Section 1: A short film from Dorktown

The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s won four Super Bowls and fielded some of the greatest teams ever assembled. However, the most important game they ever played was not a Super Bowl, but a 1976 playoff matchup against the Baltimore Colts. Though they couldn’t possibly have known it in the moment, lives were on the line.

Written and directed by Jon Bois
Written and produced by Alex Rubenstein

[TheZakR]

Imagine a final destination/ground hog day type movie where the Steelers head coach or quarterback has to keep re-living the game over and over until they beat the Baltimore so badly that no one gets hurt.

[CTGlitch]

I love how much this felt like a "Pretty Good" episode. This one was a real treat

[peelslowly]

That flight instructor who got up to find a phone and call the airfield about the rogue plane showed way more initiative than anyone else that day.

[tzsitfhio]

This might be the only series on YouTube that I don't play when I first see it. I make sure i'm doing nothing else for 40 minutes and sit and enjoy it in full.

[batler]

OMG ... They timed it so the flight simulation hits the stadium exactly 6 minutes from when the scoreboard went final. I'm both impressed and not the least bit surprised. Love you guys.

[JordynPi]

18:44 A punt from the opponents' 43 gets a base score of 9.29.
Less than 1 yard remaining gets a multiplier of x1.0.
Losing by 9 points gets a multiplier of x3.
This happened in the 2nd quarter, for no clock multiplier.

The surrender index of this punt is 27.88.

[FIFODavid]

Reminds me of the "Miracle 3" story of the SEC Men's basketball tournament at the Georgia Dome where a small tornado blew thru downtown Atlanta. A 3 pointer sent it to OT, leaving fans in the stadium and not exiting while a tornado ripped thru.

[jhucci]

Only Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein could get me, a Ravens fan, to root for the goddam Pittsburgh Steelers. Well played, sirs. Another masterpiece.

[HoloKnight]

Every time I see "Dorktown" I feel joy that is impossible to put into words

[CLOCKTHULHU]

despite it being smaller in scope than the recent Stieb, Falcons, and Mariners docs, this might be my favorite Dorktown piece? The stakes are so immediately clear it's tense throughout, and because it's not a story a lot of people are familiar with there's still suspense as to what will happen. Great job Jon and Alex!

[HintzBrosLLC]

The last 11 minutes of this video are paced and edited to perfection. Truly shows that you don't need a big budget to tell a story well. Excellently done Secret Base.

[TheAlfrulz]

From 34:32 to 40:32.
They recreated the six minute lapse between the game ending and the plane crash as part of their storytelling. Bravo!

[oriolestragic-feelithappen]

This, as a Baltimorean, is one of the saddest stories in our football history. This game retrospectively marked the symbolic end of an era and the plane crash the beginning of a new one - one that saw us lose the Colts we loved so dearly.

[DibbzTV]

Wow, Bert Jones played his power cards perfectly. I was not expecting such a strategic move that minimized all that risk when I saw his face. Smart dude

[wutman]

When we needed him most, Jon Bois came back pretty good

[Cat_R_Waul]

My dad was at this game. He and his brother had left and were in the parking lot when the plane hit. They noticed “this idiot” flying low and watched the crash.

I sent him this video and he called me. “Well that was a little overdramatized, wasn’t it?”

[samsizer]

One of the police officers struck was a man named Joe Sacco. He couldn't leave early because of the close flybys and was hit by the plane. He spent a month or more in the hospital and retired from the police force four years later on disability. This could have been really, really bad.

Also, I found this on one of the articles in the Baltimore Sun quoted in the video that further went on to talk about Kroner's "exploits" after the crash and short prison stay:

"But Kroner's strange saga was far from over.

He resurfaced four years later when he was charged with stealing two Greyhound buses from Dulles Airport in Virginia."

[ChiseledAdonis]

This is an absolute masterclass production

[draco]

Stories like these really let you appreciate local history and events. I’ve been a Marylander all my short life so knowing about Memorial Stadium is commonplace, but this story is special. This structure of storytelling is so riveting too, weaving in real life scenario and sport to see how all the pieces fall into place.

[ratboy]

The opening of this feels like the mission briefing of a time travel movie, excellently written, had me cheering for the Steelers to save those fans