Editor's note: Fifth in a six-part series. The 1991 Stanley Cup Final started on May 15, and the 1992 Final Four came to a conclusion on April 6. A Minnesota team or venue was involved in those two major events and three more in between. What a run. We will look back at that stretch of Minnesota sports history each day this week.
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For Chip Lohmiller, it was a homecoming. He just wishes he remembered more about the game.
On Jan. 26, 1992, the NFL's biggest game arrived at the smallest venue ever to host it. By today's standards Super Bowl XXVI was a rather quaint affair, from the week-long buildup to the game to the "Winter Magic'' halftime show. For Lohmiller, a placekicker who grew up in Woodbury, who kicked for the University of Minnesota under that same Metrodome roof, who had to fulfill 77 ticket requests from friends and family that week, it was magic, period.
"It helped me with my nerves,'' Lohmiller said of being back home. He's now chief of the Crosslake Fire Department. "I knew I could play in that facility. It felt really, really good being able to come back and play in front of friends and family.''
It was a memorable game, one in which Lohmiller's team beat up on Buffalo, handing the Bills the second of four straight Super Bowl losses. There was Bills running back Thurman Thomas, the NFL's MVP, unable to find his helmet before the Bills' first possession. Washington intercepting Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly four times. A 37-24 Washington victory in a game that was nowhere near as close as the final score would indicate.
For Lohmiller? Unfortunately, all a blur. He remembers the team bonding during the week — in part because of a feeling the Bills were doing a little too much talking in the papers. He remembers taking a cab with quarterback Mark Rypien to the Metrodome early on game day — a ritual between the two friends — and standing with Rypien (the game's eventual MVP) at midfield taking a picture after the game ended.
But, the game? "I remember our defense overwhelmed their offense,'' he said. "Jim Kelly running for his life. We dominated. I guess the main thing I remember is we were in so much control of the game it made it more fun.''