or gently lower it onto the mud
.. if we are talking about Sioux City ... if they had had anything like enough control over the beast to do anything predictable with it ... mud, runway, or whatever ... then they would likely have got away with no consequential damage and no injuries during the landing.
As it was, they had an aircraft which was extremely marginal in respect of any level of control ... Lady Luck helped a bit (except for the phugoid pitch down on short final) ... but full marks to the dogged determination of the crew on the day ..