MentalPerformanceIndex.com for Football

Super Bowl II
Green Bay v. Oakland
Miami Orange Bowl
January 14, 1968

MPI Track Record MPI Summary
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Thankfully for the frostbitten Green Bay Packers players, the second Super Bowl moved south to Miami. It further solidified the Packers as the 1960s football dynasty. No man had walked on the moon, Vietnam was looking increasingly hopeless, and Vince Lombardi's values clashed with the individualism and hippy subculture threatening the fabric of society. But while the "Me Generation" of long hair and acid rock was rising, the "G" emblem of old fashioned Titletown symbolized the only throne on the American gridiron.

Coach John Rauch's Raiders had opened the season with a 51-0 demolition of the Denver Broncos, and finished an almost perfect 13-1. Oakland destroyed the Houston Oilers 40-7 in the AFL Championship and had visions of earning respect for the rebel league. Over in the real football league, the Pack endured 4 losses and a tie in a much tougher regular season schedule before subduing the Los Angeles Rams 28-7 in the Western Conference Playoff Game. They would then take out the Cowboys 21-17 in one of the most famous games in NFL history. It was the NFL Championship known as the "The Ice Bowl." With temperatures dropping at -13 degrees at kickoff, the game was only decided at the very end when Bart Starr slipped across the goal line behind the most iconic blocks of guard Jerry Kramer and center Ken Bowman.

So imagine the newly thawed, cold and exhausted meat packers in South Florida to face the pass flashy warm weather tandem of Daryle Lamonica and Fred Bilentnikoff. As had happened the previous year, the game would not be decided early. The big play of the first half was a Bart Starr to Boyd Dowler 62 yard touchdown pass for a 13-0 lead. Behind the fine running of Pete Banaszak and the sharp passing of Lamonica, however, the Raiders stormed right back and made it a game on a 23 yard strike to Bill Miller. The Orange Bowl was rocking with a sea of silver and black until Don Chandler turned them green with a 43-yard field goal to put Green Bay up 16-7.

Green Bay's first drive of the second half went nowhere but the defense held strong. On the next series Starr moved the chains 82 yards in 11 plays to take a 23-7 lead. An analysis of the drive reveals a fine combination of Starr darts to Max McGee, Carroll Dale and Donny Anderson, and nimble running by Ben Wilson and Donny Anderson. The brutality of the green machine continued on the next drive as the Packers drove for a Chandler field goal and put the game out of reach. Herb Adderly finished the scoring with a 60 yard interception return fro a touchdown and Lamonica got a luxury but meaningless 23 yard touchdown pass to Miller.

The Total MPI differential (.547 to .466) was almost a mirror image of the previous year's Super Bowl against Kansas City. This demonstrates that the final score was no fluke, that the Packers routed the Raiders, and that the game was not even close. Only one team in 1000 will win a game when they lose the MPI differential to this extent.

In looking back with this newly gained insight from the MPI analysis, critics who claimed the AFL/NFL Championship was a farce were absolutely correct. This was two years in a row of non-super games, and Green Bay proved that the AFL was not even close. With nothing left to prove, Vince Lombardi would step down as coach and the Packers would never be the same ... that is not until 30 later under the guidance of a stellar quarterback named Brett Favre.

     Further analysis of the MPI scores shows that Green Bay hammered the Raiders' offense in pressure defensive situations (.688 to .344), but that the Raiders pressure defense actually outperformed the Packers' pressure offense (.654 to .442)! The Green Bay special teams play improved from the previous year to .615 and outperformed Oakland too (.542). Total pressure scores were equal (.536 each).

     Bart Starr was awarded the most valuable player for the second year in a row.

In sum, the Green Bay Packers thawed out very well from the Ice Bowl to demolish the Oakland Raiders in 5 out of 7 MPI categories. The much better team easily controlled offense, defense and special teams, and won easily on the final scoreboard too.

CONGRATS GREEN BAY: CLICK TO WATCH PACKERS VIDEO

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The MPI or Mental Performance Index is the first system of scoring developed in sports which includes in the scoring key mental factors such as pressure management, reduction of mental errors and focused execution. It was developed by licensed clinical and sport performance psychologist Dr. John F. Murray in 2002 to show the extreme importance of mental factors in sports. It is much more accurate than the final score and other statistics in showing how one team performed relative to another team. It has almost perfectly estimated the relative performance of the teams before each of the past 5 Super Bowls. Dr. Murray's MPI forecast has also beaten the official Super Bowl spread 4 out of 5 times now. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows, and the forecast has also appeared in hundreds of articles. Why all the focus, energy and interest in this topic? Because it so clearly demonstrates the importance of mental factors in sports. For more information about the MPI or Dr. Murray's services, please call 561-596-9898 or send an email to: johnfmurray@mindspring.com