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Former Vikings lineman Bob Lurtsema looks back on ‘terrible call’ that helped Dolphins go undefeated 50 years ago

chris tomasson, pioneer press
·5 min read
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During a solid 11-year NFL career, Bob Lurtsema played in two Super Bowls and was named once to an All-NFC team. But to some, he is best known for committing a costly penalty 50 years ago.

During Week 3 of the 1972 season, the Miami Dolphins were helped on a late-game scoring drive by a controversial roughing-the-passer call on quarterback Bob Griese by Lurtsema, then a Vikings defensive lineman. That led to the Dolphins scoring the decisive touchdown with 1:28 left in a 16-14 victory at Metropolitan Stadium.

The Dolphins ended up going 17-0 that season and won Super Bowl VII, and Griese has called that trip to Minnesota “the toughest game we had all year.” Since then, the Dolphins have remained the only team in NFL history to finish undefeated and untied in a season, and 50th anniversary specials have been in the works.

Lurtsema has had an ESPN film crew come to his home in Lakeville for an interview that will run shortly before the Feb. 12 Super Bowl. He’s had reporters call him, including one from NFL Network.

“At least they remember me for something,” said Lurtsema, who played in the NFL from 1967-77, including 1971-76 with Minnesota.

Lurtsema made an All-NFC team in 1968 with the New York Giants. And even though he dubbed himself “Benchwarmer Bob” during his Vikings days, he did see a good bit of action and had a sack in Super Bowl IX against Pittsburgh.

Lurtsema has been saying since the Oct. 1, 1972 game against the Dolphins that he was wronged, and he has been reminiscing about it a lot lately. The Vikings will play at Miami on Sunday, one week before the Dolphins have their 50th reunion for the undefeated team at an Oct. 23 game against Pittsburgh.

“That was a terrible call,” Lurtsema said. “Without that, they might not have gone undefeated. It just shows you that one play can make such a difference.”

The Vikings held a 14-6 lead before Miami kicker Garo Yepremian’s 51-yard field goal cut the deficit to 14-9 with 10:45 left in the game. That kick was then the longest career field goal for Yepremian, who was in his fifth season.

The Dolphins later got the ball back for a final attempt to win the game. On the first play after the two-minute warning, they faced second-and-8 at the Miami 43.

Griese dropped back and misfired badly on a pass that was intended either for tight end Marv Fleming or wide receiver Paul Warfield, and that Minnesota cornerback Bobby Bryant almost intercepted. But then a flag appeared on the field.

“My hands were up as Griese threw the ball, and I turned and watched the tight end go across, and it was incomplete,” Lurtsema said. “I barely bumped into Griese, and he fakes it and falls down. When I saw the flag, I thought it was on them for holding.”

The roughing-the-passer call gave the Dolphins a first down at the Minnesota 43. They went on to score the go-ahead touchdown on a 3-yard pass from Griese to tight end Jim Mandich with 1:28 left.

In a 2018 interview with the Pioneer Press, Griese said he didn’t remember details of the play but didn’t deny he might have done some acting.

“Sometimes I did overexaggerate a little bit when I got hit if I knew the referee was watching,” he said. “The penalty on that drive was a big part of keeping that drive alive.”

Warfield said this month he doesn’t remember specifics of the play either, but he’s sure glad it went Miami’s way.

“We were able to sustain that drive and put points on the board to ultimately win, and that turned out to very crucial in terms of our ability to have a historic undefeated season,” Warfield said. “When you look back, a number of things had to happen for us, and that was one. Whether the call was right, wrong or indifferent, I can’t really comment, but it went in our favor.”

In recent years, no footage of Lurtsema bearing down on Griese has been found. ESPN is trying to locate some film of it. There is a video on YouTube that intersperses the Dolphins radio broadcast of the game along with footage, but the camera moves away from Griese for a look down the field before Lurtsema breaks through the line.

“The myth continues,” Lurtsema said.

At least Lurtsema has been able to have some fun with the call over the years. He laughed about how Dolphins guard Bob Kuechenberg and center Jim Langer sent him Christmas cards over a period of several years to thank him for the penalty.

Lurtsema said that about 20 years ago he got a big surprise when he went to an NFL alumni golf outing in South Florida.

“There were about 100 people there and then (former Dolphins linebacker) Nick Buoniconti says to everybody, ‘I’d like introduce the person who was as important as anybody else on our team for us going undefeated,’ ” Lurtsema said. “And then they called out my name. I said, ‘What the heck?’ And we all laughed.”

At the golf outing, Lurtsema was asked to sign a ball that already featured signatures of players on the 1972 Dolphins.

Before the Vikings defeated Chicago 29-22 last Sunday, Lurtsema signed autographs outside U.S. Bank Stadium along with Stu Voigt, a Minnesota tight end from 1970-80. Voigt has heard Lurtsema complain about the penalty for decades, and he asked him again about it.

“He said, ‘I didn’t rough anybody,’ and he had some expletives about the call,” Voigt said. “Then he gave a detailed explanation of the call 50 years later. He stated his case, and as his former teammate, I’ll say I agree with him.”

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