FEBRUARY 2020 43
nent of every NFL stadium project. Back then, it
was unprecedented.
Joe Robbie Stadium opened in 1987. The Super
Bowl returned two years later, and it was probably
the best of the 23 title games to that point. Most
football fans from that era know the lore: Trailing
the Bengals 16–13 late in the fourth quarter, 49ers
star Joe Montana pointed out actor John Candy in
the stands. “It broke up the anxieties we were hav-
ing going down the field,” San Francisco tailback
Roger Craig said later. “It just kind of relaxed us.”
The Bengals worried Montana would hit Jerry
Rice for the winning touchdown. He found John
Taylor instead. It was the ultimate Montana mo-
ment; the game that solidified Joe Cool forever.
SUPER BOWL XXIII
was the last of the ’80s, a decade that saw Miami
change its reputation from a small, seedy city
full of criminal activity to a large, seedy city full
of criminal activity. For this upgrade, Miami
could thank hit TV show Miami Vice, starring
two detectives who showed it was possible to
gun down dangerous felons and still dress well.
Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs mostly fought
drug trafficking and prostitution. The Super Bowl
could have used them.
The night before the Bengals-Niners game,
Cincinnati running back Stanley Wilson had a
cocaine relapse. This was not the age of Hollywood
Henderson. Teams were starting to understand
they had to deal with what happened off the field.
Bengals coach Sam Wyche told SI last year, “My
response was, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me?! The
biggest game of your lifetime and you give into
this drug after fighting it so hard all year long?’”
A decade later, Miami hosted another you-gotta-
be-kidding-me off-field moment: The day before
Super Bowl XXXIII Falcons safety Eugene Robinson
accepted a league award for “the player who exem-
SUPER BOWL X LI
COLTS 29, BEARS 17
Feb. 4, 2007
In a thrilling game featuring an opening-kickoff
TD return and 247 passing yards from the Colts’
Peyton Manning (right), Miami provided the
backdrop—lyrically- and locationally-appropriate
showers—for the day’s most impressive performance:
Prince (above), jamming out to “Purple Rain.”
BILL FRAKES (ELW
AY); BO
B RO
SATO (PRIN
CE); AL TIELEM
AN
S (M
AN
NIN
G)
