the ball slipped away and was recovered by Minnesota's Fred McNeill on the Cowboys' 4-yard line. Chuck Foreman eventually took the ball into the end zone on a 1-yard score for a 7–0 Vikings lead. The Cowboys were able to move the ball on their next two drives, but the first ended with a missed field goal, and after a Mel Renfro interception sparked a drive to the Vikings 24, the Cowboys failed to convert a fourth-and-inches situation and the score was 7–0 at halftime. Dallas mounted the first sustained scoring drive of the game with their first second-half possession. A late hit by Vikings linebacker Wally Hilgenberg turned Preston Pearson's 14-yard reception into a 29-yard gain. Then Staubach hit tight end Billy Joe Dupree for 17 yards to the Vikings' 19. Doug Dennison then rumbled for a 10-yard carry, and three plays later he tied the game on a 4-yard scoring run. Early in the fourth quarter, Dallas took a 10–7 lead on a 24-yard field goal by Toni Fritsch. Following an exchange of punts, Tarkenton completed four of six passes for 37 yards on a 70-yard, 11-play drive, which included a 13-yard run on a reverse by Brent McClanahan. The third-year running back eventually finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Vikings a 14–10 lead with 5:24 remaining. Dallas went three-and-out on its ensuing drive, giving the ball back to Minnesota with 3:12 left and giving the Vikings a chance to run out the clock. They forced Dallas to use up all of its timeouts, but on a third-and-two, Cowboys safety Charlie Waters broke through Foreman's block attempt and tackled Tarkenton for a 3-yard loss as time ran down to the two-minute warning. "That play cost us the game," Tarkenton later said. "It wasn't the Hail Mary pass. We had the game in control but didn't make the play." The Cowboys got the ball back on their own 15-yard line with only 1:51 left. Staubach started the drive with a pair of completions to Pearson, who had not yet caught a pass in the game, moving the ball to the Dallas 31. However, on the next play, Staubach fumbled a low snap in shotgun formation and was downed for an 8-yard loss. A few plays later, facing fourth-down-and-16, he threw a 25-yard completion to Pearson to set up the winning "Hail Mary" pass. The fourth-and-16