Latest / Pittsburgh Sports Memories / The Most Improbable Steelers Run

Transcript

The Most Improbable Steelers Run · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Hi everybody.
0:01
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: My name is Tim Hannon, and with me is the musically inclined Steven Word.
0:11
SPEAKER_06: There you go.
0:11
SPEAKER_06: That's uh you got the wrong word when it comes to singing.
0:15
SPEAKER_06: It's more of the my sister's domain.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, before we started recording this, Steve was just singing.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: Um we will do you folks a favor and edit that part out.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: So this episode is one that I I was really excited about because this is the Steel Or season we've touched on in previous episodes, but we never really did a deep dive on it.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: And I I know it's one that a lot of Steeler fans still talk about to this day.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Anytime we post a clip or or like an image from this season on our Facebook page, we always seem to get a strong reaction from folks who still seem to really cherish the memories from that year.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: So we wanted to do a proper episode on the 1989 Steeler season.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: Steve, what were you doing in the fall of 1989?
1:17
SPEAKER_00: I was starting seventh grade at a new school in the North Hills of Pittsburgh.
1:23
SPEAKER_06: I was still in the other school at that time.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was gonna say I didn't have a classmate named Steve Wart yet, unfortunately.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: So it was it's kind of a dud year because of that.
1:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you didn't miss much.
1:35
SPEAKER_06: I think I think it was the first year I was by myself in school because my sister had uh graduated high school the year before.
1:42
SPEAKER_06: So had that going for me, I guess.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's let's um I guess let's just set the stage for the season with uh how about a fun fact?
1:55
SPEAKER_00: Between 1972 and the time we're recording this episode, which is a span of 50 plus years, the Steelers have only had seven losing seasons, which is pretty incredible.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: However, uh three of those seven came right before this 1989 season.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: So literally, this is the most miserable stretch of Steelers football in the past half century here in the late 1980s.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: In 1985, the Steelers go seven and nine and miss the playoffs.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: In 1986, they lose double-digit games going six and ten.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: In 1987, they go eight and seven.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: So hey, over 500 that season, that's a plus rate.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: Well, that record comes with a big fat asterisk because two of those eight wins came with the strike replacement players playing.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Take those away, and the Stewart's would have again been under 500.
2:46
SPEAKER_06: Maybe they should have kept the strike players.
2:49
SPEAKER_06: They were better with the strike players.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, their quarterback that year in the strike was Steve Bono, who went on to have a pretty long and prosperous career.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: And I think I think he might have done a little better than Mark Malone in his 40% completion percentage that year.
3:05
SPEAKER_06: I didn't realize like Steve Bono was the uh scab.
3:09
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:10
SPEAKER_06: And he still played, they still kept him in the NFL.
3:13
SPEAKER_06: I mean, you never hear anything bad about the guy.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of interesting guys who are scab players.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: I think Sean Payton was also one of the scab players.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: I remember.
3:22
SPEAKER_06: Well, that fits.
3:23
SPEAKER_06: That's odd.
3:24
SPEAKER_06: That's kind of what I want to say.
3:27
SPEAKER_06: That's uh, you know, on brand, as the kids say, for Sean Payton.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: So uh that's 1987.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: In 1988, the Steelers really hit rock bottom.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: They start the year two and ten, then win some meaningless games at the end just to cost themselves a shot at some Hall of Fame draft picks like Barry Sanders and Derek Thomas.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: And they finish at 5-11, which is the worst record of that 50-plus year stretch we talked about.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: It's also to this day the last time the Steelers have finished in last place in their division.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Well, one of the big problems is they can't draft to save their lives.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they just keep ending up with these best players, and and the end result is the offense is putrid.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: The defense is no longer this tough, powerful defense that wins them games.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Even the special team sucks.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: That 1988 season saw the Steelers set an NFL record that still stands to this day by having six punts blocked.
4:29
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
4:30
SPEAKER_06: Was that what did they have that three-step kicker?
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Harry Newsome was their punter, yeah.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: And and to be fair to Harry Newsome, I mean, it it just wasn't a good unit in general.
4:41
SPEAKER_06: So I mean, I I'll say that I'll say this.
4:44
SPEAKER_06: Like, I bet the Steelers were like just stuck in like that mediocre place, like you said, like they're not bad enough to where they're gonna start getting like really top of the line Hall of Famers, but they're not good enough where they're gonna do anything.
4:58
SPEAKER_06: And there's a lot of teams that have like you kind of get like stuck in neutral.
5:02
SPEAKER_06: It's it's weird, it's a weird place to be sometimes.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good point.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: You you almost want to be like the worst team in the league for three or four years just so you can stock up with some really high draft picks.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: But but they even had some like top ten, like John Ringst Ringstro was a good example.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: He was he was a top ten draft pick, and he was terrible.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they had a couple other guys like that.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, they had not super high draft picks, but high enough to do to make an impact, and those guys didn't do anything.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: So and and and and for Chuck Noel, the head coach, you know, uh it this is something he's just not used to seeing.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: Right?
5:40
SPEAKER_00: This is the coach who took this nothing wasteland of a franchise, turns it into the greatest dynasty the NFL had ever seen.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: And now it's it's not just that he can't replicate the success of going to Super Bowls.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: He literally has one of the league's worst teams over this stretch in the late 80s.
5:58
SPEAKER_06: It's kind of like where Bill Belichick was like a year or two ago, huh?
6:03
SPEAKER_00: I I think that's pretty comparable, yeah, for sure.
6:06
SPEAKER_06: I mean, Bailey Zap wasn't getting it done for him.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Not not exactly.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: No.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: In November of 1988, Sports Illustrated publishes a now famous cover with Noel and Cowboys head coach Tom Landry, and the headline reads, Under fire have NFL legends Tom Landry and Chuck Noel lost their touch.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: Because at this time Dallas is going through the same thing as Pittsburgh.
6:35
SPEAKER_06: Well, I think they changed ownerships to someone we all know and love.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: They they do.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: And then in 1989, that new owner for the Cowboys, Gary Jones, makes the decision to fire Tom Landry.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: And that was I mean, that was massively controversial.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: Tom Landry.
6:54
SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah, people were upset.
6:55
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:56
SPEAKER_06: Rightfully so.
6:57
SPEAKER_06: I mean, maybe they could have like been nicer, like, oh, you're just gonna retire to the front office or something, you know.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was it it felt cold, it felt brutal.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh Tom Landry was also Steve at that point.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: He was the only head coach the Cowboys had ever had.
7:17
SPEAKER_06: That that is wild, isn't it?
7:19
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: But but you know, Dallas feels like they need to move on in order to be successful.
7:25
SPEAKER_06: I'm not saying they were wrong, I'm just saying it would have been nice to have been handled a little better.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: That's that's fair.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh but but you're right, they absolutely weren't wrong.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: They needed to move on, even though it it upset a lot of people, and obviously they had you know good results because of that.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: So so with those two guys being so closely linked by their success in the 70s and even by this SI cover, you had to wonder, is Chuck Knoll's job in jeopardy at this point?
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh not exactly, but Dan Rooney, and and remember, uh you know, Art Sr.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: had passed away by this point.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh Dan had already been running the team, but now I mean he's 100% in control.
8:05
SPEAKER_06: I think in 88, just just yeah, just the year before.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh so Dan Rooney not happy with how things are going.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: After the Steelers get blown out in Cleveland in November of 1988, Rooney makes very public statements about how he was unhappy with, quote, the coaching decisions and stupid plays.
8:26
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
8:26
SPEAKER_06: He I didn't wow, I that's very un-dan-like.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:33
SPEAKER_06: Well, I should say this.
8:34
SPEAKER_06: He criticized Roger Goodell, uh, the officiating one time after a game in Atlanta and got fired for it.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, but that's different than attacking your own team.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: You're right.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: It it I I agree with you, Steve.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: That is very un-dan-like.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: It maybe it just shows the the kind of the depth to where the stewards had sunk into.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: That he got that frustrated that he would make comments like that in public.
9:00
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
9:00
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
9:01
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, for sure.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: He promises an extensive off-season evaluation of the organization, and sure enough, after the season ends, Rooney wants Noel to fire four assistant coaches.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: He also wants to demote defensive coordinator Tony Dungy so that the Steelers can get a more seasoned coach into that role.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: And remember, at this time, Dungey's only 32 years old.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: Like he's still young enough to be a player.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: So the Steelers still want him to be part of the coaching staff, but they want to cede the play calling duties to someone who has been around a little longer.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: And all of this really angers Chuck Knowle.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: Knowle rarely ever fired assistant coaches, and now ownership's forcing him to fire four people and demo Dungey.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh so Noel refuses to do that and he threatens to quit over it.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: You think maybe that's stung for Chuck Noel, Steve?
9:55
SPEAKER_06: Uh wow, I can't believe uh I'm kind of curious how this turns out, because I I don't remember what happens.
10:04
SPEAKER_06: I know Tody Dungey goes to Minnesota eventually, doesn't he?
10:08
SPEAKER_06: But I don't know if this is this this is the year.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so what happens is uh Rooney and Noel end up having two weeks worth of meetings.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Would have loved to have been a fly on wall in that room.
10:21
SPEAKER_06: I I I would have not.
10:22
SPEAKER_06: I mean that sounds like that was heated discussion probably.
10:26
SPEAKER_06: Two weeks of meetings over two weeks.
10:28
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
10:29
SPEAKER_06: Uh sounds like something that could have been done in an email.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh the the end result of all that is that those four coaches are in fact fired.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh Noel does stay on as head coach, and Tony Dungey actually decides to quit rather than be demoted.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh so he he doesn't accept that.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: He just says, I'm gonna move on.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: He you're right, he ends up in Minnesota.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: He first he goes to be the defensive back coach in Kansas City, and then I think it's when Dennis Green Yeah, becomes the coach in Minnesota.
11:04
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:05
SPEAKER_06: Which is a shame.
11:06
SPEAKER_06: I mean, maybe Tony just he wasn't quite ready yet, you know.
11:12
SPEAKER_06: So I mean, does it once again it's kind of like the Landry, maybe it wasn't wrong, but I don't know.
11:19
SPEAKER_06: It seemed to work out well for everyone involved.
11:23
SPEAKER_06: Tony just got a Super Bowl ring, too.
11:26
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's true.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh Tom Donahoe who had been a scout, he is promoted to a role where he would, quote, regularly evaluate the players.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Not sure exactly what that meant.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: Because at this point, remember, he doesn't really become the the general manager until a couple years later, as we talked about in that episode we did about him.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but but I guess really, Steve, the point of all this is an attempt by Dan Rooney to shake things up as much as he can without actually making the major change of replacing Noel like the Cowboys did with Landry.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of how I read all this.
12:02
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's basically what he what they did was yeah, Chuck Noel had to give up a lot of stuff.
12:08
SPEAKER_06: And he lost his defensive coordinator, who he obviously knew was like a solid coordinator, you know.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a guy who had played for him, too.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: So and and I I do wonder how all this would have played out had it happened today.
12:23
SPEAKER_06: Oh goodness.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, and and I it at the time there were definitely fans who felt like Noel like was w was there too long and needed to go.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And I remember people thinking that at the time, I even found like some old news stories where people were saying that, but I'm not sure it was like the majority opinion.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: And and I think so many things are different now.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, first of all, we're in like this very on-demand culture.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: Like if if we don't, you know, I want satisfaction right now or else somebody needs to be fired.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: And the other thing I think too with social media, there's a lot more public criticism of people and institutions that we used to hold in high regard.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: And back then, if if someone were the coach of a team, be it NFL, college football, baseball, whatever, for that many years, like Noel, and had that much success, it was basically a Supreme Court appointment.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Like the job was theirs until they died or voluntarily retired, or like some other exception, like I don't know, punching one of the opposing players in the face during the Gator Bowl, right?
13:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: That was really the only way that a guy like that would ever be gone.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: And that's why the Landry thing was so shocking because that kind of stuff just never happened back then, right?
13:39
SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah.
13:40
SPEAKER_06: I mean I mean, coaches got hired and fired, but not not with like teams like the Steelers and Cowboys.
13:49
SPEAKER_06: It was much different.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: And you had a lot more guys that were there for like years and years and years, too, I feel like.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: And it was just normal.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not the case today.
14:01
SPEAKER_06: Well, I mean, I think you still have your team like Kansas City.
14:04
SPEAKER_06: How long has Andy Reid been in Kansas City now?
14:07
SPEAKER_00: And of course Tomlin here, but but but even Andy Reid in Philadelphia, right?
14:11
SPEAKER_00: He was even forced out there and he had been there for a while.
14:15
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
14:15
SPEAKER_06: I I'm sure it really it's really worked out poorly for him, huh?
14:19
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: Good point.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: So heading into the 1989 season, the job is still securely Knowles.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Dan Rooney even announces that Noel will, quote, remain with the organization for the rest of his career.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: So Dan Rooney actually comes out and basically pledges that Chuck Noel's never going to be fired, which is also kind of a bold thing to put out there.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I don't think well, I can't speak for him.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: I can I I know Art Art II probably would never make a statement like that.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: He's much more um what's the word I'm looking for?
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Careful in his statements like that.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh but Dan comes out and basically says, yeah, the the Chuck Noel is our coach until you know he doesn't want to be anymore after all that turmoil.
15:08
SPEAKER_06: Well, I guess maybe Chuck, you know, proved his loyalty and you know had made some changes and if he was willing to work with him, but Dan was willing to stick with him.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, yeah, I guess so.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: So what does all that mean for the actual season?
15:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, you've got some new coaches, right?
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Rod Rust is the new defensive coordinator replacing Dungey.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: He's a veteran coach, he's been around the game for a while.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: He had taken the Patriots defense to the Super Bowl a few years before this.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of what they wanted, right?
15:39
SPEAKER_00: It's also a very young team.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: Two-thirds of the roster has three years or less of NFL experience, including an NFL high ten rookies.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: It's a very, very inexperienced team.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: They also have a quarterback, Bubby Brister, who seems to be kind of coming into his own now after one full year as a starter.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: In their 1989 NFL preview issue, Sports Illustrated declares that, quote, Pittsburgh is young and exciting, which is what a team on the rebound is supposed to be.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: So how does all that work out?
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Let's start with week one at home against the Cleveland Browns.
16:17
SPEAKER_08: Pittsburgh's 1989 debut against the Cleveland Browns was a numerical nightmare.
16:23
SPEAKER_08: The Steelers managed just 53 yards of total offense while turning the ball over eight times.
16:29
SPEAKER_08: As the mistakes multiplied, the margin of defeat reached staggering proportions.
16:35
SPEAKER_09: I couldn't believe it.
16:36
SPEAKER_09: I thought it was a nightmare of something.
16:40
SPEAKER_09: Find out if this thing was really real.
16:44
SPEAKER_09: Something that we'll keep with the something that we'll never forget.
16:47
SPEAKER_09: The feeling of walking off the field and looking at the scoreboard as 51 to nothing.
16:52
SPEAKER_09: How bad we felt.
16:54
SPEAKER_09: How bad uh the fans came down on us.
16:57
SPEAKER_09: You go to a restaurant and folks are looking at you like you killed their son.
17:00
SPEAKER_09: Everywhere you go, everyone's talking about how horrible the team looked.
17:05
SPEAKER_09: That was dramatic.
17:08
SPEAKER_06: They zoomed in on the 51 to nothing.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: It it it it remains to this day the worst margin of defeat in Steeler history.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's catastrophic.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: I don't really have a better word for it.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: It it 51 to nothing.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: And this is remember too, at this time there's no Baltimore Ravens.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: So Cleveland's the number one rival.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: And and also the new head coach for the Browns that year is Bud Carson.
17:37
SPEAKER_06: Oh, geez.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: Who had been the defensive coordinator, yeah, under Noel in the 70s.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Probably would have been a candidate to replace Noel had you know the Steelers moved on.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: So uh just a complete disaster on all fronts.
17:49
SPEAKER_06: So they were between the Marty and the Belichicks there?
17:53
SPEAKER_06: They were.
17:54
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
17:54
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, they were.
17:55
SPEAKER_06: Is this the Ernest Byner season for them?
17:57
SPEAKER_00: No, that was 87.
17:59
SPEAKER_06: Oh, okay.
17:59
SPEAKER_06: So they're a couple years removed from that.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: They are.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:03
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
18:04
SPEAKER_06: So Schottenheimer's in Kansas City now?
18:07
SPEAKER_06: Correct.
18:08
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
18:08
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
18:09
SPEAKER_06: With some I bet I bet he's gonna hire some guy from Philadelphia.
18:12
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
18:13
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh Chuck Knoll says, quote, it's like Vietnam where there's no offense and you try to hang in there defensively.
18:23
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
18:24
SPEAKER_06: Stuff you can't say today.
18:26
SPEAKER_06: Nope.
18:28
SPEAKER_06: It's like the Gulf War.
18:30
SPEAKER_06: It's like the Twin Towers.
18:31
SPEAKER_06: Oh my god.
18:32
SPEAKER_06: I know.
18:32
SPEAKER_06: I yeah.
18:34
SPEAKER_06: Horrible.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that that again, like I said, social media and stuff.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: So much stuff from from this era that would have gotten so much more attention had it been had it been today.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: But so, okay, that's bad.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: But hey, it's week one, right?
18:53
SPEAKER_00: Goofy things happen in week one sometimes.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: It's a long season.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Let's see if we can rebound in week two against the other Ohio team.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: And Cincinnati is the defending AFC champion at this point.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: So not going to be easy going into their stadium.
19:08
SPEAKER_06: Sam White said they're not Cleveland, so they're not Cleveland.
19:12
SPEAKER_06: They got that going for us.
19:13
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: And certainly the Steelers can do better than 51 and nothing, right?
19:19
SPEAKER_02: Joey wants all he can get.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: Stand for Jennings, breaks it to the outside.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: He's inside the 20, gets a terrific block, and Jennings goes in.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: Touchdown, Cincinnati.
19:32
SPEAKER_02: And with 353 left to play in the game, the Bengals extend their lead to 41 to 10.
19:38
SPEAKER_02: The Pittsburgh Steelers this season have been outscored 92 10.
19:45
SPEAKER_06: The immortal Stanford Jennings.
19:47
SPEAKER_06: When's his Hall of Fame career gonna uh Hall of Fame?
19:52
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
19:53
SPEAKER_06: I mean he did have Boomer throw into I don't think Boomer Science didn't ever make the Hall of Fame, right?
19:59
SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
19:59
SPEAKER_06: He was like a good player.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: He's one of those guys that that was good for like really like one of the best in the league, but it was a short, it was too short of a time.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: That's all.
20:08
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I mean, he's not on TV anymore, is he?
20:12
SPEAKER_06: No.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't follow any of those pre-game shows and all those things.
20:16
SPEAKER_06: I I just every once in a while I'll flip by, but yeah, I don't think he is anymore.
20:20
SPEAKER_06: That's aw Boomer.
20:22
SPEAKER_06: I I he was he wasn't, he was always entertaining on the on the pre-games, but hey, whatever.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well Boomer booms the Steelers uh in this game.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh so so you're the Steelers, you just lost your first two games, both inside the division, by the combined score of 92 to 10.
20:42
SPEAKER_06: At this point They're going to Disneyland, Tim.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, well, I mean, like this this this is gonna be one of the worst teams in NFL history, right?
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Like getting getting shaping up that way, yes.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 30 30 plus point deficit every week.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: That's horrific.
21:00
SPEAKER_06: Detroit Lions bad.
21:02
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: It is, yeah.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Steelers do have a head coach, though, who is a guy that's been there, done that, a guy who doesn't really get too up or down either way.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: And he truly believes that the team can turn things around.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: Tunch Okin once said that Noel gave them a speech about how your brain is like a swimming pool and not to let other people pee in your pole.
21:28
SPEAKER_06: That's a good one.
21:29
SPEAKER_06: I like it.
21:30
SPEAKER_06: I didn't realize he could uh yeah.
21:32
SPEAKER_06: I mean it when you would hear Tunch and Wolf talk about how great of a coach and great of a person he is, it it really is you do you do hear that from them, the respect they had for for him.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they still remember that speech, you know, years and years later.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh and and the and the point was, you know, stay mentally focused.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: And and apparently that gets the players motivated.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: And remember, they you know, they are a young team.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: So they got blown out in their first two games, but they're young, they're still learning.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Week three is back at home against Minnesota, and the Vikings are one of the better teams of this era.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh so another tough game.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is the team.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: If if you remember back then, Minnesota was almost always predicted as like the NFC Super Bowl team, even though they would never make it.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh but they were really good.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: This is this is also the season where they end up trading for Herschel Walker.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: Which doesn't go in the world.
22:30
SPEAKER_06: How'd that work out for them?
22:32
SPEAKER_06: Worked out for the Cowboys.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: It did.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: It did.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but anyway, point being, Minnesota's a good team.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: But this time the Steelers get their first win 27-14.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Nothing spectacular.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: The defense creates a couple of turnovers, the offense sustains some drives.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: So they stop the bleeding.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: The following week they go up to Detroit and they just crush the Lions 23-3.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Breakster goes 21-27 for 267 and a touchdown.
23:00
SPEAKER_06: Nothing fixes your problem like playing the Lions back then, huh?
23:05
SPEAKER_00: Well, and the Lions are about to to kind of be a good team, too.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: They had drafted Barry Sanders that year.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: Um I don't think they were quite there yet, but they in the night in the 90s they had some pretty good teams.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: So uh but either way, the Steelers all of a sudden are two and two and playing some decent football.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: The the defense especially looks sharp at this point.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: They have these really young players like Greg Lloyd, Rod Woodson, Hardy Nickerson, who are all making plays.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh and and Rod Russ, like like we said before, Steve, you know, it was an upgrade over the 32 32-year-old version of Dundee.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Tony Dundee are a great coach.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: But maybe just at this time they needed a more veteran presence there, and it seems to be working.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: The next seven weeks are very up and down.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Steelers get a revenge win in Cleveland.
23:56
SPEAKER_06: They won in Cleveland after a wow.
23:59
SPEAKER_06: Jeez.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:01
SPEAKER_06: And and and that's a big deal because Cleveland was pretty good because like Cleveland and Cincinnati were kind of like the two better teams.
24:07
SPEAKER_06: I mean, I'll know Houston, how Houston was that year, but uh all three of those teams were really good.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: So Cleveland, as we said, Cincinnati had been in the Super Bowl.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk a little bit about Houston later, but they had been in the playoffs the last couple of years.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: And then Cleveland had been to two out of the previous three AFC championship games.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: They were really one of the elite teams in the league at that time.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: So not only do they win in Cleveland, they get they kind of get some revenge for that 51-0 game.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh and in that game, the defense gets a big performance out of a rookie safety named Carnell Lake.
24:41
SPEAKER_06: I just saw him in the highlight.
24:43
SPEAKER_06: I can't see that on the podcast.
24:44
SPEAKER_06: Wasn't he the guy that got ran over by Stanford or whatever?
24:48
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: But he's playing in his like second NFL ever NFL game.
24:52
SPEAKER_06: He looks a lot better than that game, I'm assuming.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he he he figures out the NFL by this point.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: He has a fumble recovery, he has an interception.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that guy will end up being good someday.
25:03
SPEAKER_06: He won't be as good as that tight end from Cincinnati.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Steelers get a win over the Chargers.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: That's a game where the offense is able to do nothing.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: And San Diego has a 10-6 lead in the second half.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: But fortunately, the Steelers have this guy.
25:21
SPEAKER_05: Woodson taking the kickoff with Elisit.
25:27
SPEAKER_05: There goes Rod Witchback.
25:29
SPEAKER_05: They'll take it all away.
25:31
SPEAKER_05: No flat touchdown Pittsburgh.
25:36
SPEAKER_06: Oh man, the old the old San Diego uniforms.
25:39
SPEAKER_06: It's just the old San Diego away uniforms.
25:41
SPEAKER_06: You don't see them anymore.
25:43
SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
25:44
SPEAKER_06: I mean, the light blue ones are iconic, but I kind of miss those those 90s all white there.
25:51
SPEAKER_06: But um wow.
25:52
SPEAKER_06: Paul McGuire on the call, three of the stadium, Rod Woodson.
25:56
SPEAKER_06: Hey.
25:56
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
25:57
SPEAKER_06: That guy might be uh he might be good, Tim.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: He might be.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: He might be.
26:01
SPEAKER_06: Well, what is this?
26:01
SPEAKER_06: His third year in the league now?
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
26:04
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we'll we'll definitely talk more about Rod Woodson later, too.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh probably the most memorable game of this stretch is week eight at home against Kansas City.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: The Chiefs had the AOC's offensive player of the year, the guy who would go on to win the rushing title.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Steve, I know he I know you know who this is.
26:23
SPEAKER_06: I think it's a nightmare.
26:24
SPEAKER_06: I heard he's a nightmare to stop.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: Yes, a Nigerian nightmare.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Christian Okoye, the Nigerian nightmare, is this big running back that Kansas City has.
26:35
SPEAKER_06: And they have Marty Scheinheimer who loves to run the ball.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: So Yep, exactly.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: So huge test for this rebuilt Steelers defense.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: And Okoye does get 101 yards.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: And quarterback Steve DeBerg throws for over 300 yards.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: Steve DeBerg.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: He was old then.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: And he played for like another 10 years.
26:56
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I know.
26:58
SPEAKER_06: I think he was.
26:59
SPEAKER_06: Didn't he back up Terry Bradshaw at some point or backed up Joe Montana?
27:03
SPEAKER_06: Montana, that's it, yeah.
27:04
SPEAKER_06: In like the eight like 1979.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: And then I think he was on that Falcons team that went to the Super Bowl.
27:12
SPEAKER_06: Yes, he was.
27:13
SPEAKER_06: He backed up Chris Chandler in 1980.
27:16
SPEAKER_06: What was it, 1998?
27:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: Then I think he was also the backup for Joe Burrow.
27:22
SPEAKER_06: I mean, literally right now he's backing up Patrick Mahomes.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he just played forever.
27:29
SPEAKER_06: From a wheelchair.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: But he has a he has a good day that day.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you look at those numbers, Okoye gets his hundred yards, DeBerg throws for a bunch of yards.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: He'd think that the defense got shelled, but not really.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Kansas City only scores 10 points on offense all day.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: So it's one of those classic like bend but don't break days for the defense.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the third quarter, the Steelers have a whopping minus 21 yards of total offense since halftime.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: They're nursing a one-point lead.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: They could really use a big play from their offense.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Let's see what happens.
28:04
SPEAKER_05: Christer with a pump bank going deep.
28:06
SPEAKER_05: He's got lifts against Lewis.
28:08
SPEAKER_05: And it's taken into the 15th.
28:10
SPEAKER_05: Touchdown Pittsburgh.
28:13
SPEAKER_05: A beauty from Brister to Lips, covering 64 yards.
28:18
SPEAKER_06: Wow, it was the late 80s, wasn't it?
28:22
SPEAKER_06: Good times.
28:23
SPEAKER_06: I mean, wow, what a fun season.
28:24
SPEAKER_06: I mean, that was a nice pass.
28:25
SPEAKER_06: The defensive back kind of went for the interception, but the pass was just too far out in front of him.
28:31
SPEAKER_06: It was a nice pass by Brister, it really was.
28:33
SPEAKER_06: And great, great, great route by Lips.
28:35
SPEAKER_06: I forgot about Lewis Lips.
28:37
SPEAKER_06: I he was like a very solid receiver that played on some bad teams.
28:41
SPEAKER_06: Like if he would have played five years later, he probably plays in a Super Bowl.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: If he plays five years later or five years earlier, he's one of like the top five receivers in steel history, easily.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: Easily.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: He just like you said, he he had Mark Malone throwing to him, he had Bobby Brewster throwing to him, David Woodley, guys like that.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: It just yeah, he he it's unfortunate the timing he had, but he was a really, really good receiver.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: And Bubby he had his moments.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: That was like a good example.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: Like they they can't they have minus 21 yards of offense in the second half, but then he he heaves this really beautiful deep ball to lips.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: And that was kind of the way that that season went.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh I was at this game, I distinctly remember two things about it.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: One is that they were handing out pro set football cards for free, and I was so excited to get free football cards.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh the other is that my dad and I ate lunch at Wendy's in the Allegheny Center mall before the game, and I left my jean jacket at Wendy's.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: And so we're in line to go into the game when I realized that I had left it there, and we had to walk all the way back to Allegheny Center to retrieve it.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: And I I think we missed the kickoff because of that.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: What a nightmare.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, and and and literally, Steve, for like the next 30 years.
29:59
SPEAKER_06: Did you remember your jacket, too?
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Every time we're walking to the game, my dad's like, hey, do you remember your jacket?
30:07
SPEAKER_00: Adam, 45 years old.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: I I remembered my jacket.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: And it's also, you know, 90 degrees out.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't even have a jacket.
30:15
SPEAKER_06: Did you leave it at Wendy's at Allegheny Center Hall?
30:18
SPEAKER_06: There's about five things that don't exist there.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: And my I my jean jacket at the time, because I was so cool, had a bunch of buttons on it.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: I I that was a thing that I don't know, at least kids were doing.
30:33
SPEAKER_06: That was in the eight.
30:34
SPEAKER_06: That was like an eighties thing.
30:35
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, to put buttons like you would collect buttons and pin them to your jean jacket.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: So like it wasn't just losing the jacket.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: It had all the my buttons I had collected.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: So we definitely had to go back.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, it was still there.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's not a that's kind of a long walk from Three River Stadium to Allegheny Center Mall and back.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: And we were literally like in line to get into the stadium when I was like, oh no, my jacket.
30:57
SPEAKER_06: Oh no, my jacket.
30:59
SPEAKER_06: That is the most kid thing to do though.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: It is.
31:03
SPEAKER_06: I mean, what were you like 11, 12?
31:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it was 12.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's that's that was right on brand for a 12-year-old boy.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:12
SPEAKER_06: And it has my Bobby Brown.
31:14
SPEAKER_06: I don't know what buttons you had on your jacket.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good question.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: I don't If it's on the block, I don't know.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: It has my don't worry, be happy button.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: I had that.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: I know that.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: So couldn't lose that.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: So the the the Steelers beat Kansas City.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: The formula for this team, it's pretty straightforward.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: Play solid defense, get help from the offense in spurts, and that should be enough to stack some wins.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Well unfortunately, that formula doesn't always work.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: I I mentioned that this seven-week stretch had ups and downs.
31:47
SPEAKER_00: So big win in Cleveland, good win against San Diego and Kansas City.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: But also the Steelers are shut out at Houston, shut out at home against Chicago, and then only muster seven points in a blowout loss at Denver.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: So if you're keeping track, we're at week twelve and the Steelers have now been shot out three times.
32:08
SPEAKER_06: I think I remember this is the year I heard that joke, you know, I why couldn't Bobby Brister go to his house because they painted put in an end zone in front of his door.
32:18
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
32:18
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: Yep, that would have been applicable for sure.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: So so despite that, um, they are five and six, which uh it's respectable given how the season started.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: And and it still has them in the hunt for a playoff spot.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately for them, the next game on the schedule is a trip to Miami to face Dan Marino and the high-powered Dolphins offense.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: And that game starts just how everyone thinks it will.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: Miami goes up 14-0 before the first quarter is even over.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be another blowout, shutout kind of a game.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: But then something wild happens.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: It starts pouring in.
32:54
SPEAKER_06: Raining.
32:54
SPEAKER_06: I remember this game.
32:56
SPEAKER_06: I were I remember this, Tim.
32:58
SPEAKER_06: This is really before I started watching, but I remember this because it's like a tale of two halves.
33:02
SPEAKER_06: Yep.
33:03
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and and I mean, and it's not just rain, Steve.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: It's like a typhoon.
33:08
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's one of those Miami, like, yeah, downpours.
33:12
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, momentum shifts.
33:17
SPEAKER_04: First out of the twenty seven as Duper splits for the right side.
33:20
SPEAKER_04: Bumble a fumble by Smith that is covered up and picked up by Lake.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: And it's a score.
33:30
SPEAKER_06: Wow, they're calling that a touchdown?
33:32
SPEAKER_06: He didn't go out of bounds.
33:34
SPEAKER_06: Dan Marino tried to make a tackle there.
33:36
SPEAKER_06: That would like it.
33:38
SPEAKER_06: That's the definition of an unforced error.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's that's rain being rain.
33:44
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, the the Dolphins, like Dan Marino hands the ball off, and the Dolphins running back doesn't even get hit, and he just drops the ball.
33:52
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
33:53
SPEAKER_06: Carnot like recovers and starts running, and as Dan Marino's trying to tackle him, he laterals, and Dwayne Woodruff somehow squirms down the sideline for a touchdown.
34:04
SPEAKER_06: And like splashes his way into the end zone.
34:06
SPEAKER_06: Oh my gosh.
34:07
SPEAKER_06: This is the old Joe Robbie Stadium.
34:09
SPEAKER_06: Or is this no, this is still the same one, right?
34:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:13
SPEAKER_06: They just keep remodeling it and renaming it.
34:15
SPEAKER_06: So this is Hard Rock Stadium still.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: I believe so.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: At this point, it's not the Orange Bowl anymore.
34:20
SPEAKER_06: No, this is the one that that's in well, Joe and Fort Lauderdale, I think, or yeah.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Either way, it's like submerged under a bunch of water.
34:30
SPEAKER_06: I remember this.
34:31
SPEAKER_06: I remember this game being like on the new people talking about how they came back.
34:36
SPEAKER_06: I remember this game.
34:37
SPEAKER_06: I I do.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: Dwayne Woodruff, by the way, oldest player on that team, and the lone holdover from the Super Bowl years.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: So it was cool to see him get that touchdown.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but but like like Steve said, uh the Steelers come back, they score 34 unanswered points.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: Merrill Hajj uh has three touchdowns, the running back for the Steelers.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: And the Steelers actually end up blowing out the Dolphins in Miami.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: And and and and like like Steve said about kind of all the hype around that game, I I really remember that being the point where people shifted from well, that you know, it's nice that we don't suck as bad as they we thought they would, to to like, hey, we we may actually have a contender here.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: And that was especially exciting because the next game was at home against the Houston Oilers, whom the Steelers now only trailed in the AFC Central by one game.
35:33
SPEAKER_00: And and Steve, I was at this game, and I remember it was the most excited I'd been to go to a Steelers game in in probably my whole life.
35:43
SPEAKER_06: Well, I just have one question for you.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Yes, did I remember my jean jackets?
35:48
SPEAKER_06: Did you remember your jackets?
35:52
SPEAKER_00: Well, I I was probably wearing something a little heavier than a jean jacket at this point because uh the weather was pretty pretty bad.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: It was it's December at the River Stadium, snow's coming down, high winds.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh but that's that's exactly what you wanted when you faced a finesse offense like Houston.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: And and there was just this level of energy in the stadium that day that I I still remember seemed like foreign to me.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: I I I imagine that's maybe how it was every week in the 70s, but I never experienced that.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: Right?
36:23
SPEAKER_00: Like uh to come to a game like this late in the season that meant something against a huge rival.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: And and and that's the other thing.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of Steeler fans, myself included, just hated the Oilers so much.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: And and we've talked about this on the Jerry Glanville or yeah, we we did a whole episode, yeah.
36:40
SPEAKER_06: The Jerry Glanville Oilers.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: This is the Jerry Glanville years, and and Jerry Glanville was their coach.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: They played dirty.
36:48
SPEAKER_06: Did Elvis show?
36:49
SPEAKER_06: Oh no, this is in Three Rivers.
36:50
SPEAKER_06: This isn't in Fusion.
36:52
SPEAKER_06: I don't think yeah, I don't think I don't think he left tickets for Elvis at away games.
36:56
SPEAKER_06: Right.
36:56
SPEAKER_06: I think that was only Dan Rooney wouldn't have put up with that crap.
37:02
SPEAKER_06: He just would have turned Elvis away.
37:03
SPEAKER_06: Maybe that's what happened.
37:05
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
37:06
SPEAKER_06: Like, oh man, I want to watch two oilers.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh it ends up being a really great game.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: Both defenses are really tough.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: Houston fumbles seven times in the snow.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: They only lose three of those, but but clearly they were having a problem being this dome team playing in the snow.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: I I remember at one point, Steve, the stadium operator played Let It Snow.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: And the fans all started singing along to it.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, this is literally the most fun atmosphere I'd ever experienced going to games up to that point because I wasn't there for the 70s.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: I'd only been there for all these years in the 80s.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, the Steelers offense struggles too.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: They uh they actually are able to move the ball.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: The running back Tim Rowley, who is the number one draft pick that year, has his first ever 100-yard game, and they also call a bunch of reverses to lips that work really nice.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: But twice the Steelers have to kick field goals from the one-yard line.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh, geez.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: Because they can't get into the end zone, and that really kills them.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: The game is tied 16 to 16 with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: The Oilers have the ball, and quarterback Warren Moon decides he's gonna go for broke.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: And what happens next ends up being one of the most controversial calls in the history of Three River Stadium.
38:21
SPEAKER_04: 248 and a full compliment of timeouts on second down.
38:25
SPEAKER_04: Moon gonna air it out going long.
38:27
SPEAKER_04: Jeffries is there.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: Oh, but is he inbounds?
38:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes, they're saying.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: Whoa! Jeffries catches it.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: 37 yards.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't know how you're ever gonna overrule that one.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: If that's close, where's the sideline?
38:46
SPEAKER_01: Can you see where the sideline is?
38:48
SPEAKER_01: All right, there's one and his elbow is on.
38:52
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he's in or out.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: I haven't the slightest idea.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: So the coaches wait.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: It's a good catch.
39:08
SPEAKER_06: So this is the first iteration of instant replay, correct, Tim?
39:13
SPEAKER_00: That is correct.
39:14
SPEAKER_06: And so now they can replay anything, right?
39:16
SPEAKER_06: So I don't know the rules.
39:18
SPEAKER_06: And they can go back in time to like 1978 and replay something if they really wanted to.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: So so the rule is back then it's not a coach's challenge.
39:26
SPEAKER_06: Right.
39:27
SPEAKER_06: You just it's just whatever they feel like it.
39:29
SPEAKER_06: Correct.
39:30
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and and I cut most of that out.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: The replay guy takes a good four or five minutes to make that call.
39:36
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, there was no time limit either.
39:38
SPEAKER_06: They were just like, ah, let's take our time figuring it out.
39:42
SPEAKER_06: And it's low death, so you really like like the announcer's right.
39:46
SPEAKER_06: Like your guess is as good as mine.
39:48
SPEAKER_06: I have no idea.
39:49
SPEAKER_06: You couldn't see the white because everything and they had cleared the sideline, but you you still couldn't see.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you couldn't see, you couldn't tell the difference between where this where the sideline was and where the white, where the white part of the sideline was and where the snow was.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Like you said, low definition TV, and and and they review it for an eternity, and they come back and they say, good catch.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
40:13
SPEAKER_00: I think they were just sort of guessing at that point, or maybe because they called it a catch on the field.
40:17
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, they just stuck with the call, which is fair enough.
40:19
SPEAKER_06: Fair enough.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: It is, it is.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: I uh looking back on it at the time, I didn't think so, obviously, being at the game.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because what happens is that that gives the Oilers eventually sets them up for the game-winning touchdown, uh, and they win.
40:33
SPEAKER_00: And after the game, the Steelers are predictably ticked off by that call.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Warren Moon actually references the 1979 AFC Championship game 10 years earlier and says it's kind of a bit of poetic justice.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: And and fans are really bitter about it.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: Myron Cope even makes that his Christmas Carol that year.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: So um, but like you said, Steve, I think looking back on it.
40:54
SPEAKER_06: Stuff the Broncos, they're just Yonka and everybody.
40:56
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that was Yeah.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: Well, this one was the referee.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: I forget what the replay referee's name was, but I think that's who the song is.
41:02
SPEAKER_06: I think it was uh Alfonso Riviero.
41:07
SPEAKER_00: It may have been.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh but but but yeah, and and and this was also the season where you had the the pa the the infamous Packers Bears asterisk game.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh the one the one that Mike Dickka The Magic Man.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: And and that was another thing where they they took 18 years to replay something and then said, Yeah, I guess it's it's right what we said on the field.
41:29
SPEAKER_06: Is that still an asterisk in the Bears Media Guide?
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
41:34
SPEAKER_06: Wow, nice.
41:37
SPEAKER_06: The Bears ain't giving that up.
41:38
SPEAKER_06: The McCaskies aren't giving up.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: They have so little to hold on to, Steve.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: They have so little to hold on to.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: But I think people started like thinking, okay, we're gonna we're gonna pause these games for like ever just to end up you know making the wrong call.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: What's the point?
41:57
SPEAKER_00: And and it's low def.
41:59
SPEAKER_06: I I think once high definition came in, that changed everything.
42:03
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
42:04
SPEAKER_06: And that made it a lot like in high def you would have been able to see more clearly, probably.
42:09
SPEAKER_06: And plus they're better at cleaning the fields.
42:11
SPEAKER_06: I like that's typical like Three River Stadium lazy.
42:14
SPEAKER_06: Not not I mean, nobody speak ill of the grounds crew at Hinesfield, and but they don't do much.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: They you know it was a union job, Steve.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: They were they they didn't get paid overtime to clear the snow.
42:32
SPEAKER_06: Hey, I'm in the union.
42:33
SPEAKER_06: Don't rip on the union.
42:36
SPEAKER_06: Look for the union label.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: A bunch of people just unsubscribe to our podcast.
42:42
SPEAKER_06: Hey, you know what?
42:43
SPEAKER_06: They're pretty good at hosing down the sidelines during that Raiders playoff game.
42:48
SPEAKER_06: So they're costing the we the field with water is a genius move.
42:55
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, that that loss it really hurts.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: It sucks out all the optimism because at this point the Steelers are six and seven.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: And remember, in 1989, there are only five playoff spots to be had, not seven like there are today.
43:10
SPEAKER_06: And there's only sixteen games, yes.
43:12
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
43:13
SPEAKER_00: So so there's three games left in the season.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the Steelers have a losing record.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: That pretty much seems like a death knell.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the headline of the post gazette the day after the game reads Oilers Ice Steelers playoff hopes.
43:27
SPEAKER_06: Clever.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: Did you see the pun there?
43:31
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: But the point being that everybody just assumed, okay, well, no, no chance at the playoffs at this point.
43:37
SPEAKER_06: I wonder what Twitter's reaction to all this was.
43:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:42
SPEAKER_06: It was busy not existing.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure it would have been anger.
43:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, Steelers are dead, but you know who doesn't feel that way?
43:53
SPEAKER_00: Is the Steelers.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: They uh they beat the Jets and then they beat the Patriots.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: That game against New England, by the way.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: To this day, the coldest game ever played in Pittsburgh.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: It's five degrees a kickoff.
44:04
SPEAKER_06: Oh goodness.
44:05
SPEAKER_06: That is cold.
44:07
SPEAKER_06: And and that was still in December, wasn't it?
44:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that game against New England was December 17th.
44:14
SPEAKER_06: Oh.
44:14
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, because that for December, that's that's cold.
44:17
SPEAKER_06: Like January, eh, you might see a few of those, but December, boy, that is cold.
44:22
unknown: Yeah.
44:22
SPEAKER_06: I guess did we have a rough winter that year?
44:24
SPEAKER_06: I don't even remember 89.
44:26
SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
44:26
SPEAKER_06: Maybe we did.
44:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't I don't remember.
44:29
SPEAKER_00: But that the the the the only game that really came close was the uh the the game against Las Vegas a couple years ago.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:42
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that was in but that was more January.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: That was Christmas Eve.
44:46
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: So it was it was around.
44:48
SPEAKER_06: That was only a week later, yeah.
44:49
SPEAKER_00: That was eight degrees.
44:51
SPEAKER_00: But uh this game in 89 was actually colder or so.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: But the Steelers win that one 28-10.
44:57
SPEAKER_00: So coming into the final game of the season, Christmas Eve at Tampa Bay, a place that's a little warmer than five degrees.
45:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh here's here's the playoff scenario for the now eight and seven Steelers.
45:08
SPEAKER_06: And Tampa Bay's garbage.
45:10
SPEAKER_06: Complete garbage.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: Tampa Bay's really bad at this point.
45:13
SPEAKER_06: I don't even they don't have that, I don't even know who their quarterback is.
45:15
SPEAKER_06: It's not Doug Williams.
45:16
SPEAKER_06: I know that.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a great question.
45:20
SPEAKER_06: Not Steve Young.
45:21
SPEAKER_00: Might be any Testa Verde.
45:22
SPEAKER_06: No, wasn't Testaverdi in Cleveland?
45:25
SPEAKER_06: No, that's right.
45:26
SPEAKER_06: He started with Tampa.
45:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it might have been Testaverdi.
45:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
45:29
SPEAKER_00: So that's a good question.
45:30
SPEAKER_00: We'll go we'll go look that up.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh but anyway, yeah, Tampa Bay is bad.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: So the Steelers have to beat the Buccaneers.
45:38
SPEAKER_00: They also have to have the Colts lose to the Saints.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: They have to have the Raiders lose to the Giants, and then in the Monday Night Football game, they have to have the Bengals lose to the Vikings.
45:48
SPEAKER_06: Oh my god.
45:49
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
45:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
45:52
SPEAKER_00: So that's a lot of things that have to happen.
45:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Steelers do beat Tampa Bay.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: Rod Woodson's huge in this game.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: He returns the opening kickoff 72 yards, which sets up a touchdown.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: He later has a long interception return that sets up a score.
46:05
SPEAKER_00: And the Steelers do roll to a fairly easy victory over the bad Buccaneers.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: The Colts and Raiders also lose.
46:13
SPEAKER_00: So now if the Vikings can beat the Bengals on Monday night, then the Steelers will have miraculously made it into the playoffs for the first time since 1984.
46:21
SPEAKER_00: And Steve, I remember watching that game on Christmas night, the Monday night football game, really rooting for the Vikings.
46:27
SPEAKER_00: And it's a really close game.
46:29
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, the Minnesota defense, which was really good at that point, forces five turnovers, and they win.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: And that means that the Pittsburgh Steelers, team who started the season losing 92-10, the team who had been shut out three different times, is going to the postseason.
46:46
SPEAKER_06: Just to put a uh bow on the uh quarterback situation in Tampa Bay, it was um apparently Kerwin Bell and Joe Ferguson, whoever they are.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: Joe Ferguson had played for the Bills for a long time.
47:00
SPEAKER_06: Oh my gosh.
47:01
SPEAKER_06: You actually know who I have no idea who these people are.
47:04
SPEAKER_06: I don't know who started that game, but yeah, Joe Ferguson.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: Joe Ferguson was the quarterback in that game.
47:11
SPEAKER_06: Ah, nice.
47:12
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, he he had been Buffalo's quarterback for like in the 70s.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Joe Ferguson must have been really old at that point.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: But he was like when OJ Simpson was the yeah, Joe Ferguson.
47:23
SPEAKER_06: I thought Jack Kemp, though.
47:24
SPEAKER_06: Jack Kemp was even before.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: That was that was like 60s.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: So there you go, Joe Ferguson.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, the uh the Steelers finished the regular season ranked dead last in the NFL on offense.
47:40
SPEAKER_00: I I I don't believe that any team before or since has qualified for the first sea for the uh postseason while ranking dead last.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: They only have one win inside their division.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: They only have two Pro Bowlers, Rod Woodson and Tun Kilkin.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: How is this team in the playoffs?
47:56
SPEAKER_06: And the only they beat Cleveland in Cleveland.
47:59
SPEAKER_06: That's their only win in the division.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: That's their only win in the division.
48:03
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
48:05
SPEAKER_00: And and not only, you know, how are they in the playoffs, but what are they going to do when they get there?
48:10
SPEAKER_00: Are they just going to embarrass themselves?
48:13
SPEAKER_00: So uh before we get to talking about the playoffs, I do want to take a moment and just thank everyone who's gone out and got our new book detailing the history of the Steelers Ravens rivalry.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: I I very much appreciate the support and nice words from folks who have read it.
48:28
SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to mention two things about the book.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Number one is you can find it on Amazon as a hardcover or an ebook, and you do not need a Kindle to read the ebook.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: You just need the Kindle app, and then you can read it on any device.
48:40
SPEAKER_00: Second thing is if you've purchased it and you like it, could you please do us a favor and drop a review on Amazon?
48:46
SPEAKER_00: That would be a big help.
48:47
SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't read it, there's a link for it in the description for this episode, so please check that out, and thanks once again for supporting our show.
48:56
SPEAKER_00: So back to the 1989 playoffs.
48:58
SPEAKER_00: The AFC Wildcard game is Pittsburgh at Houston.
49:02
SPEAKER_00: We mentioned how we all hated oilers, and now here we are in a playoff game.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: And thanks to that controversial call in the snow, this will be at Houston.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
49:12
SPEAKER_06: Is Elvis there?
49:13
SPEAKER_06: Did Elvis make the game?
49:15
SPEAKER_06: No.
49:15
SPEAKER_06: Elvis had died in 1977, so probably not.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: Allegedly, Steve.
49:22
SPEAKER_00: Allegedly.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he was there in disguise.
49:25
SPEAKER_00: We'll never know for sure.
49:27
SPEAKER_06: Oh man, these Oilers.
49:30
SPEAKER_06: I'm playing so good today.
49:32
SPEAKER_00: This game also takes place on New Year's Eve, 1989.
49:36
SPEAKER_00: So literally, this is how we're closing out the 80s with a playoff game against the Oilers.
49:42
SPEAKER_06: New Year's Eve.
49:42
SPEAKER_06: So it's going to be 1990 coming up.
49:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
49:45
SPEAKER_06: It's going to be the 90s, man.
49:47
SPEAKER_06: It's hammer time.
49:48
SPEAKER_06: All right.
49:49
SPEAKER_00: It is going to be hammer time pretty soon.
49:51
SPEAKER_06: Nice.
49:52
SPEAKER_00: We mentioned that Houston had a tough time in the snow, but they were virtually unbeatable at home in the Astrodome.
49:59
SPEAKER_00: And they had those super loud fans.
50:01
SPEAKER_00: Super loud speakers.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: Allegedly.
50:07
SPEAKER_00: No, they they really did have a really good fan base.
50:09
SPEAKER_06: Like to be totally fair, those fans were well until that idiot Adam screwed everything up.
50:15
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
50:16
SPEAKER_06: There's another city that kind of deserves a Super Bowl.
50:19
SPEAKER_06: Like I I wouldn't be upset if Houston won a Super Bowl.
50:22
SPEAKER_06: They've been through a lot.
50:23
SPEAKER_06: They they could probably stand a win there.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I agree with that.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh again, once again, another thing that I didn't think at the time, just hated that team and hated their fans, hate hated that stadium.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: And that was the place.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: Remember, earlier in the season, the the they had beaten the Steelers 27-0 in that dome.
50:44
SPEAKER_00: So could the Steelers with the NFL's worst offense come in and upset them?
50:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, this time the Steelers do fare a lot better.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: Similar to the game in Pittsburgh, it's very back and forth.
50:55
SPEAKER_00: Both teams make huge plays on special teams.
50:58
SPEAKER_00: Both teams have a blocked punt, which leads to a touchdown.
51:02
SPEAKER_00: Running back Merrill Hodge is the hero for the Steelers.
51:05
SPEAKER_00: He runs for over 100 yards.
51:06
SPEAKER_00: He makes a bunch of big plays.
51:09
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, the game is once again tied at 16 in the final minutes.
51:12
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that weird?
51:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:14
SPEAKER_00: Just like the game in Pittsburgh.
51:16
SPEAKER_00: And once again, Warren Moon is driving his team down the field.
51:21
SPEAKER_03: Moon with time, throws, touchdown, and again it is.
51:26
SPEAKER_06: Do it.
51:28
SPEAKER_06: He didn't do it.
51:30
SPEAKER_06: Um he just threw the ball in the stands.
51:33
SPEAKER_06: Oh man.
51:34
SPEAKER_06: I was really hoping he'd do the electric slide.
51:37
SPEAKER_06: I loved that.
51:38
SPEAKER_06: It was one of my favorite non-steelers.
51:40
SPEAKER_06: I always loved Ernest Gibbons.
51:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:42
SPEAKER_00: Ernest Gibbons had a great time in the celebration.
51:45
SPEAKER_00: The electric slide.
51:46
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was it was he just threw the ball in the stands.
51:49
SPEAKER_06: I was really hoping he would.
51:50
SPEAKER_06: It was a great catch by Ernest Gibbons.
51:52
SPEAKER_06: He kind of like dove.
51:53
SPEAKER_06: Like he was like completely lateral with the ground and dove to make that catch.
51:57
SPEAKER_06: So I forgot how good he was.
52:00
SPEAKER_06: He was really good.
52:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Houston had a really good offense at this time, uh, for sure.
52:06
SPEAKER_00: And and that touchdown comes with still about six minutes left in the game.
52:11
SPEAKER_00: So the Steel Wars do have time to mount a drive, but I mean, come on, this is the league's worst offense.
52:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, mounting a last-second touchdown drive to force overtime, probably not their thing.
52:22
SPEAKER_00: And they start at their own 18-yard line, and then Bubby Brister has the finest moment of his career.
52:29
SPEAKER_00: He drives the Hughridge Steelers offense, 82 yards against the really tough Houston defense, against the noise of the Astrodome crowd, almost just 46 seconds left in regulation.
52:44
SPEAKER_04: Just inside the two.
52:45
SPEAKER_04: Hodge waves through there.
52:47
SPEAKER_04: Hodge is in.
52:48
SPEAKER_04: It's a touchdown.
52:49
SPEAKER_04: And the indomitable puppy Prister has got it again.
52:57
SPEAKER_00: So that ties the game up and sends it into overtime.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: There is a kind of a crazy play at the end of regulation.
53:03
SPEAKER_00: We covered that in our top 10 almost Miracle Plays episode.
53:06
SPEAKER_00: So go back and listen to that episode if you haven't already.
53:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to go through that again.
53:09
SPEAKER_00: But kind of a crazy thing happens at the end of regulation there.
53:13
SPEAKER_00: Or the Oilers almost throw the game away.
53:16
SPEAKER_00: The Steelers win the overtime coin toss but go nowhere.
53:19
SPEAKER_00: And then Harry Newsom has a 26-yard punt.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: So perfect timing for that.
53:27
SPEAKER_00: The Oilers get the ball first and ten on the Pittsburgh 45-yard line.
53:32
SPEAKER_00: All they need is what, maybe eight or nine yards to get into field goal range.
53:37
unknown: Yeah.
53:38
SPEAKER_06: From the 45.
53:39
SPEAKER_06: Aldo Greco can can make that kick.
53:42
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't Aldo Greco at this point, it was Tony Zendejas.
53:45
SPEAKER_06: Oh, wow.
53:46
SPEAKER_06: He's pretty good too, though.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: But but yeah, but point being that, you know, game's pretty much over at this point.
53:55
SPEAKER_00: So let's see what happens next.
53:57
SPEAKER_04: First out of the Pittsburgh 45.
54:01
SPEAKER_04: And it's to the ground for Lorenzo White.
54:05
SPEAKER_04: And he's hit for the loss.
54:06
SPEAKER_04: He fumbled.
54:08
SPEAKER_04: And the Steelers recover.
54:11
SPEAKER_01: Rod Woodson on the recovery.
54:16
SPEAKER_01: Woodson makes the hit.
54:24
SPEAKER_06: Chris Ditchman was shocked.
54:27
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
54:29
SPEAKER_06: That was like another reason to hate that thing.
54:31
SPEAKER_06: Chris Ditchman was a cornerback for the defense.
54:33
SPEAKER_06: And he was a good player, but God, he was a jerk.
54:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it's it's if you watch the broadcast of that game, Bob Trumpy, who's the um the analyst, he he he says something to the effect of like, oh, look, look at the Oilers, they just all walked off the field.
54:51
SPEAKER_00: They knew it was a fumble.
54:52
SPEAKER_00: But Chris Dishman came off the sidelines to argue that call because he was Chris Dishman.
54:59
SPEAKER_06: What is Chris Dishman up to right now?
55:01
SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
55:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure he's listening to our show.
55:05
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
55:05
SPEAKER_06: Hi.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: And and you know, we talked on this show before about Rod Woodson a lot.
55:12
SPEAKER_00: And and if you want to know why we we kind of feel like Rod Woodson's one of the top five stealers of all time, it's it's stuff like this.
55:21
SPEAKER_00: You know, that again, the game was over.
55:24
SPEAKER_00: The game was like they had Warren Moon.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: They weren't gonna get another five or six yards or eight yards or something to get in field goal range.
55:30
SPEAKER_00: That that that would have been easy.
55:32
SPEAKER_00: That the the game was over.
55:34
SPEAKER_00: And and Rod Woodson makes a Hall of Fame play.
55:38
SPEAKER_06: It was a tackle.
55:40
SPEAKER_06: He makes a tackle and forces a fumble and then recovers.
55:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
55:44
SPEAKER_06: There's something uh Deion Sanders never did.
55:49
SPEAKER_00: That's true.
55:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh Hodge then has an 11-yard run, and that sets off Gary Anderson for a 50-yard field goal attempt.
56:02
SPEAKER_03: Anderson's kick is good.
56:06
SPEAKER_04: The Pittsburgh Steelers have upset the Houston Oilers in the AFC wildcard.
56:15
SPEAKER_06: Oh man, where's my banana sandwich?
56:18
SPEAKER_06: Um, yeah.
56:20
SPEAKER_06: I mean, that's crazy.
56:22
SPEAKER_06: What a what an upset, what a team.
56:25
SPEAKER_06: I give them a lot of credit.
56:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's it's so unbelievable.
56:31
SPEAKER_00: This team that lost 92 to 10.
56:34
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
56:34
SPEAKER_00: Just won a road playoff game against one of their biggest rivals to close out the 1980s.
56:41
SPEAKER_00: It was such a satisfying win, too, because not only do they exact revenge for all of us that were upset about that call in the snow, not only do they eliminate the the disgusting, dirty Houston Oilers in front of their shocked home fans, but it all that loss also cost Glanville his job.
56:58
SPEAKER_00: He's fired a few days later.
57:00
SPEAKER_00: I I to this day, Steve, it's it's one of my top five all-time steel room moments.
57:04
SPEAKER_00: Like I know we've seen Super Bowls, we've seen like the Steelers beat the Ravens in the AFC Championship game.
57:10
SPEAKER_00: This still stands for me as one of my favorite Steeler moments.
57:13
SPEAKER_06: Just Jerry Glanville getting fired, and yeah.
57:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was just such a big deal.
57:18
SPEAKER_00: And remember, like at that time, you know, for people our age, we didn't have the 70s.
57:26
SPEAKER_00: So this is the first time we're we're even experiencing something this dramatic and this exciting, really.
57:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and it came after, you know, four years of just terrible football and an opening to this season of looking like we really hit beyond rock bottom.
57:44
SPEAKER_00: So um now for the divisional round, the Steelers have to go on the road again, this time the number one seed Denver.
57:51
SPEAKER_00: The Broncos are the class of the AFC during this era.
57:54
SPEAKER_00: They've already been to two Super Bowls, they're gunning for a third.
57:58
SPEAKER_00: Mile High Stadium, nearly impossible place to win at, especially in the playoffs.
58:03
SPEAKER_00: And also, the Broncos have the NFL's number one defense that season, and as we've mentioned several times, the Steelers have the league's worst offense.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh in fact, the Broncos had destroyed the Steelers earlier that season in Denver, and after that game, Broncos linebacker Carl Mecklenburg had said that the Broncos usually knew what play the Steelers were gonna run, and that the Steelers' offense hadn't changed at all in the last ten years.
58:31
SPEAKER_00: So huge mismatch potentially here.
58:34
SPEAKER_06: How many Super Bowls did Carl Mecklenburg win?
58:38
SPEAKER_00: He might not have been wrong, though, to be fair.
58:43
SPEAKER_00: Just saying.
58:44
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
58:46
SPEAKER_06: Was this the Joe Walton?
58:47
SPEAKER_06: Was Joe Walton the coordinator?
58:49
SPEAKER_00: No.
58:50
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
58:50
SPEAKER_00: No, Tom Moore was the offensive coordinator.
58:53
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
58:54
SPEAKER_06: I wonder how many Super Bowls Tom Moore would win.
58:56
SPEAKER_06: I know at least a couple.
58:58
SPEAKER_06: Good point.
58:59
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
59:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh so once again, a lot of folks around the league kind of expect this to be a blowout.
59:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, like, hey, good for the Steelers, good for Chuck Knowle.
59:08
SPEAKER_00: That was a nice season, but no way you're even going to make it a game against John Freakinel Way in his home stadium.
59:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and just like things have gone all season, the Steelers don't really care what anybody thinks.
59:21
SPEAKER_05: And a handoff, and Hodge has nothing but daylight.
59:24
SPEAKER_05: Touchdown.
59:27
SPEAKER_05: So a 10-point underdog, the Pittsburgh Steelers have 10 points on the Denver Broncos early in the second quarter.
59:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the Steelers jump out to a surprising 10-0 lead, as you heard there.
59:39
SPEAKER_00: Merrill Hodge, a week after he had that huge game at Houston, plays the absolute game of his life.
59:46
SPEAKER_06: He was a big game guy.
59:48
SPEAKER_06: He really, yeah.
59:50
SPEAKER_06: He had so many great big games, too.
59:52
SPEAKER_06: He was always clutching the playoffs for whatever reason.
59:55
SPEAKER_00: 180 yards of rushing and receiving.
59:59
SPEAKER_00: And again, this is the NFL's top defense.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but Denver's a good team.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_00: The game goes back and forth.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_00: The Steelers have a six-point lead in the fourth quarter, but John Elway leads one of those patented John Elway drives.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_00: And Denver takes a 24-23 lead with only 227 remaining in the game.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_00: So, down by one.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_00: Can the Steelers offense make one final drive to send them to the AFC championship game?
1:00:26
SPEAKER_00: Here is the first play of that ensuing drive.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_05: With only one timeout remaining, it takes a little bit of the running game away, but they only have to get in the field all rings to win.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_05: Down the middle comes in right in his hand and couldn't hang.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_06: That wasn't an easy catch, I'll say that.
1:00:52
SPEAKER_06: It would have been a good catch if he made it, but it wasn't that wasn't like a gimme by by any stretch of the imagination.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it's still like you're an NFL receiver, you have to catch that.
1:01:04
SPEAKER_06: Well, especially this, and like uh obviously the play was um what uh Bristol rolls out to his what is that right and he throws back against the grain like he's thinks he's Patrick Mahomes or something, but he does hit the receiver in the hands, but the guy's kind of like what would you say, like not diving, but kind of going to the ground.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, he's moving to the ground, and he's moving, you know, back towards the sidelines, towards the would be his left, and he just kind of drops the ball.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_06: Once again, it's low depth, so it's not terribly clear, but yeah, that receiver, his name was Mark Stock.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_00: Probably a guy that few people would ever remember.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_06: And that would have been like a field goal range.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_06: In in Denver, field goal, remember field goal, you can well, Gary Anderson wasn't good on grass, but still, in normally in Denver, you could kick longer field goals.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it would have it would have gotten them pretty it certainly would have got them closer.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_00: I think the other thing, Steve, that it would have done, it would have quieted the crowd.
1:02:05
SPEAKER_00: Because the crowd was just absolutely going ballistic.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_00: And if you if you come out on the first play and get 20 yards, it kind of it just puts a little damper in that crowd noise.
1:02:15
SPEAKER_00: And and what happens is the crowd gets louder and louder, and then two plays later, this happens.
1:02:25
SPEAKER_05: He wants his lineman to get down and get set.
1:02:29
SPEAKER_05: And there's the problem.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_05: He couldn't hear.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_05: And Denver has the ball.
1:02:41
SPEAKER_06: See, bumpies just should have maybe called timeout there.
1:02:44
SPEAKER_06: I mean, I don't know if they had any.
1:02:48
SPEAKER_06: It's almost worth taking the delay game penalty there if you're that discombobulated.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_06: Right.
1:02:53
SPEAKER_06: Right.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you certainly hate to waste the timeout when you're trying to drive in the last two minutes.
1:02:58
SPEAKER_00: But you're right, if you're that discombobulated and and nobody's on the same page, trying to run a play there probably is going to be disastrous, and it was.
1:03:07
SPEAKER_00: So that's how this dream season ends.
1:03:09
SPEAKER_00: The Steelers, after looking like they had one of the worst teams in NFL history, were within about 40 yards of playing at Cleveland for the AFC Championship.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_00: They would have had to play Cleveland.
1:03:20
SPEAKER_00: At Cleveland.
1:03:21
SPEAKER_00: Could you have imagined what that would have been like?
1:03:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_00: And they had won at Cleveland.
1:03:26
SPEAKER_06: And so it it obviously Denver beats Cleveland in the championship game.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_00: They do.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_06: And it there's no dramatics in that one, just they just beat Cleveland.
1:03:34
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_00: And then they and then San Francisco destroys them in the and Super Bowl.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_06: Oh, that's that Super Bowl 55 to 10.
1:03:41
SPEAKER_06: Correct.
1:03:42
SPEAKER_06: Oh, wow.
1:03:43
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
1:03:44
SPEAKER_06: So not that was like the year San Francisco was like, what, 14 and 2 or something?
1:03:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was definitely like the height of the 49er dynasty.
1:03:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, but still, I mean uh nobody thought the Steelers could even compete with Denver, and they they they almost had it.
1:04:00
SPEAKER_00: So it would have been fun to just I just to have a Steelers Browns AFC championship game, that alone would have been historic.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh but it wasn't meant to be.
1:04:09
SPEAKER_00: The clock strikes midnight.
1:04:11
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the aftermath and then also kind of like the legacy of this season.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_00: So so first the aftermath, uh Rod Rust, after that impressive showing by the Steelers defense, is hired to be the head coach of the New England Patriots, and that does not go well.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah, that that that's pretty ugly for a while there.
1:04:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the team goes one in fifteen.
1:04:33
SPEAKER_00: And Rod Rust is fired after one season.
1:04:36
SPEAKER_06: That was that was the crappy owner, though.
1:04:39
SPEAKER_06: They didn't have the new owner yet.
1:04:41
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that was the Razor guy.
1:04:43
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
1:04:44
SPEAKER_06: It wasn't it wasn't what's his it wasn't Robert Kraft.
1:04:47
SPEAKER_06: Right.
1:04:48
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you're right.
1:04:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:04:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Steelers fire offensive coordinator Tom Moore and replace him with Kill Walton with very mixed results.
1:04:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh with a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator.
1:04:59
SPEAKER_00: The team has a very up and down follow-up season in 1990 that ends in Houston.
1:05:04
SPEAKER_00: In the final week of the season, the infamous Commander Cody game that we've talked about before.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_00: And then a year later, Katnell retires.
1:05:13
SPEAKER_00: Merrill Hodge plays another four seasons in Pittsburgh and becomes a pretty successful broadcaster.
1:05:19
SPEAKER_00: Bubby loses his job to Neil O'Donnell, but does get a couple of Super Bowl rings with Denver late in his career.
1:05:24
SPEAKER_00: And Mark Stock never plays another down again for the Steelers.
1:05:28
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:05:29
SPEAKER_00: Poor Mark Stock.
1:05:31
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
1:05:31
SPEAKER_00: Poor Mark Stock.
1:05:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, I should have caught it.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_00: And we'd be talking about him very differently, wouldn't we?
1:05:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:05:39
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's let's let's talk about the legacy of that season.
1:05:43
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a pretty memorable one.
1:05:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of Steelers fans and players who are there for it still speak of that season to this day.
1:05:51
SPEAKER_00: And and like I I don't think that's really the case for a lot of other seasons where the Steelers didn't win a Super Bowl, Steve.
1:05:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, how many fans are like, oh, remember that I don't know, 2007 season where we had a really good season, but you know, but then we lost in the playoffs?
1:06:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, we we don't really talk about other seasons.
1:06:08
SPEAKER_00: What do we talk about this one?
1:06:11
SPEAKER_06: I think the expectations, once again, it's like, you know, it depends on what your expectations are.
1:06:16
SPEAKER_06: And obviously they had gotten so low after those first two games, people were just surprised that they made it as far as they did.
1:06:23
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
1:06:23
SPEAKER_06: I th I think they even make the playoffs.
1:06:26
SPEAKER_06: Like you just like what three teams had to lose for them to make the playoffs?
1:06:30
SPEAKER_06: That's crazy.
1:06:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, and like I said, you only had five playoff teams back then.
1:06:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:06:35
SPEAKER_00: The the year after this, they added a sixth.
1:06:38
SPEAKER_00: And now, of course, there's seven.
1:06:39
SPEAKER_00: And and there's two more teams in the conference than there were then.
1:06:42
SPEAKER_00: There was only uh 14 teams in the conference, but still, that that was only five playoff spots, and they were and they were six and seven.
1:06:52
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and they had lost the first two games 92 to 10.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_00: So you're right, it's expectations and what they overcame.
1:06:57
SPEAKER_00: I think you're right.
1:06:57
SPEAKER_00: That really is what everybody remembers.
1:07:00
SPEAKER_00: And I I know for me, I had so much fun digging into the history of this because I just remember that time so fondly.
1:07:06
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, kind of like coming of age for you, yeah.
1:07:08
SPEAKER_06: I I still wasn't really watching the Steelers at that point.
1:07:12
SPEAKER_06: I remember that fumble.
1:07:13
SPEAKER_06: I remember listening to that game, like just hearing about the game, like on the radio.
1:07:18
SPEAKER_06: Like, my dad was not into the he did not like Chuck Knowles, so I did not really watch the Steelers until you know two or three seasons later, and I really started watching the Steelers.
1:07:28
SPEAKER_06: But I do remember this season, like bits and pieces.
1:07:33
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, even if you weren't like a loyal fan, you still couldn't help but be caught up in it to some degree because it was and I remember Merrill Hodge being good in the playoffs.
1:07:42
SPEAKER_06: I remember the f I remember just talking about the fumble, like you know, at the end of the game.
1:07:48
SPEAKER_00: So I I think the other thing that this season did was it really cemented the legacy of Chuck Knoll.
1:07:55
SPEAKER_00: He wins his only coach of the year award in his entire career for the job he did that season, and certainly well deserved.
1:08:01
SPEAKER_00: That's unbelievable.
1:08:04
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it?
1:08:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_06: The guy won four Super Bowls.
1:08:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_00: But this was his greatest coaching job, according to the people that give out awards at least.
1:08:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:08:14
SPEAKER_00: And and and honestly, if the Stewers cave in after that 0-2 start, like imagine if they go, I don't know, 2-14 or or or even Or even like a 4-12 or something, yeah.
1:08:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then I think I think Knoll's legacy is a guy who stuck around for way too long.
1:08:30
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's part of his legacy anyway.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_00: But I I think 1989 helped diffuse that at least.
1:08:38
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, fun season.
1:08:40
SPEAKER_00: Really wanted to deep dive on it.
1:08:42
SPEAKER_00: Glad we got to do that.
1:08:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, thanks everybody so so much for listening to our podcast.
1:08:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh, please check us out on Facebook.
1:08:50
SPEAKER_00: Please let us know uh if you have any ideas for episodes, please rate us on your podcast service, all that good stuff.
1:08:57
SPEAKER_00: And we will catch you next time.