1975 Pittsburgh Steelers item

[Halas Hall]

Yep, I was thinking underrated as an all-time team. Thank you everyone for the great insights.

[74_75_78_79_]

Perhaps this post is better suited for this older thread,https://www.profootballresearchers.org/ ... hp?p=26070, but either way it can be placed here as well - this being the mention of that meaningless Steelers' finale at Denver in '78. I just watched the very end of it. Of course a tale of two halves. Steelers went up 21-0 at the half but would never score again. Denver did the rest, scoring 17 unanswered under Weese who went in for Morton.

On Denver's last possession with less than a minute to go, Norris throws a 30-yarder to Moses, bringing them to midfield; but time was running! Two plays later, last one being an incomplete pass, with 16 seconds to go, Weese alludes the rush and throws a 50-yard bomb into the end zone only for Steeler backup, Ray Oldham, to bring down Upchurch by the facemask. It took Upchurch a bit to get back up; he ended up being okay. No malicious intent from Oldham, it seemed, as Enberg and Olsen seemed to agree.

PI was called and Denver now had the ball at the 1 with 7 seconds left. Showing much fire, unlike something Morton would do, Norris seemed angry in the huddle over the play that was apparently sent in. He was glancing over at the sideline fuming. A run play was called instead of what, of course, would have been better suited for mobile him...a roll-out pass! Lambert & Co stop the run play, time ran out, and that was that. Again, I only saw the very end of the game. Perhaps many Steeler starters ended up getting pulled earlier in the game only to, then, be brought back in to preserve the win thus 14-2 finish instead of...a 13-3 one!

And that, right there, is why I feel this post can belong on this thread as well! How do the...1978 Pittsburgh Steelers, even if subconsciously, get Historically viewed at "just" 13-3? I can imagine, at the very least, that maybe - just maybe - 1975 ends up being seen as the best Steeler squad instead thus not..."underrated" (12-2 over 13-3; 12-1 over 13-2 going into meaningless finales). The '81 Forty Niners would not end up being the first-ever 13-3 finisher and it'd take until '83, instead, for the first-ever 14-2; and not until 1986 for the first Super Bowl winning 14-2!

Some Steeler players were talking some talk after this finale win as this NYT article, here, states...

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/30/arch ... n-the.html.

“Nobody can beat the mighty Steelers,” a usually non‐controversial Craig Morton remarked facetiously after a brief workout at Three Rivers Stadium. “They've been talking about how they've already won the game. I read that they were praying on the plane coming back from Denver that they would get us in the playoffs. Well, they did, so let's see what happens. We can't outtalk them — nobody will do that but maybe we'll outplay them.”

Well, so much for the 'power' of bulletin board material.

Back to that Pit@Den finale, Enberg and Olsen make some interesting comments during a timeout about this new 16-game season format. Olsen felt there were a share of injuries that could have been avoided had the season started two weeks later instead and how the players seemed to have adjusted but, for the past two weeks, have been ready for the playoffs already. Enberg quoted Red Miller as saying he felt these last (extra) two games felt more like two months. And the bye week was mentioned, but positive stuff about how the season was full of upsets and surprises.

My guess is had I been an adult in 1978, already having followed the game for many years, I would not have welcomed a 16-game season. I'm sure I would have felt it'd be too long. However, if the pre-season would have still been cut down to 4 games (all within August) and the regular season would now start the first Sunday in September instead (whilst still being 14 games, that is), and an extra wild card team be added, thus an extra post-season week, I really think I would have much so welcomed that. And, yes, welcome the Mel Blount Rule as well for plenty of great defensive football to still come from there! Pro football should have a longer regular season than college. But not by much. 14 games, with me, is just right!

I still don't know if Denver winning that '78 finale over Pittsburgh, thus finishing 11-5, still keeps them in the running for second-seed. Would the Pats still have been "locked-in" going into that MNF finale at Miami. If not, yes the Fairbanks thing being demoralizing, but with 2nd-seed to play for, would that have overpowered/neutralized such a letdown? I guess not considering their, still apparently downtrodden, performance hosting Houston two weeks later.


PS - oh, and another thing...the Schlitz Light commercial that was shown! James Coburn gets out of a race car, goes up to an outdoor bar naming/wanting the beverage mentioned, then opens a little box at the bar with a special drinking glass for...the occasion! Too much!!

[SixtiesFan]

Both the 1975 and 1978 Steelers lost to the Rams by similar scores, 10-3 and 10-7.

[SeahawkFever]

Both the 1975 and 1978 Steelers lost to the Rams by similar scores, 10-3 and 10-7.

True, granted the 1975 game was the last of the regular season, whereas the 1978 game was the Steelers’ eleventh. I don’t know if they’d have clinched yet but that could be seen as a slightly more meaningful loss potentially.

[SixtiesFan]

Both the 1975 and 1978 Steelers lost to the Rams by similar scores, 10-3 and 10-7.

True, granted the 1975 game was the last of the regular season, whereas the 1978 game was the Steelers’ eleventh. I don’t know if they’d have clinched yet but that could be seen as a slightly more meaningful loss potentially.

The Steelers took many of their regulars out in the 2nd half of the 1975 games. So did the Rams.

The Steelers tried as hard to win in the 1978 game as they did any other time that season. The Rams matched up well with the Steelers on both sides of the line.

I saw both games on TV. They were done by the Monday Night crew.