Tag Archives: Hall of Fame coaches

Road warriors

After Saturday’s 30-17 crunching of the Steelers, John Harbaugh’s Ravens are once again taking bows for their road exploits in the playoffs. They’re now 7-4 in such games under Harbaugh,

Ravens coach John Harbaugh

Ravens coach John Harbaugh

which would be an impressive record in any postseason venue.

Before anybody builds any statues, though, allow me to point out what the Chiefs — and their predecessors, the Dallas Texans — did in the ’60s. Not only did they go 3-0 in AFL championship games in those years, all three were on the road. Better still, in each of those postseasons they had to beat the defending champions on their own turf en route to the title. To review:

● 1962 — Beat the Oilers, 20-17, in double overtime at Jeppesen Stadium. Houston had won the previous two AFL championships.

● 1966 — Beat the Bills, 31-7, at War Memorial Stadium. Buffalo had won it all in ’64 and ’65 (the last two years before the Super Bowl).

● 1969 — The coup de grace. In the first round they beat the Jets, the defending titlists, 13-7, at Shea Stadium. Then they beat the Raiders, winners of the ’67 championship, 16-6, at Oakland Coliseum.

So they were 4-0 in the playoffs in those seasons, all four games on the road, and three of them against the defending champs, two of whom were the two-time defending champs.

The Super Bowl, of course, is played at a neutral site. But Harbaugh’s Ravens, let’s not forget, are 1-2 in AFC title games on the road, losing to the Steelers in 2008, the Patriots in 2011 and defeating the Pats the next year.

Anyway, just thought I’d throw that out there. You can go back to what you were doing now.

A triumphant Hank Stram after the Chiefs took down the Vikings in Super Bowl III.

A triumphant Hank Stram after the Chiefs took down the Vikings in Super Bowl III.

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