Quarterback Jim Kelly of the Buffalo Bills is helped off the field during Super Bowl XXVI against the Washington Redskins at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Redskins won the game, 37-24.
Remember the last time the Redskins faced the Bills at a neutral site? Although it was 20 years ago I still remember it well. Back on January 26, 1992 the Redskins made a mess of the Bills all over the Metrodome’s Astroturf and at the end of the day they were Super Bowl Champions for the 3rd time in 10 seasons. I was a spoiled fan back then. I thought the Super Bowl Championships would keep coming every 3 or 4 years…
The 91’ Skins were one of the best teams I’ve ever seen. They lost 2 games by a total 5 points and one of those losses was on the last game of the regular season when they didn’t start key players. They won 7 games by 20 points or more and their average margin of victory was 16 points. They scored 30+ points per game and were #1 in the league in offense, #2 in defense. Do you know how hard it is to be the #2 defense in the league when you’re winning every game by 20 points? There’s so much garbage yards given up late in those games…the defense was amazing.
The year started off with Super Bowl predictions from several media outlets including Playboy magazine, which led to a famous interview of Joe Gibbs by Steve Buckhantz. Playboy was right, after mowing thru the regular season and beating the Falcons and Lions by a combined 48 points the Super Bowl was here.
The game started with the Bills Pro Bowl running back (and future Hall of Famer) Thurman Thomas on the sideline because he couldn’t find his helmet. It ended with Thomas totaling just 13 yards on 10 carries…and he’s still looking for a Super Bowl ring. The Redskins would jump out to a 17-0 lead at halftime and led 24-0 in the 3rd quarter. By the early 4th quarter it was all but over as the Redskins led 37-10. A couple garbage time TD’s made the score look a bit more respectful at 37-24.
The Redskins were paced by MVP Mark Rypien who passed for 292 yards and 2 TD’s. Gary Clark and Art Monk had nearly identical stat lines. Clark had 7 receptions for 114 yards and a TD. Monk went 7-113-0. Monk had a TD reception taken off the board early in the game due to instant replay. Ricky Ervins rushed 13 times for 72 yards while Earnest Byner had 72 total yards and a TD. Short yardage specialist Gerald Riggs rushed for only 7 yards but had 2 TD’s.
Defensively the Redskins intercepted Jim Kelly 4 times. Darrell Green and Kurt Gouveia each had a pick and Brad Edwards (who was all over the field all night) added 2 picks for 56 return yards. Fred Stokes, Alvoid Mays, Jason Buck, Wilber Marshall and Jumpy Geathers each had a sack. I loved Jumpy Geathers.
The 1991 Redskins were a special team. As I said before, they were one of the greatest teams I’ve ever seen…not in Redskins history, in NFL history.
Cheers and Hail
3 recs | 27 comments
Ah...
it was the best of times
irishgoon - October 28, 2011
John Beck reportedly asked to change his number to 11 for this game.
Kevin Ewoldt - October 28, 2011
To me, this is the greatest team ever behind the 85 Bears.
iH8dallas - October 28, 2011
Honestly I put them right with the 85 bears
The skins were alot more balanced than the bears were. The only reason why we were not #1 on defense was the fact that our defense wasn’t on the field much. I mean we beat Pittsburgh 41-14 and Atlanta 56-17.
Venthril - October 28, 2011
These days remind me
of how much of a laughing stock New England and Tampa Bay were……funny how things change
irishgoon - October 28, 2011
I LOVE YOU FOR THIS. KISSES.
RedskinsGirl - October 28, 2011
What a game
I have this permanently on my DVR
Hustler of Culture - October 28, 2011
Lucky you!
didn’t know we had tivo back then. i know i was still renting vhs tapes from blockbuster.
mkjo - October 28, 2011
haha I thought the same thing
Parks Smith - October 28, 2011
He has a Delorean
Where he’s going he doesn’t need roads
64ShagginWagon - October 28, 2011
It was after this game that I went and signed up for football
haha I remember my first year as I totally got cut from the team and stuck on the crappy no one gets cut team.
What an embarassment to a father who coached football hah.
Its okay though I came back next year to start offense and defense and make that team. All because of you redskins, all because of you.
tear
Al_CaPWNED - October 28, 2011
'91 was truly a glorious year
I remember it well. I also remember thinking for years after (and still do) why that team was never really talked about all that much as far as greatest teams in NFL history are concerned. You mentioned the defense – if I remember correctly we pitched shutouts in our first 3 home games of the year and weren’t scored on at home until week 7 when Cleveland came to town. Are you kidding me? When has that happened in recent memory?I remember they were called the ‘National Defense.’ Unreal
Not to mention starting the season 11-0 and having the most balanced and dominant offense in the league. I remember there was just a sense every week that we were going to win and we not only won but killed teams that year. Ah the glory days
DFett - October 28, 2011
I wish I did... I was 5...sigh
Parks Smith - October 28, 2011
Yeah
8 :/ …I was excited watching it, but had no idea what was going on beyond points and interceptions…
Bullet Nation in Exile - October 28, 2011
And I remember watching the Houston Oilers game that year with my dad
We were using the “Summer Room” at their house, which by then DID have heating and cooling, but was still chilly. It was something like week 8 or 9, and we had momentum in the season. Houston was one of the great teams, and mom was in the kitchen cooking (boneless chicken nuggets, IIRC, handmade), watching through the window between the two rooms.
We were getting nervous, and I was wearing my lucky Redskins shirt, but we couldn’t shake those pesky Oilers (they were one of the top teams that year) and pull away in a laugher, like we normally did. Indeed, it was the first game that season I can remember we had actually TRAILED at any time in the game.
The score was tied up at 13 when Chip Lohmiller came on for a LONG range FG (48 yards? 50+? Something in that range) late in the game. I remember saying “Hey, it’s no problem, Chip shot here. We’re going to win this game ’cuz God himself was rooting for the Skins to win the SB!”
And I was right…. think the old man upstairs had a parley bet with the Skins that season, as the ONE and ONLY time that the ball didn’t bounce our way was on that Hail Mary TD at the end of the first half against the Cowboys; they were playing a game where they knew they would either be blown out BIG, or win a squeeker…. and they spoiled our perfect record. We might have been the second team to ever go undefeated if not for that (we rested almost the entire starting Offense and Defense against the Eagles to close out the season, losing by a FG; if a perfect season had been on the line, we would have played the starters/played the starters longer).
I was wearing one of my 1992 SB Winner sweatshirts just last weekend.
BillWard - October 28, 2011
I was a junior in High School.
It was a glorious time!!! Those memories are why I can’t wrap my head around how shitty we have been for so long.
brettpedigo - October 28, 2011
I remember my dad making a lot of money
on skins bets!
mkjo - October 28, 2011
Totally agree
+ 1
ENsDad27 - October 28, 2011
Agree, a great team
I still have a sweatshirt with the score printed on it that I bought from some guy on the side of the road on my way home to Sterling.
redskins-texas-fan - October 28, 2011
Im pretty sure I have that same sweatshirt.
Venthril - October 28, 2011
Rypian
who stood there like the statue of liberty when passing, sacked 7 times all season. If any one wants to see how good a great oline can make a back up QB look, thats the season.
hambonejackson - October 28, 2011
To think about that now is almost unreal.
iH8dallas - October 28, 2011
Joe Bugal
knew how to put together OLines. I don’t know why it was so easy then and so hard now. They just seem to either draft them or sign them and they were always great. They need to start drafting them in the early rounds again instead of waiting for some 7th round steal.
hambonejackson - October 28, 2011
Back them it just required you to be a freakish athlete to be a superstar.
Now everyone is. The superstars now are the smart freakish athletes. guys who can think on thier feet, analyze drefenses or offenses and guys who will put in the work to learn the very nuanced side of the game.
Venthril - October 28, 2011
and this of course explains why such greats as....
Renaldo Neamiah and Brian Bosworth had such stellar NFL careers.
MagicHat - October 28, 2011
I was in cambridge hall at UMD.
Remember the half time show? NO, not the SB half time show. This was during the time when the SB halftime shows sucked and everyone would change the channel to some other halftime special. That was the year In Living Color did one.
mkjo - October 28, 2011
people actually watch it now?
Weird. they still suck.
brettpedigo - October 28, 2011
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