Amazing piece of local 83 history that sets up the Super Bowl 18 loss perfectly

[Dissident2]

Man, this clip of the "Joe Theismann Redskins Report (with George Michael)" brings back so many incredible childhood memories from that time period. If you lived in the local area, these shows with George Michael were things you just never missed. I hadn't seen this show in more than 30 years, and I immediately knew the theme song as soon as it started. 

 

But as great as seeing this is, it really is so telling for why the Redskins laid such an egg in Super Bowl 18. Way too full of themselves (especially Joey T., whom I love), surrounded by celebrities, going too Hollywood. You can see the big "L" coming when watching this, especially considering how badly they let down in the second half of the NFC Championship that year. (Which would've been 33-0 at one point without Moseley missing four freaking field goals.)

 

Still, those of you were around at that time and lived in the area may especially appreciate this great piece of nostalgia. 

 

 

 

[hail2skins]

I lived near Philly for the first two-thirds of Gibbs 1, so missed the local stuff during the early Super Bowls. I remember after SB 18, Theismann in the locker room said "we got our asses handed to us on a silver platter.....and that platter was even a bent tray!"  Also recall a cover of SI in 84 showing Theismann with tape around his mouth.

 

There were a few Super Bowls over the last 15 years, like the 16-0 Pats loss to the Giants, the 2013 Broncos getting demolished by Seattle, and last year's Chiefs getting mauled by the Bucs as examples of high powered offenses getting stuffed in the big game, much like happened to the Redskins at the Big Sombrero in early 84.

[Dissident2]

41 minutes ago, hail2skins said:

I lived near Philly for the first two-thirds of Gibbs 1, so missed the local stuff during the early Super Bowls. I remember after SB 18, Theismann in the locker room said "we got our asses handed to us on a silver platter.....and that platter was even a bent tray!"  Also recall a cover of SI in 84 showing Theismann with tape around his mouth.

 

There were a few Super Bowls over the last 15 years, like the 16-0 Pats loss to the Giants, the 2013 Broncos getting demolished by Seattle, and last year's Chiefs getting mauled by the Bucs as examples of high powered offenses getting stuffed in the big game, much like happened to the Redskins at the Big Sombrero in early 84.

Thing is, the Raiders were a high powered offense too.  We were extremely lucky to beat them earlier that year. That said, the game should’ve never been a blowout like that. We were totally flat and fat. Even Gibbs was bad that day. 

[SB17]

SB18 was devastating (for me, anyway), but I’m going to cut them a little bit of slack for being full of themselves:  They lost 2 regular-season games that year by a combined total of 2 points!!  Both were one-point losses (to Dallas and to Green Bay - both on MNF, btw).  They had the most prolific offense in the league (set the record for the most points in a regular season).  They were defending Super Biwl champions.  Yeah, they thought they were good - because they were!

 

Then they got smoked by the Raiders.  It was horrible.

 

They looked like they were having fun on that show.  Thanks for the video!

[London Kev]

Thanks for posting this, even though it brought back some horrible memories of the game. I'll never forget Marcus Allen's zig-zagging 74 yard TD run (he probably ran for at least 90 yards), it broke my heart.

[quicksilver]

First game I ever watched...ouch.

[Dissident2]

I don't know why, but I remember just not being incredibly upset by that game. I mean, I WAS upset, but I wasn't devastated like I typically would've been with a Redskins loss, let alone a SUPER BOWL loss. The run for almost a solid two years had been so spectacular (only 3 losses total in two years leading up to that game) that I guess my young self figured, "Well, it was still a helluva run, and we'll be back next year." I remember still  having hope when the second half started and we drove down and finally scored. Then Moseley missed the extra point, and I thought, "OK, that's probably it."

 

Moseley was the MVP the year earlier, and he was the LVP in '83. Just absolutely horrendous. 

[Dark Acre]

It was pretty bad, like it could've been the original Southwest commercial:  Washington, you just got humiliated in the Super Bowl.  Want to get away?

I want to know how many players were still drunk at game time.  Notice Gibbs learned from this mistake.

[hail2skins]

5 hours ago, Dissident2 said:

I don't know why, but I remember just not being incredibly upset by that game. I mean, I WAS upset, but I wasn't devastated like I typically would've been with a Redskins loss, let alone a SUPER BOWL loss. The run for almost a solid two years had been so spectacular (only 3 losses total in two years leading up to that game) that I guess my young self figured, "Well, it was still a helluva run, and we'll be back next year." I remember still  having hope when the second half started and we drove down and finally scored. Then Moseley missed the extra point, and I thought, "OK, that's probably it."

 

Moseley was the MVP the year earlier, and he was the LVP in '83. Just absolutely horrendous. 

Yeah, I think the severity of the butt kicking was somewhat of a mitigating factor. Even though I expected the Skins to win, by then we were used to the Super Bowls being lopsided affairs to an extent, even though that got worse throughout the 80s and first part of the 90s, as the 49ers, Giants, Skins, and Cowboys really pushed their AFC opponents around. It does suck that that loss was the only NFC loss in a SB for like a 16 year stretch. The salary cap era has contributed to the SBs being by and large more competitive games in the past 25 or so years.

 

The loss to the Cowboys at the end of 1979 remains the most painful. But I think the loss to the Bears in the 84 playoffs is one of the underrated losses. In retrospect, it isn't so bad, as that Chicago team was revving up to its dominant season the next year, and we did exact revenge in the playoffs following the 86 and 87 seasons. But at the time, after going to back to back SBs, the realization that we wouldn't be going back to another after a playoff loss at RFK left quite the empty feeling.

[gooseneck]

I thought there was a report they all had the flu the week before. Maybe someone mentioned this,  I am watching the video

 

[Dissident2]

On 6/12/2021 at 2:13 PM, hail2skins said:

Yeah, I think the severity of the butt kicking was somewhat of a mitigating factor. Even though I expected the Skins to win, by then we were used to the Super Bowls being lopsided affairs to an extent, even though that got worse throughout the 80s and first part of the 90s, as the 49ers, Giants, Skins, and Cowboys really pushed their AFC opponents around. It does suck that that loss was the only NFC loss in a SB for like a 16 year stretch. The salary cap era has contributed to the SBs being by and large more competitive games in the past 25 or so years.

 

The loss to the Cowboys at the end of 1979 remains the most painful. But I think the loss to the Bears in the 84 playoffs is one of the underrated losses. In retrospect, it isn't so bad, as that Chicago team was revving up to its dominant season the next year, and we did exact revenge in the playoffs following the 86 and 87 seasons. But at the time, after going to back to back SBs, the realization that we wouldn't be going back to another after a playoff loss at RFK left quite the empty feeling.

 That 79 Cowboys loss was an absolute nightmare. However, the thing that helps with that memory now is that, without it, we'd have most likely never seen Joe Gibbs. And we weren't going to beat the Steelers that year in the Super Bowl. They absolutely destroyed us earlier that season. So, in a vacuum, that is still the worst loss in Redskins history, perhaps. But, in the grand scheme of things, it was a serious blessing in disguise. 

[Brixtion_skin]

We may have been a bit too Hollywood, but 1983 Redskins more Hollywood than the Los Angeles Raiders?  That is a tough one to sell.

 

We were superior in coaching and consistency.  The Raiders could blow hot and cold, but the ability was there.  I also think the match ups just favoured them.  Our legendary O-line and Riggins needs no hard sell, however, you see the other side with Howie Long, Lyle ‘I am on the juice’ Alzado (RIP), Matt Millen, Ted Hendricks (slow, crazy, but knew his football).  The key really was the two CB for the Raiders who were just excellent late on in that season.

 

Getting beaten is one thing, getting humiliated really should not have happened.  I only recovered from that result a few years ago.

[BringMetheHeadofBruceAllen]

Let's not forget that Theismann was out partying with Kathy Lee Crosby until the wee hours of the morning before the game. It would certainly explain his pedestrian performance. I don't think his soon-to-be-ex-wife Shari was too upset with the blowout loss:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/01/28/shari-theismann-toughing-it-out/b518ad1c-5194-45c4-9fff-421d38376c28/

 

Some excerpts:

 

After the Redskins won the Super Bowl, it got worse. Joe Theismann, says his wife, did 45 speaking engagements and was home approximately one month out of the entire year.

 

The aftershock was an official announcement of the separation, made by the Redskins publicity office last March, without Shari Theismann's knowledge.

"I was in Florida. I didn't know the separation was going to be announced. I had no idea the Redskins were going to do that. I thought it was in poor taste. It wasn't their place to do it.

"I thought it was something we were trying to work out," she says quietly. "All of a sudden, it was announced. Joe wanted his freedom announced. He wanted to make himself look good. To be out and about, and be legally separated. He was doing what he wanted to do anyway."

 

 

"You know what really bothered me? Last year, I gave him all the love I could. Even though our marriage was falling apart. I asked for my NFC championship ring and he wouldn't get it for me. Neither would Mr. Jack Kent Cooke. I don't know where it is, but I still want it. I earned it. I was a Redskin just like everybody else. That hurt me more than anything."

 

* On Joe Theismann: "I saw him on a television interview, saying that in a relationship, you have to give 100 percent. Joe was not a giver. Not in our marriage."

* On his mouth: "I always told him to choose his words. To put his mind in gear before he opened his mouth. I used to say, 'Please don't talk.' "

* On his impulsiveness: "When we left Canada, we had $450, two kids, no team to go to. Joe went across the street and spent $450 on a camera and projector."

* On his mother: "I don't know if she's pleased that the marriage fell apart. I think she can sit back and say, 'I told you so.' "

* On moving to Chicago: "It will be nice. They have the Bears."

* On the Redskins' playoff loss to the Bears: "I thought, 'Every dog has his day. Maybe I'm having mine now.' To see them stumbling around like that in the last eight seconds, it was embarrassing."

* On Joe Theismann's Hollywood pursuit: "Joe was totally taken up with them. Burt Reynolds and that crowd. He thought they were just the cream. I don't know why he needs that. Insecurity, I guess."

* On celebrities shedding Wife No. 1: "They want to let go of all the bad stuff. They don't want to be reminded of when they weren't a success."

* On Joe's new romance: "He says he's deeply in love. Sorry, you don't fall out of love and in love that fast."

* On Cathy Lee Crosby: "Would you want her to bounce your kids on her knee?"

* On forgiveness: "Somebody said to me, 'Wish him well. So the two of you didn't make it. It wasn't meant to be.' I'll look at it that way someday. I can't yet."

 

When her husband first left, she says, "We couldn't find him. He never had the nerve or the strength to tell the kids. We never sat down together. The children cried all week. That Thursday I called my attorney and I said, 'I don't care where he is, but you get hold of his attorney and you have him phone his children.' "

 

Shari Theismann's father died two years ago in a violent automobile accident. It was a stressful time, she says, when she needed her husband's comfort.

"Joe was very insensitive when this happened. It was a time, I think, when he just wanted to be gone. The marriage was not going well. There were a lot of problems surrounding my father's death, papers and insurance and things like that."

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by BringMetheHeadofBruceAllen

[Dissident2]

3 hours ago, BringMetheHeadofBruceAllen said:

Let's not forget that Theismann was out partying with Kathy Lee Crosby until the wee hours of the morning before the game. It would certainly explain his pedestrian performance. I don't think his soon-to-be-ex-wife Shari was too upset with the blowout loss:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/01/28/shari-theismann-toughing-it-out/b518ad1c-5194-45c4-9fff-421d38376c28/

 

Some excerpts:

 

After the Redskins won the Super Bowl, it got worse. Joe Theismann, says his wife, did 45 speaking engagements and was home approximately one month out of the entire year.

 

The aftershock was an official announcement of the separation, made by the Redskins publicity office last March, without Shari Theismann's knowledge.

"I was in Florida. I didn't know the separation was going to be announced. I had no idea the Redskins were going to do that. I thought it was in poor taste. It wasn't their place to do it.

"I thought it was something we were trying to work out," she says quietly. "All of a sudden, it was announced. Joe wanted his freedom announced. He wanted to make himself look good. To be out and about, and be legally separated. He was doing what he wanted to do anyway."

 

 

"You know what really bothered me? Last year, I gave him all the love I could. Even though our marriage was falling apart. I asked for my NFC championship ring and he wouldn't get it for me. Neither would Mr. Jack Kent Cooke. I don't know where it is, but I still want it. I earned it. I was a Redskin just like everybody else. That hurt me more than anything."

 

* On Joe Theismann: "I saw him on a television interview, saying that in a relationship, you have to give 100 percent. Joe was not a giver. Not in our marriage."

* On his mouth: "I always told him to choose his words. To put his mind in gear before he opened his mouth. I used to say, 'Please don't talk.' "

* On his impulsiveness: "When we left Canada, we had $450, two kids, no team to go to. Joe went across the street and spent $450 on a camera and projector."

* On his mother: "I don't know if she's pleased that the marriage fell apart. I think she can sit back and say, 'I told you so.' "

* On moving to Chicago: "It will be nice. They have the Bears."

* On the Redskins' playoff loss to the Bears: "I thought, 'Every dog has his day. Maybe I'm having mine now.' To see them stumbling around like that in the last eight seconds, it was embarrassing."

* On Joe Theismann's Hollywood pursuit: "Joe was totally taken up with them. Burt Reynolds and that crowd. He thought they were just the cream. I don't know why he needs that. Insecurity, I guess."

* On celebrities shedding Wife No. 1: "They want to let go of all the bad stuff. They don't want to be reminded of when they weren't a success."

* On Joe's new romance: "He says he's deeply in love. Sorry, you don't fall out of love and in love that fast."

* On Cathy Lee Crosby: "Would you want her to bounce your kids on her knee?"

* On forgiveness: "Somebody said to me, 'Wish him well. So the two of you didn't make it. It wasn't meant to be.' I'll look at it that way someday. I can't yet."

 

When her husband first left, she says, "We couldn't find him. He never had the nerve or the strength to tell the kids. We never sat down together. The children cried all week. That Thursday I called my attorney and I said, 'I don't care where he is, but you get hold of his attorney and you have him phone his children.' "

 

Shari Theismann's father died two years ago in a violent automobile accident. It was a stressful time, she says, when she needed her husband's comfort.

"Joe was very insensitive when this happened. It was a time, I think, when he just wanted to be gone. The marriage was not going well. There were a lot of problems surrounding my father's death, papers and insurance and things like that."

 

 

Wow, good pull. Two sides to every story, but that certainly doesn't speak well of Joe. I remember my mom at that time, who was very religious, talking about how she could no longer root for the Redskins because of the way Joe treated his wife. When the Cowboys would win, she would say, "That's because Tom Landry and Roger Staubach are good Christian men." It would make me so angry. "Joe Gibbs says he's a Christian, too, mom, so now what?" "Well ... I don't know ... maybe Joe Theismann cancels all that out," lol. 

[hail2skins]

I don't think I ever read that particular WaPo story, but did hear about the excerpt where Joe and Shari went to Vegas for their honeymoon and Joe disappeared to the tables for seven hours!

[mojo]

On 6/11/2021 at 7:51 PM, Dissident2 said:

But as great as seeing this is, it really is so telling for why the Redskins laid such an egg in Super Bowl 18. Way too full of themselves (especially Joey T., whom I love), surrounded by celebrities, going too Hollywood. You can see the big "L" coming when watching this, especially considering how badly they let down in the second half of the NFC Championship that year. (Which would've been 33-0 at one point without Moseley missing four freaking field goals.)

 

 

 

If not mistaken we played the 49ers in the Championship game that year.  The game was in DC and we won on a fluke PI call late in the game.

Edited June 17, 2021 by mojo

[Dissident2]

2 hours ago, mojo said:

If not mistaken we played the 49ers in the Championship game that year.  The game was in DC and we won on a fluke PI call late in the game.

 

Yes, exactly. We had beaten the Rams 51-7 the week before, and the Niners came out during the week saying things like they didn't think we were that great, etc. 

 

We dominated them for the entire first half and into the third, and as said above, if Moseley had made his kicks, which were not that far, we would've been up 33-0 at one point. Game over. Instead, he missed all of them, and we were up 21-0. Montana finally connected on a huge bomb, and the comeback was on. They tied it up, and yes, we benefitted from a VERY ticky-tack PI call that gave Moseley a chance at redemption from like 30 yards. Thank God he made that one. Should've never been close. They should've learned from that letdown, but apparently they didn't. 

[Dark Acre]

Team that won the most games in the 80's:  SF.  #2:  WAS.  Difference?  1 game.

[Skinsfan1311]

That game was a gut punch and a kick in the nuts, all at once. First time I almost got physically I'll while watching a game. 

[kingdaddy]

On the topic of lost Super Bowls, can some old timer give me a history lesson on why HOF QB Sonny Jurgensen was inactive during Super Bowl Vll? Why would George Allen deactivate a HOF QB who, to my understanding, was completely healthy after being injured? I heard a quote where Allen didn't like Sonny because he was "too offensive"? I was 5 years old at the time and it was the first football game I ever remember and I've been a Skins fan ever since...all my life. Would we have had a better chance to win SB Vll had Sonny been brought in at some point to try and move the ball? Hopefully someone can educate me here cause I know that Skins team was very good and only lost by a TD while scorind zero points on offense....thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[hail2skins]

Sonny was still on crutches and could not

have played in SB 7. I think the story was that Allen didn't even want him on the sidelines.

 

 

[kingdaddy]

4 minutes ago, hail2skins said:

Sonny was still on crutches and could not

have played in SB 7. I think the story was that Allen didn't even want him on the sidelines.

 

 

Thanks, that explains it....what a shame, had Sonny played it surely would've been a different game.

[Dissident2]

9 hours ago, hail2skins said:

Sonny was still on crutches and could not

have played in SB 7. I think the story was that Allen didn't even want him on the sidelines.

 

 

 

He didn't. Sonny had to watch the game ALONE in a press box. Allen thought his presence on the field would distract the team. Sonny still feels incredibly insulted and bitter over that, as well he should. Kilmer was Allen's kind of player, and when Sonny broke curfew during Allen's first season as coach and basically flaunted it, Allen never liked him/trusted him again. Allen was a great coach, but he was ultimately done in by his obsessive compulsive behavior and inflexibility.