January 14 in Sports History:
1968 — The Green Bay Packers win their second straight Super Bowl. The game draws the first $3 million gate in football history. Bart Starr, the game’s MVP, completes 13 of 24 passes for 202-yards.
1973 — The Miami Dolphins, who went 14-0 in the regular season and won two playoff games, beat the Washington Redskins 14-7 in the Super Bowl to become the only undefeated team in NFL history.
1990 — Joe Montana sets an NFL record when he tosses his 30th and 31st postseason touchdown passes as the San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams 30-3 in the NFC championship game. Terry Bradshaw had thrown 30.
1990 — John Elway passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns as the Denver Broncos advance to their fourth Super Bowl with a 37-21 victory over the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Championship. This was the third time in four seasons that the Broncos defeated the Browns, and the first that did not have a name (The Drive, The Fumble).
2001 — Led by Kerry Collins’ five touchdown passes, the New York Giants reach their first Super Bowl in a decade with a 41-0 romp past the hapless Minnesota Vikings — the biggest rout in NFC championship history. The Giants led 14-0 after 2:07, before the Vikings offense had set foot on the field. The Giants finished with a 31-9 advantage in first downs, with 518 yards of total offense to 114 for Minnesota, a more than a two-to-one lead in time of possession (42:22-17:38), while running double the number of offensive plays (82 to 41).
2012 — Tom Brady throws for a record-tying six touchdown passes, five in the first half and three to Rob Gronkowski, to lead the New England Patriots to a 45-10 win over Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos in the divisional playoffs. The previous week Denver had shocked the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 29-23 upset when Tebow threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas to win on the first play from scrimmage in overtime.
2012 — Alex Smith completes a 14-yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis with 9 seconds left just after Drew Brees put the high-powered Saints ahead, and the resurgent San Francisco 49ers capitalize on five New Orleans turnovers for a thrilling 36-32 playoff victory.
2017 — New England’s Dion Lewis becomes the first in NFL postseason history to have a rushing TD, receiving TD and kickoff return for a TD in a single game, which led to the Patriots’ 34-16 division playoff win over Houston.
2020 — Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is fired amid Major League Baseball’s investigation into sign-stealing by the Houston Astros; Cora was the Astros’ bench coach before moving to Boston
