Bills Sadness Week – Don Beebe’s Heroic Save
I mentioned this back on the Devin Hester Lateral, but it’s pretty much between that kickoff return and this play for the best play in super bowl history by the losing team.
In the 4th quarter of Super Bowl XXVII (the first of the two Cowboys losses, and the worst loss of all 4 games), the Bills had been absolutely destroyed all game by the dominant Cowboys. Jim Kelly wasn’t even in the game thanks to a knee injury in the second quarter, it was up to Frank Reich. Yes, current Colts HC Frank Reich. Reich got sacked by Jim Jeffcoat and Leon Lett took the ball 63 of the 64 yards towards the endzone. Don Beebe, a Bills WR, never gave up on the play and ran Lett down, forcing a fumble through the endzone and a touchback.
The play has become a sort of symbol of resilience among the Bills fanbase and NFL fans as a whole. In many ways, this and Wide Right are the two defining plays of the 90’s Bills non-dynasty. Wide right represents how close the Bills actually came to glory, and the Beebe hustle play represents their guts and courage to never give up even in the face of absolute failure. There was no real point to Don Beebe making that mad dash to save the touchdown. The game was long over. It was the 4th quarter and the Cowboys were winning by 35 points. To put that much effort into giving your team a hopeless second chance is, to many, what sports is all about. You never give up. You never give in. The Bills never gave up.
Much like the Hester return, it is probably the defining play of the game, which was otherwise a dull rout. Unlike the Hester return, it comes in different circumstances. Hester’s return was glorious, an explosion of excitement that gave us the greatest super bowl opening moment in history before the rest of the game put us to sleep. This one is more bittersweet. A final gasp of effort when all is lost. A play made entirely to save some dignity. Beebe would go on to win a Super Bowl with the Packers a few seasons later. The Bills would put up a better fight the next year, but fall to the Cowboys once again.
Counterpoint: You NEED a dynasty to go to the super bowl 4 times in a row, the Bills are the only team in the leagues history to ever do that and theres only 2 teams who have 3 consecutive apperances: the Dolphins and the Patriots.
Everyone else has 2 consecutive trips at best and I think its only fair to call them a dynasty despite no wins. Just shows how much of a cointoss one and done elimination games are, you can have all the stuff needed to make it there 4 times in a row yet still lose the 50/50 chance for a win 4 times in a row. As Picard once said on TNG: “You can make no misstakes and still lose, thats just life”
A sports dynasty typically means a team is on top of a sport for an extended period of time. That doesn’t always have to mean championships, but it almost always does, which is why these Bills teams aren’t typically considered a dynasty. A team can enjoy continued success (the Packers make the NFCCG like every other year) but if they never take it all way, nobody will care all that much in the long run. If these 4 Bills losses were spread out a little more, we probably wouldn’t talk about them nearly as much, the consecutive appearances, though certainly no small feat, is the only thing that really sets them apart from other good teams that never won.
Hypothetical:
Is it a dynasty if the Bills won the first sb amd lost the other 3?
Mad respect for this man, he never gave up hope. Glad he eventually won it all, hopefully the Bills current success can bring them to the top as well.
I think that was the same year as the infamous Leon Lett “fail to fall on the fumble” play in the snow against Miami. Which ranks up close to Butt Fumble as one of the most hilarious plays in NFL history.
This play was also the beginning of the Leon Lett’s infamous (if over-stated) reputation as a screw-up, which he reinforced the next season when he cost Dallas a game in Miami when he tried and failed to recover a blocked field goal that would have been blown dead had he left the ball alone.
Beebe himself has said that he hustled on the play because he was frustrated with how poorly the game was going and started chasing Lett down in an unthinking rage rather than a desire to keep the Bills’ miniscule hopes alive, though he appreciated that it meant a lot to his teammates and Bills fans after the game (Ralph Wilson apparently singled him out for praise after the game). It is also worth remembering that Beebe, despite looking like the stereotypical “blue-collar/lunch-pail guy” white receiver, was actually really really fast and probably one of the only players in the stadium for either team who could have caught Lett on that play. In fact, Beebe was pretty much the opposite of the white receiver stereotype in every way, a career third receiver despite his blazing speed because of his slight build, poor hands (his catch percentages, even for his era, are not good), and mediocre route-running. But he could fly… he was the fastest wide receiver at the 1989 combine (4.42 in the 40) and the third fastest player overall (behind a pair of DBs you might have heard of, Deion Sanders and Carnell Lake).
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This guy Beebe’s.
This week is making me hope that the Bills win the big one this year. If they did it over an NFCE team, that would be better.
I don’t think any NFC East Team will make it to the SUper Bowl this year
Wadabout dem cawboys…
Nah just kiding, theyve had all the pieces for years now, at this point im just assuming Jerruh is cursed and they will never make it to the superbowl as long as he owns the team. And everyone else in the divison isnt even gona sniff the playoffs…
Back in the 89/90 divisional round, Don Beebe landed on his head in a play. He got right back up and kept playing. I’ve been a Bills fan since.
I don’t think one can call the Bills a “dynasty”, mainly because they didn’t win at least one title. That being said, getting to the Super Bowl four times in a row is something we won’t likely see ever again. I’d have preferred one Super Bowl win and no further trips, but it was something of an accomplishment.
I feel like for whatever reason I see this labeled as the “Leon Lett” play instead of the Don Beebe play. Really, such an important moment in the history of football for all of the reasons you’ve stated, and the man who made the play is almost kind of a footnote in the general consciousness of this play.
The 30 for 30 on the Bills covers this moment really well.
Donnie Beeber would finally be rewarded…with the Packers.
“Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row”
This is my first real Super Bowl memory and one of my favorites. Some douchebag who was on top of the game showboating his way out of the record books. How beautiful is that?
Hey, this play is why I wear a #82 jersey on game days (signed, too). Gotta respect someone making that kind of effort despite it being a lost cause.