We are one step closer to the upcoming Super Bowl when Georgia will extend its record to 24 straight seasons with a former player in the NFL’s championship game.
Georgia is the only school to boast such an impressive streak.
Though there’s no former Georgia player on the Washington Commanders roster, there will still be a Bulldog playing in the Super Bowl.
There are seven Dawg/Eagles, including Nolan Smith, Jordan Davis, Kelee Ringo, Jalen Carter, Lewis Cine, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, and Nakobe Dean (injured); three former Bulldogs with the Buffalo Bills: James Cook, Sedrick Van Pran Granger, and Zion Logue; and two Dawgs with Kansas City: Malik Herring and Mecole Hardman.
Georgia’s connection to the Super Bowl dates to the second playing of the championship, when in 1968, the Oakland Raiders lost to the Green Bay Packers 33-14 at the old Orange Bowl in Miami.
The Raiders were coached by John Rauch, who enjoyed a sensational career as a Georgia quarterback in the late 1950s. I once spoke about Rauch with Bill Walsh after he retired from coaching the San Francisco 49ers.
“The genesis of the West Coast offense had its beginnings with John Rauch and the Raiders,” he said. One could easily conclude, though, that it actually began on the practice field at Georgia, where Rauch learned his fundamental offensive football from coach Wallace Butts. Rauch played four years for the Bulldogs, starting every game plus four bowl games.
That record was tied by another Georgia quarterback, David Greene, who quarterbacked the Dawgs in 2001-04. There have been several players to start every game of their four-year careers, but only Rauch and Greene also started in four straight bowl games.
When the Raiders played the Packers in 1968, they had only three coaches: Rauch, the head coach; John Madden, the line coach; and Walsh, the backfield coach.
Today, in the NFL, there seem to be three coaches for every position on the team.
When we were promoting Rauch for membership in the College Football Hall of Fame, I also had a conversation with Madden, who was very complimentary of Rauch, saying he was one of the few people he knew who could coach every position on the team.
Three former Bulldogs have been named the Most Valuable Player in a Super Bowl game: Jake Scott of the Miami Dolphins, Terrell Owens of the Denver Broncos, and Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Many others who wore the Red & Black also wore Super Bowl rings, and of course, many also made it to the big dance but left without winning a championship.
In Super Bowl history, many outstanding players have not won a ring, including Jim Kelly, who led the Buffalo Bills to four consecutive Super Bowls but lost each game. Former Georgia quarterback Fran Tarkenton went 0-3 in Super Bowls with the Minnesota Vikings, which brings up some interesting flashbacks.
Sonny Jurgenson of the Washington Redskins made it to the Super Bowl but was on crutches when his team played in the Super Bowl in 1972, losing to the Miami Dolphins 14-7. He has never resorted to complaining, saying, “I had a good long run and had a lot of fun and success. I did my best.”
The lack of success initially bothered Tarkenton, taking him a long time to get over not winning a Super Bowl ring.
“I hated it for my teammates,” he has maintained. “You must have a lot of luck to win a championship.”
For years, I would see Jurgensen at a Redskins’ game in December and on other trips to Washington and at the Masters in April. When I told him Tarkenton felt frustration over his Super Bowl record, he asked, “Why?”
Then Jurgenson said, “He had a tremendous career and a lot of success. Losing that one game does not define his career. It is not always the quarterback’s fault when a team loses the Super Bowl. What about his teammates who dropped passes, the linemen who missed blocks, the defensive backs who missed critical tackles?”
Ted Williams never won a World Series, and in a long conversation one spring a couple of years before he died, he said that he felt that his body of work defined his career.
As he gets older, Tarkenton seems to be taking that position more often regarding his Super Bowl legacy. He is beginning to agree with Jurgensen.