1979 Pittsburgh Steelers season | |
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Head Coach | Chuck Noll |
Home Field | Three Rivers Stadium |
Results | |
Record | 12–4 |
Place | 1st AFC Central |
Playoff Finish | Won Divisional Playoffs (vs. Dolphins) 34–14 Won AFC Championship (vs. Oilers) 27–13 Won Super Bowl XIV (vs. Rams) 31–19 |
Pro Bowlers | 10
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Team MVP | John Stallworth |
Timeline | |
Previous Season | Next Season |
1978 | 1980 |
The 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 47th season in the National Football League (NFL).
The Steelers successfully defended their Super Bowl Championship from the previous year, despite not improving on their 14–2 record from last year with a 12–4 record. They went on to defeat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV to win their 4th Super Bowl championship. The Steelers started out to a 4–0 record. Adding to the previous season, the Steelers had won 12 in a row. They finished the regular season at 12–4. In six of those games the opponents were held to a touchdown or less. In the playoffs Pittsburgh defeated the Miami Dolphins 34–14 and then for the second consecutive season beat the Houston Oilers 27–13, in the AFC championship game. The Steelers ended the decade by defeating the Los Angeles Rams 31–19 in Super Bowl XIV. Despite them and the San Diego Chargers having 12–4 records, the Chargers were awarded the top seed in the AFC because of their victory over the Steelers.
With the win, and the Pittsburgh Pirates win in the 1979 World Series, Pittsburgh would be the last city to claim Super Bowl and World Series wins in the same year until New York in 1986 when the New York Mets won the World Series in 7 games over the Boston Red Sox, and the New York Giants won Super Bowl XXI 39–20 over the Denver Broncos.
On February 23, 2007, NFL Network aired America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions, the 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers, with team commentary from John Banaszak, L. C. Greenwood and John Stallworth, and narrated by Ed Harris. They are the last team to win a Super Bowl featuring players that had never played for another team; 40 original draft picks and six free agents out of college. The records for most points scored per game as well as in the regular season overall for the Steelers belonged to the 1979 squad, until they scored 436, amounting to 27.3 per game in 2014, the all-time franchise record in both categories.
Roster[]
1979 Pittsburgh Steelers football team roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Offense
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Defense
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Special teams
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Regular season[]
Schedule[]
Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Game Site |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Monday September 3 | at New England | W 16–13 (OT) | 1–0 | Schaefer Stadium |
2 | Sunday September 9 | Houston | W 38–7 | 2–0 | Three Rivers Stadium |
3 | Sunday September 16 | at St. Louis | W 24–21 | 3–0 | Busch Memorial Stadium |
4 | Sunday September 23 | Baltimore | W 17–13 | 4–0 | Three Rivers Stadium |
5 | Sunday September 30 | at Philadelphia | L 17–14 | 4–1 | Veterans Stadium |
6 | Sunday October 7 | at Cleveland | W 51–35 | 5–1 | Cleveland Municipal Stadium |
7 | Sunday October 14 | at Cincinnati | L 34–10 | 5–2 | Riverfront Stadium |
8 | Monday October 22 | Denver | W 42–7 | 6–2 | Three Rivers Stadium |
9 | Sunday October 28 | Dallas | W 14–3 | 7–2 | Three Rivers Stadium |
10 | Sunday November 4 | Washington | W 38–7 | 8–2 | Three Rivers Stadium |
11 | Sunday November 11 | at Kansas City | W 30–3 | 9–2 | Arrowhead Stadium |
12 | Sunday November 18 | at San Diego | L 35–7 | 9–3 | San Diego Stadium |
13 | Sunday November 25 | Cleveland | W 33–30 (OT) | 10–3 | Three Rivers Stadium |
14 | Sunday December 2 | Cincinnati | W 37–17 | 11–3 | Three Rivers Stadium |
15 | Monday December 10 | at Houston | L 20–17 | 11–4 | Astrodome |
16 | Sunday December 16 | Buffalo | W 28–0 | 12–4 | Three Rivers Stadium |
Game summaries[]
see: 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers Season game summaries
Standings[]
AFC Central | ||||||
Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pittsburgh Steelers | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 | 416 | 262 |
Houston Oilers | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 362 | 331 |
Cleveland Browns | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 359 | 352 |
Cincinnati Bengals | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 | 337 | 421 |
Postseason[]
Schedule[]
Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Game Site |
---|---|---|---|---|
Divisional | Sunday December 30 | Miami | W 34–14 | Three Rivers Stadium |
Conference | Sunday January 6 | Houston | W 27–13 | Three Rivers Stadium |
Super Bowl XIV | Sunday January 20 | Los Angeles | W 31–19 | Rose Bowl |
Game summaries[]
AFC Divisional Playoff (Sunday December 30, 1979): vs. Miami Dolphins[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dolphins | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
Steelers | 20 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 34 |
Game Information[]
Stadium: Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Time: 12:30 pm EST
Weather:
Attendance: 50,214
Referee: Cal Lepore
TV: NBC-TV
In-game TV-Announcers: Don Criqui (play by play), John Brodie (color commentator)
Scoring Summary:
PIT – Thornton 1 run (Bahr kick
PIT:–Stallworth 17 pass from Bradshaw (kick blocked)
PIT – Swann 20 pass from Bradshaw
(Bahr kick)
MIA – Harris 7 pass from Griese (von Schamann kick)
PIT – Bleier 1 run (Bahr kick)
PIT – Harris 5 run (Bahr kick)
MIA – Csonka 1 run (von Schamann kick)
AFC Championship (Sunday January 6, 1980): vs. Houston Oilers[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oilers | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
Steelers | 3 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 27 |
Game Information[]
*Stadium: Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
*Time: 1:00 pm EST
*Weather:
*Attendance: 50,475
*Referee: [[Jim Tunney (American football official)|Jim Tunney]
'* Television: NBC-TV
*TV Game Announcers: Dick Enberg (play by play), Merlin Olsen (color commentators)
*Scoring Summary:
HOU – Perry 75 interception return (Fritsch kick)
PIT – FG Bahr 21
HOU – FG Fritsch 21
PIT – Cunningham 16 pass from Bradshaw (Bahr kick)
PIT – Stallworth 20 pass from Bradshaw (Bhar kick)
HOU – FG Fritsch 23
PIT – FG Bahr 39
PIT – Bleier 4 run (Bahr kick)
Super Bowl XIV (Sunday January 20, 1980): vs. Los Angeles Rams[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rams | 7 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 19 |
Steelers | 3 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 31 |
Game Information[]
Stadium: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
Time: 6:15 pm EST
Weather: 67 °F (Sunny)
Attendance: 103,985
Referee: Fred Silva
Television: CBS-TV
TV Game Announcers: Pat Summerall (play by play), Tom Brookshier(color commentator)
Scoring Summary:
- PIT – FG Bahr 41
- LA – Bryant 1 run (Corral kick)
- PIT – Harris 1 run (Bahr kick)
- LA – FG Corral 31
- LA – FG Corral 45
- PIT – Swann 47 pass from Bradshaw (Bahr kick)
- Los Angeles – Smith 24 pass from McCutcheon (kick failed)
- PIT – Stallworth 73 pass from Bradshaw (Bahr kick)
- PIT – Harris 1 run (Bahr kick)
Statistics[]
Passing[]
Player | Comp | Att | Yards | TD | INT |
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Terry Bradshaw | 259 | 472 | 3,724 | 26 | 25 |
Rushing[]
Player | Att | Yards | TD |
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Franco Harris | 267 | 1,186 | 11 |
Sidney Thornton | 118 | 585 | 6 |
Rocky Bleier | 92 | 434 | 4 |
Terry Bradshaw | 21 | 83 | |
Lynn Swann | 1 | 9 |
Receiving[]
Player | Rec | Yards | TD |
---|---|---|---|
John Stallworth | 70 | 1,183 | 8 |
Lynn Swann | 41 | 808 | 5 |
Bennie Cunningham | 36 | 512 | 4 |
Franco Harris | 36 | 291 | 1 |
Rocky Bleier | 31 | 277 | |
Sidney Thornton | 16 | 231 | 4 |
Honors and awards[]
- Terry Bradshaw, Super Bowl MVP
References[]
- ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com