Team owner Hank Cooper is deeply in debt to two bookmakers named Charles Gwynn and Cal Wilson.

Gwynn and Wilson, realizing their deal with Cooper is backfiring, hire two incompetent criminals named Crankcase and Spinner to stop Gus from playing and make the team lose.

A long slapstick chase sequence ensues, ending with Spinner and Crankcase being apprehended and Gus being airlifted to the Super Bowl.

"[3] Joseph McBride of Variety called it "a pleasant family comedy" that "has the amiable spirit of a tall tale or kiddie story book, and while the plot mechanics are largely predictable, the cast keeps the ball in the air over the 96-minute running time.

"[4] Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times described it as "a funny and loveable, though familiar Disney live-action fantasy film for football families.

"[5] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post found the film's pace "sluggish" and added, "After a while it becomes impossible to share the kids' glee in the sort of pratfall you can see coming 10 seconds in advance."

The 1997 Love Bug repurposes character name "Hank Cooper" for the mechanic (Bruce Campbell) who meets Herbie.

Bill Maher invoked the film during the October 9, 2020 episode of HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher, warning that Donald Trump would attempt to "Gus" the 2020 United States presidential election by exploiting a lack of written laws against certain behaviors.