We had the chance to become the first NFL team to win three consecutive Super Bowls, that’s something that I don’t think I will see in my life time. Think about it. That will have been the hardest record ever to break in the NFL, and the PS were, in my mind, two injuries away from doing it. Two injuries away to be forever consider the best team ever to play.

But it wasn’t just winning, is how dominant we were. Yes the 1976 Steelers’ defense was the finest that ever play this game.
 
But our offense was great, the running attack was one of the best in history, and Bradshaw and company where killing teams with play action.

The stats will never show this because the Steelers had annihilated every team by the end of the first half, so they just shut down the passing attack. There where some games that they will not attempted a single pass during the second half.

This is the year I became a Steelers fan, and I believe the 78 Steelers nor any other Steelers team were as dominant as this team was.

In fact nor the 07 Patriots, 85 Bears or 72 Dolphins where near as dominant as this team was.

Problem was the 76 Raiders were a very very good team, one of the best in history, so we needed to be healthy.

I don’t know it just broke my young heart, I knew that with out the SB this team will be forgotten and will never be acknowledge for what it was, the best ever.

I don’t think that in any of the other heartbreaking losses the Steelers lost a bigger chance for immortality as we did with this one.

The defense was great that season.

But I wanted to mention something most Steeler fans never talk about.

The Steelers of the 70s were great because even though they laid an egg from time to time there was this belief that they could always beat the other best teams in the NFL consistetnly. This would include the Cowboys, the Raiders, the Oilers (later in the decade) etc.

But in 1976, the Steelers lost almost every time they faced a really good team. When they started the season 1-4, 3 of those losses were to Oakland, Minnesota and New England. Those 3 teams went on to finish 13-1, 11-2-1, and 11-3.

Then when they went on their 9 game winning streak to end the season, they beat a bunch of mediocre teams. The only very good team they faced was Cincinnati.

So I’m not so sure if the Steelers would have beaten the Raiders that year if Franco was healthy. They lost to the Raiders earlier in the year with Franco and Rocky.

Also, go back to their other Super Bowls in the 70s. They often had a star player or two injured, yet they always won. Not in 1976 though.

Noll said the decision to install the one-back offense was his biggest coaching mistake ever. Was ever this game that Lambert said, he’d like to “drink a 6-pack and play it again.”

In an oddity, Gerela was injured, and Ray Mansfield kicked the extra point.

Good work, MaryRose. I very much look forward to these pieces.

Other thing we forget going through ‘76 was that it sure looked as though Steelers would win 9 in a row, surrender only 28 points while doing so and still not make the playoffs. Bengals weren’t losing either, except to us!!

Came down to season’s next to last week, and we needed Oakland to beat Cinci in a Monday nighter on the west coast. Given the Raiders-Steelers animosity, and the fact that Oakland had already clinched homefield, many expected the Raiders to tank this game. When Cinci took an early 6-0 lead, our hearts sank, as our lone remaining hope for the playoffs would have been for the lowly, 3-11 Jets, to beat the Bengals the following week. Raidas came through for us though…..making the AFCCG rematch possible.

In a sidenote, this was the first of 3 occasions (others being the following year, ‘77, and then once more in ’89) where the Bengals lost late, opening up a playoff slot for the Steelers while their sorry asses stayed home. Oh….throw in ’06 as another year in which Steelers didn’t make the playoffs but kept the Bengals out with a win at Paul Brown in the finale.

Thanks, Shake…..

I’ve got two passions:
a. Pittsburgh Steelers football
b. Writing about Pittsburgh Steelers football

I also have a memory that has no filter for Pittsburgh Steelers football, having catalogued my life by the ups & downs of the black & gold. I’ll be glad to share where I can.

Nice site yinz run…I was turned on to it by Maryrose’s “Most Heartbreaking” series.

Thanks Drink, I’m an unabashed and pervasive techno-dummy. I’ve hit reply just now, so let’s see if i’ve done it right.

…would Harris and/or Bleier been available to play in the Super Bowl? Does anyone know or remember the severity of the injuries? It’s a bit of a moot point, but IMO factors into deciding how disappointing this loss was.

This game was incredibly frustrating but the biggest source of frustration was not the absence of Bleier and Harris, but because on the field the Raiders played a better brand of Steeler football than the Steelers did. They won the the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball. It might have been a bad decision to go with a single-back offense but Madden had a surprise of his own by pounding the ball straight at the Steelers and having success. His team got the lead and he made the right decision to play ball control and field position. Stabler hardly threw the ball but they kept a couple of crucial drives going behind vanEeghen, Banaszak and Davis. That’s what was really frustrating to me, seeing the defense give up those two TD drives. Grudgingly, but that was the difference in the game. It wasn’t a bad bounce or a big play or stupid mistake that beat us, it was a better team on the day.

Thanks to all the fans who have clear recollections of this game. I love these old school posts. I really enjoy learning the Steelers history I was unaware of.

My question is a little answered above, but I’m curious how this greatest defense of all time allowed 21 points. Was it simply that the time of possession was so skewed because the Steelers offense was inexistent? Was it a field position problem?

…and Loren Toews was hit by an ice cream cone (think it was chocolate) thrown from the stands, as he exited the field to the sideline.

Possibly the loss to the undefeated ’72 Dolphins was worse, as time has passed it really has been annoying to know those guys are popping champagne……

1976 was a great year though, all around. Bicentennial, some great movies, and great football. Was looking forward to another Super Bowl and I felt horrid watching the Raiders bomb the Vikes. However, those Raiders-Steelers games were always rough, and lets not forget the Raiders were 13-1 that year.

Still though, with a healthy Franco and our Rocky, I liked our chances too.

This is by far and away the worst!! I can remeber everything like it was yesterday. While I will grudgingly give the raiders the credit they deserve; it was a great team, one of the best that was ever fielded, but as a10 year old it was impossible to see that.And as an adult and a football coach it is so clear how different football was back then; so much was predicated on the running game and controlling the clock.Even teams that were considered good at throwing the ball; Steelers,raiders,colts,cowboys,vikings,were still very dependant upon being able to keep a defense honest by running the ball with some consistency.The only real wide open zone scheme that threw the ball like teams today was seen 2 years later in San diego with Don Coryell and his crew. As a kid this was the most traumatic thing that happened to me before I lost my Grandma. But I must say that it also taught me to savor the victories when they came. As a steelers fan I remember these teams with a certain fondness and a sense of longing for the past.It also makes me aware that I am actually getting old!! Oh yea, it also keeps my hatred for the raiders as hot as some of these youngsters hate the ravens and traitriots!!

My brother’s in-laws lived within walking distance of the old Memorial Stadium so we stolled to and from the game.

We had seats right behind the Colts bench. They injured Rocky on the opening kickoff and were taunting him and the Steelers as they were helping him off the field. The offensive line came onto the field glaring daggers at the Colts bench and then promptly drove down the field for a TD. The Steelers spent the rest of the afternoon beating the Colts like they stole something. The defensive line looked like they were not content with just sacking QB Bert Jones, they wanted to knock him out of the game. Dwight White, in particular seemed crazed. Franco had a 150 yards rushing in the first half. I don’t think anyone could have beaten that Steeler team that day. If anything the 40-14 score didn’t reflect how thorough a beating they administered particularly in light of the fact that it was a playoff game. And, oh yeah, a plane crashed into the upper deck of the stadium after the game ended (no one was injured).

With that as prologue, the Oakland game was kinda hard to take. I will acknowledge that the Raiders were one frustrated franchise. It had been eight years since they had last been to the Super Bowl (a loss). The Steelers in many respects reflected what they aspired to but had not achieved, both on the field and in the public mind. Plus the Steelers had ended their season three of the previous four years. Just think about how Steeler Nation was feeling about the Patriots thru the first half of this decade. That would have been a hard game to win with Franco and Rocky.