1979 Pittsburgh Steelers

1979 Pittsburgh Steelers season
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 CB Mel Blount QB Terry Bradshaw DT Joe Greene DE L. C. Greenwood LB Jack Ham RB Franco Harris LB Jack Lambert S Donnie Shell WR John Stallworth C Mike Webster
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
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name RB 33 Anderson, AnthonyAnthony Anderson WR 83 Bell, TheoTheo Bell RB 20 Bleier, RockyRocky Bleier QB 12 Bradshaw, TerryTerry Bradshaw OT 79 Brown, LarryLarry Brown G 77 Courson, SteveSteve Courson TE 89 Cunningham, BennieBennie Cunningham G 57 Davis, SamSam Davis RB 35 Deloplaine, JackJack Deloplaine G 63 Dornbrook, ThomThom Dornbrook TE 84 Grossman, RandyRandy Grossman RB 32 Harris, FrancoFranco Harris RB 27 Hawthorne, GregGreg Hawthorne OT 55 Kolb, JonJon Kolb QB 15 Kruczek, MikeMike Kruczek RB 39 Moser, RickRick Moser G 72 Mullins, GerryGerry Mullins OT 66 Petersen, TedTed Petersen WR 86 Smith, JimJim Smith WR 82 Stallworth, JohnJohn Stallworth WR 88 Swann, LynnLynn Swann RB 38 Thornton, SidneySidney Thornton C 52 Webster, MikeMike Webster	Defense Pos. # Name DB 30 Anderson, LarryLarry Anderson DE 76 Banaszak, JohnJohn Banaszak DE 65 Beasley, TomTom Beasley CB 47 Blount, MelMel Blount LB 56 Cole, RobinRobin Cole DT 67 Dunn, GaryGary Dunn DT 64 Furness, SteveSteve Furness LB 56 Graves, TomTom Graves DT 75 Greene, JoeJoe Greene DE 68 Greenwood, L.C.L.C. Greenwood LB 59 Ham, JackJack Ham CB 29 Johnson, RonRon Johnson LB 58 Lambert, JackJack Lambert SS 31 Shell, DonnieDonnie Shell FS 24 Thomas, J.T.J.T. Thomas LB 51 Toews, LorenLoren Toews DB 23 Wagner, MikeMike Wagner DE 78 White, DwightDwight White LB 53 Winston, DirtDirt Winston DB 49 Woodruff, DwayneDwayne Woodruff LB 54 Valentine, ZackZack Valentine	Special teams Pos. # Name K 9 Bahr, MattMatt Bahr P 5 Colquitt, CraigCraig Colquitt	Head coach Chuck Noll Coordinators/assistant coaches Woody Widenhofer – Defensive Coordinator Dick Hoak – Running Backs Tom Moore – Wide Receivers George Perles – Defensive Line Rollie Dotsch Lou Riecke Paul Uram Dick Walker Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Injured Redshirt Redshirt

Defense 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers roster FS J.T. Thomas ⋅ WLB MLB SLB ⋅ Jack Lambert ⋅ Robin Cole ⋅ ⋅ SS Donnie Shell ⋅ CB Ron Johnson ⋅ DE DT DT DE John Banaszak Gary Dunn Joe Greene L.C. Greenwood ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ Tom Beasley CB Mel Blount ⋅ Offense 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers roster WR John Stallworth ⋅ LT LG C RG RT Jon Kolb Sam Davis Mike Webster Steve Courson Larry Brown Ted Petersen ⋅ ⋅ Gerry Mullins ⋅ TE Bennie Cunningham Randy Grossman WR Lynn Swann ⋅ QB Terry Bradshaw ⋅ RB Sidney Thornton Rocky Bleier FB Franco Harris ⋅ Special Teams PK Matt Bahr P Craig Colquitt KR Larry Anderson PR Theo Bell

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
Terry Bradshaw	259	472	3,724	26	25

Rushing

Player	Att	Yards	TD
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