms. Narrated by Laurence Fishburne.
• The 1987 Redskins. Aired March 2, 2007. Featuring interviews from Doug Williams, Jeff Bostic, and Darrell Green. Narrated by Gene Hackman.
• The 1988 49ers. Aired March 8, 2007. Featuring interviews from Roger Craig, Harris Barton, and Bill Walsh. Narrated by Ed Harris.
• The 1989 49ers. Aired February 2, 2007. Featuring interviews from George Seifert, Tom Rathman, and Jerry Rice. Narrated by Gene Hackman.
• The 1990 Giants. Aired December 29, 2006 and re-aired February 15, 2007. Featuring interviews from Ottis Anderson, Jeff Hostetler, and Carl Banks. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1991 Redskins. Aired January 12, 2007. Featuring interviews from Mark Rypien, Charles Mann, and Joe Gibbs. Narrated by Donald Sutherland.
• The 1992 Cowboys. Aired January 31, 2007. Featuring interviews from Michael Irvin, Ken Norton Jr., and Troy Aikman. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1993 Cowboys. Aired February 22, 2007. Featuring interviews from Bill Bates, Emmitt Smith, and Jimmy Johnson. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1994 49ers. Aired December 15. 2006. Featuring interviews from Steve Young, Brent Jones, and Merton Hanks. Narrated by Bruce Willis.
• The 1995 Cowboys. Aired March 16, 2007. Featuring interviews from Darren Woodson, Rich Dalrymple, Daryl Johnston, and Larry Brown. Narrated by Ed Harris.
• The 1996 Packers. Aired December 22, 2006. Featuring interviews from Mike Holmgren, Desmond Howard, and Brett Favre. Narrated by Kevin Bacon.
• The 1997 Broncos. Aired March 29, 2007. Featuring interviews from John Elway, Howard Griffith, and Neil Smith. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 1998 Broncos. Aired January 27, 2007. Featuring interviews from Terrell Davis, Mark Schlereth, and Shannon Sharpe. Narrated by Kevin Bacon.
• The 1999 Rams. Aired December 1, 2006. Featuring interviews from Dick Vermeil, D'Marco Farr, and Kurt Warner. Narrated by Martin Sheen.
• The 2000 Ravens. Aired March 15, 2007. Featuring interviews from Brian Billick, Trent Dilfer, and Ray Lewis. Narrated by Alec Baldwin.
• The 2001 Patriots. Aired February 8, 2007. Featuring interviews from Adam Vinatieri, Lawyer Milloy, and Tom Brady. Narrated by Martin Sheen.
• The 2002 Buccaneers. Aired April 23, 2007. Featuring interviews from John Lynch, Warren Sapp, and John Gruden. Narrated by Laurence Fishburne.
• The 2003 Patriots. Aired April 30, 2007. Featuring interviews from Charlie Weis, Rodney Harrison, and Willie McGinest. Narrated by Tom Selleck.
• The 2004 Patriots. Aired January 28, 2008. Featuring interviews from Troy Brown, Tedy Bruschi, and Bill Belichick. Narrated by Laurence Fishburne.
• The 2005 Steelers. Aired April 9, 2007. Featuring interviews from Bill Cowher, Joey Porter, and Jerome Bettis. Narrated by Tom Selleck.
• The 2006 Colts. Aired September 5, 2007. Featuring interviews from Tony Dungy, Jeff Saturday, and Peyton Manning. Narrated by Donald Sutherland.
• The 2007 Giants. Aired September 3 2008. Featuring interviews from Michael Strahan, Tom Coughlin, and Eli Manning. Narrated by James Gandolfini.

Tropes that appear in America's Game:

• Anachronic Order: The first 40 episodes. The first 20 were a countdown of the 20 greatest Super Bowl champions then 20 more of the rest before Super Bowl XLI. Ever since, the series has become an annual that airs the night before NFL Kickoff.
• And Starring: The last person interviewed is introduced "And [insert interviewee's name]".
• Apathy Killed the Cat: In the 1986 season opener, Lawrence Taylor, tired from the game, let Herschel Walker run into the end zone for a game winning touchdown.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • The Oakland Raiders to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, with each playoff matchup being a memorable game in its own right.
  Dwight White: The Raiders were a good football team. They were a darn good football team. When I look back and think about it, they were the closest things to us. Those games were just tough games. You started getting revved up and cranked up and putting your mouthpiece in on Monday. They were our archenemy.
  • The Philadelphia Eagles to the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They beat the Buccaneers twice in the playoffs in the last two years and beat them once during the regular season before the NFC Conference Championship where the Buccaneers finally won in the final game played at Veterans Stadium.
• Arc Words:
  • "The big push" for the 1967 Packers. After the Packers endured a two-game losing streak to enter the playoffs, "Run to win" appeared instead.
  • "Whatever it takes" for the 1975 Steelers.
  • "Push/Pound the rock" for the 2002 Buccaneers.
  • "Do Your Job" for the 2004 Patriots. It got a call back in the 2014 episode and became a mantra for the team in general.
  • "Finish" and "All in" for the 2011 Giants.
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: The 2014 Patriots, in the aftermath of their Week 4 dismantlement by the Kansas City Chiefs, were looking like a team whose best days were behind them. Led by a now 37-year old Tom Brady, the Pats hadn't won a Super Bowl since the 2004 season, and though they were dominant throughout, their continual disappointment in the playoffs, including two heartbreaking losses to the New York Giants in the Big Game led to media speculation that the Dynasty was over and Tom Brady was finished in New England. As it turned out, the Week 4 loss was a springboard for the team. They finished the season 12-4, made it back to the Super Bowl, and defeated the reigning champion Seattle Seahawks to claim their long-elusive fourth title. The Patriots Dynasty was resurrected and brought two more titles to New England. They're such a fixture of the rest of the decade that every one of the next five episodes, if not being about them as champions, features them prominently in some way.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Dwight White's opinion on the Dallas Cowboys' motion and set changes.
  "All that's smoke and mirrors, okay? 'Cause there's a rule that one second before the ball is snapped, everybody's gotta be in place. So you can run around and do all the stuff you want to do; you can run him up in the stands, he can go get a gatorade. But we all know where you're going to end up. And we're gonna be looking right at you."
• Badass Boast: After the 1975 Steelers' first loss:
  Dwight White: You're gonna have a bad day today. Now you can take this ass-whipping any way you want to take it, but you're gonna take it.
• The Band Minus the Face: The 2001 Patriots featured a core of players that had been on the team led by Drew Bledsoe. Part of the narrative of their episode was Tom Brady proving himself to be a worthy replacement. Notably, of the nine Patriots interviewed in their first three episodes, only Brady and Rodney Harrison were not members of the organization during Super Bowl XXXI, the game that introduces the 2001 episode.
• Book Ends:
  • In general, if there's a piece that's played at the beginning of the episode, it'll play at the end of the episode.
  • The 2003 Patriots began their season getting walloped by their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills, 31-0. In Week 17, they faced the Bills again and delivered a 31-0 victory of their own.
  Rodney Harrison: Payback! Same score, that's what we like. Same thing, same thing, that's the way to finish on a great note.
• Bittersweet Ending: The 1970 Colts. Despite winning Super Bowl V, they were still haunted by their loss to the Jets two years before and never felt like they had really won, thanks to how sloppy the game was.
• Brutal Brawl: The 1975 AFC Championship game.
  Dwight White: This is not gonna be easy, this is a dogfight. Last man standing type of thing. [cue montage of Steelers and Raiders players slamming each other into the ground, culminating in George Atkinson's collar tackle on Lynn Swann]
• Career-Ending Injury: Paul Hornung's shoulder deterioration forced him to retire in Summer 1967.
• Chekhov's Gun: Early in Super Bowl X, Steelers safety Mike Wagner misread a play that results in a Dallas touchdown. In the fourth quarter, he realized that they're running the same play and intercepts Roger Staubach, leading to a Steelers field goal.
• Cigar Chomper: Mike Ditka is often seen smoking a cigar in the 1985 Bears interviews.
• Combat Pragmatist: For the 1986 NFC Championship game, Bill Parcells chooses to defend the end zone where the wind is coming from, so the team will have the wind at their back. The result was a 17-0 shutout victory for the Giants.
  Parcells: We won the toss. And the last thing you want to do is give a team that you think you got a chance to beat at home a little momentum. So I said "Okay, we're gonna defend a certain end. And that end is going to have the wind behind us for the first quarter."
  Narrator: And with that decision, the tone of the game was set. The Redskins' offense never got going. The Giants offense scored early and cruised the rest of the way.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Packers wide receiver Max McGee spent the night before Super Bowl I carousing around Los Angeles, only returning to the hotel at 6:30 in the morning. However, he has to fill in for Boyd Dowler after the latter re-injures his shoulder, wearing a helmet not meant for him, and proceeds to have an excellent game: 7 catches, 138 yards, 2 touchdowns.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • The 1985 Chicago Bears shut out both their playoff opponents 21-0 (Giants) and 24-0 (Rams). Then they trounced the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX 46-10.
  • The 1986 Giants beat the San Francisco 49ers 49-3 and the Washington Redskins 17-0 in their playoff run, then beat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI 39-20, with 10 of the Broncos' points coming in the last seven minutes of the game when the Giants were already up by 23 points. Lawrence Taylor refers to the former as a "good old-fashioned ass-whoopin."
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Super Bowl I wasn't as lopsided as the score indicates, as the Chiefs were only down 14-10 at halftime. Then Packers safety Willie Wood intercepted quarterback Len Dawson, the Packers scored three more touchdowns, and their defense left the Chiefs scoreless for the rest of the game. Final Score: Packers 35, Chief 10.
• David vs. Goliath: The six wild card teams that won the Super Bowl. Best example is the 2007 New York Giants, who beat the No. 1 seed Dallas Cowboys and the No. 2 seed Green Bay Packers in the playoffs before shocking the world by beating the 18-0 New England Patriots.
• Determinator:
  • Steelers defensive end Dwight White. He wasn't supposed to play in Super Bowl IX after spending half the week leading up to the Super Bowl in the hospital with viral pneumonia and losing 20 pounds. However, when the Steelers arrived at the stadium for the game, Dwight White was there, getting dressed to play the game. White would play the entire game, even scoring its first points by downing Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton in the end zone for a safety (two points).
  • Giants tight end Mark Bavaro played through a broken jaw to lead the Giants to victory against the New Orleans Saints.
• Distant Sequel: Any episodes chronicling a championship after a long drought will reference their previous championship run in some way. The truest example of a sequel is probably the 2014 Patriots episode, coming ten years after their last Super Bowl in 2004 under the same head coach, same owner, and same starting quarterback, with much of the episode's content devoted to showing how the team of the 2010s took over for the team of the 2000s.
• Documentary: Of the Super Bowl winners and how they won that year.
• Don't Celebrate Just Yet: In the first five minutes of the 1966 NFL Championship Game, the Green Bay Packers managed to get on top of the Dallas Cowboys 14-0. First, quarterback Bart Starr threw a touchdown pass to halfback Elijah Pitts. Then the Cowboys fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Jim Grabowski returned it for another touchdown. Before the first quarter ended, the Cowboys tied the game.
  Bill Curry: As a young player, I thought "Oh man, this is great. We got them." And that's the problem. This might have been the worst thing that could've happened to us. I don't care how mature you are as a team, it's impossible to really believe Dallas could come back and get you, but by golly, they did.
• Downer Ending: The premise of the "Missing Rings" spin-off, which deals with five teams who didn't win the Super Bowl. Two didn't even make it that far.
• Down to the Last Play:
  • The 1975 AFC Championship game came down to a last-second Hail Mary pass from Ken Stabler to Cliff Branch, which came up short when Mel Blount tackled Branch in-bounds to run out the clock.
  Dwight White: Nobody went to bed on a Raider day, at least not in Pittsburgh. It's never in the bag with the Raiders.
  • Super Bowl X came down to a Hail Mary pass by Roger Staubach that Glen Edwards picked off, winning the game for the Steelers.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?:
  • In the 1966 Packers episode, Willie Davis mentions that a lot of players were unhappy with rookie running backs Donny Anderson and Jim Grabowski getting hefty contracts without playing a down, while proven veterans couldn’t make as much as they were. Special mention goes to starting fullback Jim Taylor; halfway through the season, he makes it known that he will play somewhere else if he doesn't get paid like he deserves to be. Sure enough he is picked up by the New Orleans Saints and spends his last year with them.
  Bill Curry: And here he is, with competition trying to take his house, trying to take his job; it don’t matter what his name is, Jim Grabowski or Joe Smith. And he’s being paid a bunch more than this guy who has given his heart to an organization for a decade and is one of the greatest players of all time. Why wouldn’t Jimmy Taylor be upset, how could he not be?
  • Dwight White admits he feels unappreciated for doing his part in Super Bowl IX because he wasn't in the team photo taken while he was hospitalized; he wasn't even mentioned as missing.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: A general theme, but particularly pronounced for teams that struggled through their season, were hard underdogs, or won a title after a lengthy period of mediocrity or for the very first time.
• End of an Era: The 1967 Packers is seen as this. Many of the players were getting older, Super Bowl II was Coach Lombardi's last game with the Packers, and for the next 25 years, the Packers languished in mediocrity. And that's not going into the events outside of football.
• Fascinating Eyebrow: Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson does one of these in the archive footage of the 1978 Steelers as the Super Bowl begins.
• Foregone Conclusion: The team that's the focus of the episode will win the Super Bowl... minus the Missing Rings episode. For them, the opposite applies: they will not win the Super Bowl.
• For Want Of A Nail: Bill Curry remarks that if Tom Brown hadn't picked off Don Meredith, the Lombardi Trophy might have a different name, like the Landry Trophy.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Tom Brady goes from being an unheralded 6th Round Pick (No. 199) and the backup to Drew Bledsoe, to being the starting QB for the Patriots, authoring one of the greatest drives in Super Bowl history, earning MVP honors and the team's first Lombardi trophy. By the 2007 Giants episode, he's the league's most elite quarterback and league MVP, with two more Super Bowl rings, leading an all-time great team to an undefeated season in their quest for a fourth. Watching the 2001 Patriots episode can be disconcerting, given Brady's Living Legend reputation.
• Game-Breaking Injury: George Atkinson's collar tackle on Lynn Swann in the 1975 AFC Championship game knocked him unconscious and out of the game.
• Guile Hero: Bill Belichick's Patriots love trick plays. The 2003 episode features Tom Brady pooch punting the ball during a stalemated game against the Dolphins, which resulted in Tedy Bruschi hauling in a pick-six for a game winning touchdown on the next set of defensive plays. That same season featured the infamous intentional safety against Denver, where the Patriots sacrificed two points while pinned in their own end zone to get better field position to set up a field goal (they scored a touchdown). The 2004 episode features a fake field goal thrown by Adam Vinatieri to Troy Brown for a touchdown. The 2014 episode features two famous trick plays from the divisional playoff against Baltimore. First is the liberal use of the tackle-eligible pass, where tight end Michael Hoomanawanui lined up as a tackle, while running back Shane Vereen declared himself ineligible while still lining up as an eligible receiver, completely throwing off the Ravens' defense. The second was the double pass, from Brady to Edelman to Amendola, hauled in for a touchdown. Notably, the Patriots were able to come back from two separate 14-point deficits and win the game thanks to their inventive playcalling.
• How We Got Here: The 1999 Rams Episode Starts With The Last Play of Super Bowl XXXIV, before going backwards.
• Immediate Sequel: Any episodes which feature a team winning in consecutive years: thus far, the Packers, Dolphins, Steelers, 49ers, Cowboys, Broncos, and Patriots.
• Interesting Situation Duel: The 1975 AFC Championship Game is described as such:
  Narrator: It was a championship game unlike any other: the NFL's two toughest teams doing battle on a sheet of ice.
• Let Me at Him!: After Cowboys safety Mike Gaechter upended Boyd Dowler in the end zone in the 1966 NFL Championship Game, Jim Taylor started looking for Gaechter for payback before Bart Starr stepped in and guided Taylor off the field.
• Like a Son to Me: Paul Hornung to Coach Lombardi. One of Lombardi's most painful moments as Packers coach was leaving Hornung unprotected to be claimed by the New Orleans Saints in the 1967 expansion draft.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Apparently, Phil Simms was the only Giant who didn't know that Sean Landeta whiffed a punt and caused the Bears to score. He thought it was blocked.
• Logo Joke: The logo for the "Missing Rings" miniseries only features a shadow in place of the Lombardi trophy, indicating that these teams didn't win the Super Bowl.
• Match Cut: The montage of the Patriots dynasty to start their 2014 episode starts with a shot of Brady holding his head in his hands in pure frustration during their thumping by the Chiefs in Week 4 and immediately transitions to Brady making the same pose in joy and disbelief after Super Bowl XXXVI to show the passage of time and how the franchise was in something of a rut.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Patriots quarterback coach Dick Rehbein passed away from cardiomyopathy shortly before the 2001 season began.
• Money to Burn: Bill Curry remembers that the rookies in the 1966 Packers season tried to entertain the veterans by lighting cigars with dollar bills on fire.
• Old Hero, New Pals: The 2014 Patriots — Tom Brady and the up-and-coming generation of The New '10s.
• Old Shame: In-story, Bill Parcells has his decision to start Scott Brunner over Phil Simms in 1983.
  Parcells: That was a mistake. But I made it, almost paid for it dearly.
  [Cue footage of Brunner mishandling the ball]
  Narrator: The team finished with three wins, and rumors circulated that Parcells would be fired.
• Perspective Flip:
  • If you go in chronological order. The 1984 49ers beat the Chicago Bears in the NFC Conference Championship. In the 1985 Bears episode, you see the same game from the Bears perspective, then the Bears win the Super Bowl, which includes beating the New York Giants in the Divisional Playoffs. For the 1986 Giants, you see that game from the point of view of the Giants. For the 1987 Washington episode the next year, the first scenes include getting shut out in the 1986 NFC Championship game the previous year... by the Giants.
  • The episodes for the 2001 and 2003 Patriots end almost identically: the opposing team scores with too much time left on the clock, Brady drives down the field to spike the ball with mere seconds left, Adam Vinatieri kicks a field goal to seal the win. But in the 2001 episode, Brady and Vinatieri were interviewed and the feat was recounted from their perspective. In the 2003 episode, it's recounted by strong safety Rodney Harrison, sitting injured on the bench.
• Playing Against Type: In-story version. The Packers of the 1960s were well-known for their power run game and punishing defense. For the 1966 NFL Championship, Coach Lombardi knew that the Cowboys would prepare extensively for the Packers' Signature Move: the Packer Sweep. So he threw it out of the playbook and had them implement a passing-oriented offense. The Packers' defense on the other hand was mostly ineffectual until a crucial goal-line stand with 45 seconds left to play.
• The Promise: When Mike Ditka became the Bears' head coach in 1982, he promised them that in three years, they would play in the Super Bowl.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Michael Strahan and Eli Manning in the 2007 Giants. Strahan was passionate, an open book who pumped up his teammates (Red), Manning was famously (and occasionally amusingly) stoic (Blue).
• Rule of Three: Colts QB Bert Jones was blocked three times in trying to tackle Steelers linebacker Andy Russell on a 93-yard fumble return.
• Sequel Hook: Because most of these documentaries were made after the fact with the benefit of hindsight, some will mention accomplishments from the following season, or place the win within the context of a dynasty no one at the time knew had emerged. For example, the 2003 Patriots episode mentions that, after a loss to the Redskins, the Pats don't lose another game until October of the next year. Their 21-game win streak is a big part of the overall narrative of the 2004 Patriots episode. This obviously stopped when the episodes became yearly specials aired before the start of the next season.
• Sketchy Successor: How Rodney Harrison was regarded by everyone except for Bill Belichick during the start of the 2003 Patriots season. An aging player notorious for dirty hits and disciplinary action by the league, but also an immensely skilled veteran, he was acquired to replace perennial fan favorite Lawyer Milloy, who was also friends with just about everyone on the team, but was cut for salary cap reasons. Their Week 1 0-31 asskicking by the Bills, featuring not just Milloy, but former Pats QB Drew Bledsoe, shook faith in Belichick's leadership. But then Harrison proved that he was a worthy successor, a passionate player and a natural leader, culminating in his fellows naming him a team captain. The team went on to post a 14-1 record after that loss and ended the regular season by paying back the Bills in kind with a 31-0 victory of their own.
• Slow Motion: In the 1975 AFC divisional playoff game between the Steelers and the Colts, Steelers linebacker Andy Russell picks up a fumble and returns it 93 yards to the end zone for a touchdown; on that play, he started going slower and slower, with the play being dubbed the "longest, slowest touchdown ever witnessed."
• Sore Loser: Instead of trying to stop Boyd Dowler from scoring a touchdown, Mike Gaechter chose to trip Dowler up after he ran into the end zone, causing Dowler to injure his shoulder.
• Sound-Effect Bleep: Most curses made in archive footage or interviews are dubbed over with a bleep.
• There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: Dwight White opens the 1975 Steelers episode as follows:
  "There are two categories of Super Bowl participants that nobody remembers. One: the team that lost the game; and two: the team that only won one."
• Third Time's The Charm: The 2007 Giants lost twice to the Dallas Cowboys in the regular season. In the Divisional Playoffs, the Giants beat the Cowboys to advance to the NFC Conference Championship.
• Token Minority: Ernie Accorsi is the only interviewee who was neither a former player nor a coach.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The Steelers' Week 2 game against the Buffalo Bills in 1975, which featured OJ Simpson running for 227 yards against the vaunted Steel Curtain defense. The realization was that every other opponent was going to play harder against them and so they had to elevate the way they played.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Most episodes end with a highlight of what each interviewee has done in the years since winning that year.