The last time a horse won the Triple Crown…(Part II)

Yesterday, I went down the road of nostalgia all the way back to 1978 (seven years before I was born), to what was going on in the college football world the last time a horse won the Triple Crown. You can find that here.

So, what was going on in the pro football world in 1978?

- The Dallas Cowboys‘ Doomsday Defense had led them to a 27-10 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII in New Orleans, forcing eight turnovers and shutting down former Cowboy Craig Morton and the Broncos’ offense. Randy White and Harvey Martin were named co-MVPs, the first and only time that’s happened in Super Bowl history.

The Pittsburgh Steelers would win Super Bowls XIII and XIV to complete their run of four championships in the 70s.

- 1978 was the first season of the 16-game regular-season schedule that teams currently play.

- There were 28 teams in the NFL at the time, as Tampa Bay and Seattle had started play in 1976. L.A. still had the Rams, while the Raiders hadn’t made their move from Oakland to L.A. yet (that’d come after the 1981 season).

- Earl Campbell, who was the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, was selected #1 overall in the 1978 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers. There were two other Hall of Famers in that draft class: WR James Lofton (#6 by the Green Bay Packers) and TE Ozzie Newsome (#23 by the Cleveland Browns).

Campbell would go on to run for a league-leading 1,450 yards and score 13 touchdowns (2nd in the NFL) as a rookie, and won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and various league MVP awards.

- Walter Payton was the reigning MVP winner, as the third-year running back had rushed for 1,852 yards and 14 touchdowns, and caught 27 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns. Payton ran for an NFL-record 275 yards against the Minnesota Vikings that season.

- Dallas’ Tony Dorsett was the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year, while Miami defensive end A.J. Duhe was the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Dorsett would be a Hall of Famer, and Duhe’s injury-plagued career would end after the 1984 season. He did, however, have a memorable performance in the 1982 (well, played in 1983) AFC Championship Game, when he picked off three passes against the New York Jets.

- The late Pete Rozelle was still NFL commissioner, while current commish Roger Goodell was still a teenager, in college at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania.

- Green Bay Packers great Ray Nitschke, receiver Lance Alworth, safety Larry Wilson, running back Alphonse ‘Tuffy’ Leemans, and coach Weeb Ewbank (coach of the Joe Namath-led New York Jets team that upset the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III) were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978.

- John Madden was about to enter his last season of coaching the Raiders. Oakland would go 9-7 in 1978, missing the playoffs for only the second time in Madden’s 10 seasons.

- Minnesota Vikings QB and future Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton was about to enter his 18th and final NFL season. Tarkenton would go out with a bang, posting highs in completions (345), attempts (572), and yards (3,468), all of which were tops in the NFL. He also finished tied for second in the league in touchdown passes (25), but he also threw a career-high and league-leading 32 interceptions.