Next year's Super Bowl isn't just another Super Bowl, and the two teams that compete in the game shouldn't be, either.

It's the golden anniversary of the biggest spectacle in sports, a game that, in January of 1969, changed the world of sports forever after the Jets of the American Football League shocked the NFL's Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, 16-7. That game helped football supersede baseball as America's pastime, something that was heightened to unprecedented levels in the 1970s.

The Steelers and Cowboys, two teams that dominated the most competitive decade in NFL history, squared off in two of the best Super Bowls ever played. Many critics said that the first nine Super Bowls were boring, low scoring affairs; that all changed in January of 1976, when Pittsburgh and Dallas thrilled the sellout Orange Bowl crowd and the 80 million watching world wide. Led by Lynn Swann's acrobatic catches and Jack Lambert's controversial throw down of Cowboys safety Cliff Harris, Pittsburgh prevailed in a classic, 21-17.

Super Bowl X was just a preview of what was to come. After Dallas won Super Bowl XII in convincing fashion, the two teams met again in Super Bowl XIII in what was dubbed "The Game of the Decade", with the winner to become the first team to win three Super Bowl games. With the NFL now holding a paramount place in Americans' popular culture, the Steelers and Cowboys didn't disappoint in the first-ever rematch in Super Bowl history.

In what many still consider the greatest Super Bowl of all-time, the Steelers prevailed in a game that set then Super Bowl records for most individual passing yards, passing touchdowns, longest play from scrimmage, and total points scored. It featured 12 Hall of Fame players, two Hall of Fame coaches, and two of the greatest organizations in all of sports at the time. At the center of it all was Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who overcame pregame criticism by Cowboys linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson to throw for 318 yards and four touchdowns to lead Pittsburgh to a 35-31 victory to lay claim as the Team of the 70s.

Two decades later, the teams met for an unprecedented third time in the Super Bowl. This time, the script was flipped, as the Cowboys were now the favorite against the underdog Steelers. Pittsburgh fought gamely, holding Dallas to 56 rushing yards and just 64 total yards in the second half as the Steelers scored 10 unanswered points late to cut their deficit to 20-17 in the fourth quarter. But Pittsburgh could not overcome a late interception that the Cowboys used to score the game-winning touchdown in their 27-17 victory. Like Pittsburgh two decades earlier, the win helped propel Dallas to the thrown as the Team of the 90s, led by "The Triplets" of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin.

While Dallas tied the 49ers as the only two teams to win five Vince Lombardi Trophies that night, the Steelers surged ahead of both franchises by winning Super Bowls XL and XLIII to stand alone with six Super Bowl titles. And after winning just one playoff game in the 18 years following Super Bowl XXX, Dallas finally broke through last season, winning a playoff game and nearly upsetting Green Bay in the second round. The Steelers, after a two year absence, also made the playoffs, and are again expected to fight for post season ground in 2015.

Super Bowl 50 will be a special game and time in the NFL's storied history. It will be a time to reflect on the game's glorious past while also looking at where it will go in the future. It's a crossroads in time, and it's only fitting that it include the Steelers and the Cowboys, competing in the golden anniversary of the game that they forever changed.