Best Steelers Teams of the 80's

by 5020 on Aug 2, 2009 4:50 PM EDT Comment 4 comments

Last weekend I listed my top Steelers teams of the 70's. Thought I'd try my hand at the 80's. What is your list of best and worst Steelers teams of the 80's? Which was your favorite?

1) 1980...Inconsistent and turnover prone but I'll take this team against any of the others from the 80's. Just a year from winning XIV they lost the last weekend at SD to miss the playoffs for the first time in 8 years. Mean Joe, LC, Bradshaw, Harris, Swann, Stallworth.

2) 1982...Last stand of the team of the decade. Again it's SD ending their season but this time in a Pittsburgh home playoff loss 31-28. Think the younger 1980 team beats this one.

3) 1989...Easily my favorite team of the 80's. After starting out the season being shellacked by the Browns and Bengals 92-10 Brister proclaims "Yes We Can." Steelers make the playoffs and upset the home Oilers in OT on Woodsons "heavenly hit." At Denver Hoge runs wild but so does young Elway.

4) 1984...Beating an undefeated SF squad on the road and then beating Denver in the playoffs behind 2 TD's by RB Frank Pollard and tough D by LB Bryan Hinkle. Malone is overwhelmed by Marino in the AFCCG.

5) 1983...A ferocious defense that led the Steelers to a 9-2 record before opponents figured out to play conservative and wait for Stoudt to fold. At 9-6 Bradshaw comes to their rescue one last time with a thrilling quarter at NYJ to lead Pittsburgh to the playoffs. Stoudt returns and after an early long pass to Wayne Capers leads to a FG he and Steelers are butchered by Raiders 38-10.

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I loved that '89 team, too...

There were some huge 1st-round busts on the roster (Tim Worley, Aaron Jones and Tom Ricketts) and a couple of flat-out superstars (Rod Woodson and Dermotti Dawson), but the heart of that team was made up of guys who played their asses off and got the absolute most they could out of their limited athletic ability. David Little and Brian Hinkle were tough LB’s. Merrill Hoge and Bubby Brister were gamers. Thomas Everett hit everything that moved at safety (like Ryan Clark before Ryan Clark) and Hardy Nickerson was becoming a beast at LB. Then there were the guys you rooted for just because they were goofy: Jerry Olsavsky and his freak giraffe neck; Weegie Thompson because he was 7-foot-3 and weighed about a buck-forty. And of course Louis Lipps. You HAD to like Louis Lipps.

That team also represented Chuck Noll’s last great coaching job. I watched them upset a really good Oilers team on the road in the playoffs and thought boy, we won that one on grit and coaching. Chuck’s Super Bowl teams were loaded with Hall of Famers so it’s sometimes easy to discount what a great coach he was. That ’89 playoff win in the Astrodome proved he could do it as an underdog, too…

by cliff harris is still a punk! on Aug 2, 2009 6:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

80 or 82 definitely-Bradshaw was still playing. That 82 team either scored a ton of points or was completely anemic on offense, scored 24 or more in seven games and 10 or less in three (with two shutouts). They beat some great teams (Dallas and Cincinnati) and lost to some mediocre and poor ones (Seattle, Cleveland, and Buffalo). I unfortunately attended the Bills game, Bradshaw went 2-13 for three yards, great day.

by grapes on Aug 2, 2009 7:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

1980 season

great post, but……

The loss on Monday Football to San Diego did not keep Steelers from playoffs. The game was meaningless for Steelers because the Patriots had defeated the 1-15 Saints the day before (Patriots would have earned a playoff spot had Steelers won. However, I still enjoy the Bradshaw to Cunningham td on the final play of the San Diego game.

by steelpark on Aug 2, 2009 10:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

1982

1982 had so much promise…they started out by defeating Cin and Dal in their fist two games…then came the stupid strike that blew the momentum. When the strike ended, they lost three of five.

I feel bad that “grapes” had to sit through the Bills game at Rich Stadium…I watched it in a room of Bills fans…that was hard enough…can’t imagine having to be there.

by SteelerSteve on Aug 3, 2009 11:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs