1976 Pittsburgh Steelers

1976 Pittsburgh Steelers season
Head Coach	Chuck Noll
Home Field	Three Rivers Stadium
Results
Record	10–4
Place	1st in AFC Central
Playoff Finish	Lost to the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship game
Pro Bowlers	11 CB Mel Blount QB Terry Bradshaw S Glen Edwards DT Joe Greene DE L. C. Greenwood LB Jack Ham RB Franco Harris LB Jack Lambert LB Andy Russell WR Lynn Swann S Mike Wagner
Team MVP	Jack Lambert
Timeline
Previous Season	Next Season
1975	1977

The 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers started the season looking to become the first team in the Super Bowl era to win three-straight league championships (and first since the 1929–1931 and 1965–1967 Green Bay Packers). However, many thought that would be in doubt after the team started 1–4 and saw quarterback Terry Bradshaw injured in the week 5 loss to the Cleveland Browns after a vicious sack by Joe "Turkey" Jones that has since become immortalized in NFL Films as part of the Browns-Steelers rivalry.

Despite the setbacks, the Steelers would turn it around behind the strength of the Steel Curtain and its dual threat at running back in Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier, who each rushed for over 1000 yards, finishing 10–4 and posting five shutouts. Rookie quarterback Mike Kruczek wound up going 6–0 starting in place of Bradshaw, largely due to the strength of the ground game. This would also stand as an NFL record for best start for a rookie quarterback until 2004—when the Steelers' own Ben Roethlisberger more than doubled that record and went 13–0 as a starter his rookie season.

However, injuries to both Bleier and Harris in the playoffs caught up to them resulting in losing to the Oakland Raiders for the AFC Championship. Even with the Black & Gold coming up short, many Steelers fans—including the Rooney family themselves—consider the 1976 Steelers the best team in franchise history, even better than all six world championship teams.

In 2007, ESPN.com named the 1976 Steelers the greatest defense in NFL history, noting, "the 1976 unit was the best (slightly better than the '75 squad). Here's why: 28. That's how many points the Steel Curtain surrendered in the last nine games of the season. That's a total. As a result, Pittsburgh, which started the season 1-4, made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game.... The '76 Steelers didn't have it easy -- their opponents had a .528 winning percentage. But they had these guys: Hall of Famers Mean Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham and Mel Blount. And eight Steelers defensive players made the 1976 Pro Bowl team: cornerback J.T. Thomas, defensive end L.C. Greenwood, Greene, Ham, Lambert, defensive back Glen Edwards, safety Mike Wagner, and Blount."

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record
1	September 12	at Oakland	L 31–28	0-1
2	September 19	Cleveland	W 31–14	1-1
3	September 26	New England	L 30–27	1-2
4	October 4	at Minnesota	L 17–6	1-3
5	October 10	at Cleveland	L 18–16	1-4
6	October 17	Cincinnati	W 23–6	2-4
7	October 24	at NY Giants	W 27–0	3-4
8	October 31	San Diego	W 23–0	4-4
9	November 7	at Kansas City	W 45–0	5-4
10	November 14	Miami	W 14–3	6-4
11	November 21	Houston	W 32–16	7-4
12	November 28	at Cincinnati	W 7–3	8-4
13	December 5	Tampa Bay	W 42–0	9-4
14	December 11	at Houston	W 21–0	10-4

Standings

AFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
Pittsburgh Steelers	10	4	0	.714	342	138	W-9
Cincinnati Bengals	10	4	0	.714	335	210	W-1
Cleveland Browns	9	5	0	.643	267	287	L-1
Houston Oilers	5	9	0	.357	222	273	L-2

Postseason

Game summaries

AFC Divisional Playoff (Sunday December 19): at Baltimore Colts

Team	1	2	3	4		Total
Steelers	9	17	0	14		{{{RTotal}}}
Colts	7	0	0	7		{{{HTotal}}}

at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, Maryland

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 59,296
• Referee: Pat Haggerty
• TV announcers: (NBC)

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – Lewis 76 pass from Bradshaw (kick failed)6–0
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 45 9–0
• Baltimore – Carr 17 pass from Jones (Linhart kick)9–7
• Pittsburgh – Harrison 1 run (Gerela kick)16–7
• Pittsburgh – Swann 29 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick)23–7
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 25 26–7
• Pittsburgh – Swann 11 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick)33–7
• Baltimore – Leaks 1 run (Linhart kick)33–14
• Pittsburgh – Harrison 10 run (Mansfield kick)40–14

Notes: Pittsburgh gained an NFL record 524 total yards, Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier were lost to injuries.

AFC Championship (Sunday December 26): at Oakland Raiders

Team	1	2	3	4		Total
Steelers	0	7	0	0		{{{RTotal}}}
Raiders	3	14	7	0		{{{HTotal}}}

at Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California

• Game time: 1:00 pm PST
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 53,821
• Referee: Tommy Bell
• TV announcers: (NBC) Curt Gowdy (play by play), Don Meredith (color commentator)

Scoring Drives:

• Oakland – FG Mann 39 0–3
• Oakland – Davis 1 run (Mann kick)0–10
• Pittsburgh – Harrison 3 run (Mansfield kick)7–10
• Oakland – Bankston 4 pass from Stabler (Mann kick)7–17
• Oakland – Banaszak 5 pass from Stabler (Mann kick)7–24