No, it's mine: Brig Owens intercepts a pass in the end zone intended for Miami's Marv Fleming in Super Bowl VII at the Los Angeles Coliseum. (Richard Darcey/The Washington Post)

Allen elected not to try an onside kick, preferring to let his beloved defense get the ball back for one last try to tie the game and possibly send it to overtime. The Redskins did get the ball back, with 74 seconds remaining, but when Kilmer was sacked for a nine-yard loss on fourth down, the season and the dream of a Super Bowl championship ended.

"We just came out so flat," Owens said. "George was so paranoid about us being in LA, and he was afraid we wouldn't focus on the game. But that was crazy. This was such an unusual team. These guys were pros. They were used to practicing and playing on three hours' sleep. We'd done it all season. But we had more meetings, we practiced harder and longer than usual. It really hurt us. We were ready to play that game the Sunday before. Our performance against the Dolphins was not the Washington Redskins. We had to take responsibility for that, too. But we just didn't perform."

Some of the players never performed for the Redskins again. Pardee decided to retire, though he stayed on as an assistant coach. Richie Petitbon also turned to coaching, working with Houston Oilers defenses until 1978, when he became the Redskins' defensive secondary coach. Jim Snowden, Mitch Johnson, Rosey Taylor, George Nock, receiver Clifton McNeil and special teams ace Jon Jaqua, among others, soon would be gone as well, either released, traded or forced to quit because of injuries.

Other Pages in Chapter 3: 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112

Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Names, Numbers Trivia Quiz Index

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