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REWIND: The Surprising History of Steelers vs 49ers · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:01
SPEAKER_06: Hi, everybody.
0:01
SPEAKER_06: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories podcast.
0:05
SPEAKER_06: My name is Tim Hannon, and my co-host is here.
0:08
SPEAKER_06: His name is Oh, hold on.
0:10
SPEAKER_07: What's my name?
0:11
SPEAKER_07: Name, name.
0:12
SPEAKER_07: Oh, Steve Ward.
0:13
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, that's it.
0:13
SPEAKER_07: I got it.
0:14
SPEAKER_06: I got it.
0:14
SPEAKER_07: I got it.
0:15
SPEAKER_06: That's why that's why we always have to rehearse these episodes ahead of time.
0:19
SPEAKER_06: Um, this this week we're going to talk about the surprising history of the Steelers and the 49ers.
0:41
SPEAKER_06: You know, San Francisco, a franchise that the Steelers don't play very often.
0:45
SPEAKER_06: They're in the NFC.
0:47
SPEAKER_06: Um so you don't you don't think of a lot of history between these two teams, but there actually is some pretty interesting history there.
0:55
SPEAKER_06: So wanted to cover some of that.
0:57
SPEAKER_06: Before we get into that, just some fun facts uh about this series.
1:03
SPEAKER_06: San Francisco leads the all-time series 12-10.
1:07
SPEAKER_06: Both franchises obviously have had a ton of success over the years.
1:10
SPEAKER_06: Pittsburgh has six Super Bowls and eight conference championships.
1:14
SPEAKER_06: The Niners have five Super Bowls and seven conference championships.
1:18
SPEAKER_06: And both of these teams lead their respective conferences in championship game appearances.
1:24
SPEAKER_06: San Francisco has 18, and Pittsburgh has 16.
1:29
SPEAKER_06: And one last fun fact, despite playing in a combined 15 Super Bowl, Steve, these two teams have never faced each other in a Super Bowl, although they did come close a few times.
1:38
SPEAKER_06: In 1984, 94 and 97, both of them were in the AFC and NFC Championship game, but one or both of them lost.
1:50
SPEAKER_06: So those are just some fun facts about the Steelers 49ers.
1:53
SPEAKER_06: But let's get into the fun history.
1:57
SPEAKER_06: And uh we'll we'll go chronologically and we'll go all the way back to 1954, and we'll start with a guy that I think we've talked about on the show before, Steve, Walt Keisling.
2:08
SPEAKER_06: Have we talked about Walt Keisling before?
2:10
SPEAKER_07: Guy that cut Johnny United.
2:12
SPEAKER_06: Oh, maybe that's why we've talked about okay.
2:18
SPEAKER_06: Now then now it's ringing a bell.
2:21
SPEAKER_07: But the Chiefs still stuck with him.
2:23
SPEAKER_06: Yes, he did.
2:25
SPEAKER_06: Uh he he in 1954, he is the new head coach of the Steelers, and I put the the word new in air quotes because Keisling had two other stints as Steelers head coach before that, and he'd also been a longtime player and assistant.
2:41
SPEAKER_06: And kind of to what Steve was alluding to earlier, that's just kind of the way Hart Rooney ran the shop, just kind of hired whoever was milling about in the team parking lot.
2:52
SPEAKER_06: Uh, but hey, they always say third time is a charm, right?
2:55
SPEAKER_06: And actually, in 1954, Walt Keysling starts out on a roll.
3:01
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers win four out of their first five games.
3:04
SPEAKER_06: And remember, that's that's back when there's only a 12-game season.
3:10
SPEAKER_06: So winning four out of your first five makes them a first place team pretty much halfway through the season.
3:15
SPEAKER_06: They had also beaten, actually crushed the eventual world champion Cleveland Browns 55 to 27, and still feels really weird to say world champion Cleveland Browns, but that was that was life in 1954.
3:29
SPEAKER_07: With Otto Graham and Jim Brown, too, probably.
3:32
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yes.
3:34
SPEAKER_06: So yeah, yeah, again, uh four and one pretty deep into a 12-game season.
3:40
SPEAKER_06: But as things usually did in those days, the bottom kind of drops out.
3:44
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers lose three in a row, but now they get San Francisco at home.
3:50
SPEAKER_06: And the Niners actually had a really good team that year.
3:52
SPEAKER_06: Their quarterback was Hall of Famer YA Tittle, uh, but they were super injured, and they had lost three straight games because everybody was hurt.
4:02
SPEAKER_06: So there was a lot of expectation by fans that this would be the like the get-right game for the Steelers, right?
4:09
SPEAKER_06: They did San Francisco, they're traveling all the way across the country, they're banged up.
4:13
SPEAKER_06: This is a game where the Steelers win, they get back into the race.
4:17
SPEAKER_06: But it doesn't go well.
4:18
SPEAKER_06: Uh, here's an excerpt from the Pittsburgh Press the day after the game.
4:24
SPEAKER_06: Uh, and I'm just gonna read this.
4:25
SPEAKER_06: It was billed as a football game, but it more closely resembled a game of Scrabble between a couple of tired old maids at Forbes Field last night.
4:33
SPEAKER_06: The 35,000 yawning and booing fans who started leaving early in the fourth quarter saw the N-Epp Steelers drop their four straight game 31-3 to a San Francisco team that was little better than their feeble opponent.
4:48
SPEAKER_06: So that's pretty harsh.
4:50
unknown: Yeah.
4:51
SPEAKER_06: The other Pittsburgh newspaper, the Post Gazette, called it a wake.
4:55
SPEAKER_06: Uh the 49ers come in, they kill the Steelers, even though they don't have anybody, and the fans are super angry and never really trust Walt Keysling again after that, probably cutting Johnny Unitis the next season.
5:07
SPEAKER_06: Didn't help his cause, as Steve mentioned.
5:09
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers finished the season way out of the race for the Eastern Division.
5:14
SPEAKER_07: They started with four wins.
5:15
SPEAKER_07: Wow, that's crazy.
5:17
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's it's you just you know, and until you What happened to them?
5:22
SPEAKER_07: I mean, they got hurt.
5:23
SPEAKER_07: Was it?
5:24
SPEAKER_07: Did you say that?
5:24
SPEAKER_06: No, no, the 49ers got hurt.
5:26
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers just stonk.
5:28
SPEAKER_07: They just got lucky the first half of the season.
5:30
SPEAKER_06: Maybe.
5:31
SPEAKER_06: I mean, it it and that's the funny thing about, you know, you sort of deep dive into you kind of like the Pirates, right?
5:38
SPEAKER_06: If you if you look at the Pirates have had so many terrible seasons, but if you deep dive into a couple of those, you know, there were a few that had some promise or they looked pretty good at the all-star break, and then and then things fell apart, and then you completely forget that, you know, boy, there was some excitement there early in the season, and that was kind of the season for the Steelers.
5:57
SPEAKER_06: Sounds about right.
5:58
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and it's just it's I mean, 12 games is in a long season, right?
6:03
SPEAKER_06: No, and that's why I'm saying five games in.
6:06
SPEAKER_06: I mean, that's like I said, that's almost halfway through the season.
6:09
SPEAKER_06: That would be like at the that'd be like week eight or nine today, right?
6:13
SPEAKER_07: If you were But there's been teams that have been like, you know, like seven, not seven, oh, but like, you know, like there'll be like five and two in the playoffs.
6:22
SPEAKER_07: That's fair.
6:23
SPEAKER_07: I've seen that happen.
6:24
SPEAKER_06: Sure, sure.
6:25
SPEAKER_06: And again, their fans probably don't remember much about those seasons other than the teams.
6:30
SPEAKER_07: And it's like a lot of who you play and when you play them.
6:32
SPEAKER_07: Like, you know, who knows, maybe Otto Graham and Jim Brown were hurt when they played Cleveland that first time.
6:37
SPEAKER_07: Sure, sure.
6:39
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but Walt Gasling, that that was kind of his his one chance to maybe do something, and unfortunately for Walt, it did not work out.
6:49
SPEAKER_06: So let's let's fast forward to November 27th, 1978.
6:54
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers are in San Francisco to play the 49ers on Monday night football, which it at that time was a big deal, right?
7:01
SPEAKER_06: Monday night football was the game of the week.
7:06
SPEAKER_06: Uh but unfortunately, some very tragic events unfold in San Francisco earlier that afternoon.
7:12
SPEAKER_06: Uh, one person, Steve, I know for sure we have not talked about on this podcast, is a woman named Diane Feinstein.
7:18
SPEAKER_06: Do you know who Diane Feinstein is?
7:20
SPEAKER_07: Dify, uh, still serving member of Congress, I do believe.
7:24
SPEAKER_06: Yes, at age 146.
7:26
SPEAKER_06: Very impressive.
7:29
SPEAKER_07: She voted for Lincoln.
7:33
SPEAKER_06: Well, back in 1978, he is the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and he's tasked with having to make this very unfortunate announcement to the press.
8:07
SPEAKER_07: Way to be way to be professional, press corps.
8:11
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, well, I mean, it was pretty shocking.
8:13
SPEAKER_06: And the mayor of San Francisco, George Muscone, and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, both assassinated by their co-worker, City Supervisor Dan Brown.
8:22
SPEAKER_06: There's a whole it leads to the Twinkie defense.
8:25
SPEAKER_06: The Twinkie defense, absolutely, yes.
8:27
SPEAKER_07: It's on it's like the Chewbacca defense.
8:29
SPEAKER_07: It's undefensible.
8:30
SPEAKER_07: You can't you can't.
8:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I I knew I knew you would know that story, Steve, because you're the history buff.
8:36
SPEAKER_06: Um, I think they made a movie about that with I want to say Sean Penn.
8:40
SPEAKER_07: That was about Harvey Milk.
8:42
SPEAKER_06: Oh, that wasn't about the assassination.
8:44
SPEAKER_07: It was about Yeah, it was about and he was not killed because of any sexual preference he had.
8:49
SPEAKER_07: He was killed because the guy was ticked off that he lost his job.
8:53
SPEAKER_07: Now maybe it played a factor in it, I don't know, but I I always thought it was more just workplace violence.
9:01
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
9:01
SPEAKER_06: Whole whole interesting story behind that, and and and then the subsequent trial and and conviction that a lot of people thought was way too soft because of the the Twinkies.
9:11
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it's like, oh, he ate he said he ate too many Twinkies, and he and he was like insane because of it.
9:18
SPEAKER_06: So obviously, the murder of two city officials is a pretty dark, you know, pretty dark day for the city of San Francisco.
9:27
SPEAKER_06: And and the question arises, hey, should we really be playing this game at Candlestick Park tonight?
9:33
SPEAKER_06: Uh Candlestick was publicly owned and operated by the city, specifically by the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Commission.
9:41
SPEAKER_06: And they send a telegram to the NFL and to Art Rooney and to Niner's owner, Eddie DeBartley Jr.
9:48
SPEAKER_06: I did not know people still sent telegrams in 1978, but apparently they did.
9:54
SPEAKER_09: Just coming over the wine, Mr.
9:56
SPEAKER_09: Rooney.
9:58
SPEAKER_06: And and what the uh Parks and Rec said commission said is it it is our strong belief that the use of a city-owned facility this evening for a sporting event is inappropriate, would be in poor taste.
10:10
SPEAKER_06: So they're asking the league to cancel the game.
10:12
SPEAKER_06: There's also concern that, you know, because this was a politically charged kind of assassination, that there could be protests or riots, and would it really be a good idea to divert a bunch of city resources to a football game?
10:27
SPEAKER_06: Uh but the NFL says, you know what?
10:30
SPEAKER_06: We played when Kennedy was shot.
10:32
SPEAKER_06: We're not going to cancel for your mayor.
10:34
SPEAKER_09: So NFL's a bunch of jerks.
10:40
SPEAKER_06: We're playing the game, stop.
10:42
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
10:43
SPEAKER_06: Too bad.
10:43
SPEAKER_06: Stop.
10:44
SPEAKER_06: May he rest in peace.
10:46
SPEAKER_06: Stop.
10:47
SPEAKER_06: So uh so yeah.
10:49
SPEAKER_07: Give him a moment of silence before the game.
10:52
SPEAKER_06: Well, it's funny that you say that because before the game, they actually do hold a moment of silence at Candlestick Park.
10:59
SPEAKER_06: It's very awkward because it's like dead quiet in the stadium, but then there's like a handful of people just yelling out swear words and stuff during this moment of silence.
11:09
SPEAKER_06: And you can very audibly hear them during the broadcast.
11:12
SPEAKER_06: I can't play it because we're a we're a PG podcast and there's a lot of non-PG words that people are screaming out.
11:19
SPEAKER_06: So I can't play that, but what I can play for you is the reaction of Stewards broadcasters Myron Cope and Jack Fleming to that.
11:27
SPEAKER_06: Take a listen.
11:29
SPEAKER_11: Moment of silence observed in memory of the late mayor of San Francisco, George Bosco, and the city supervisor Harvey Mill.
11:38
SPEAKER_10: How do you like the cuckoos in the crowd?
11:40
SPEAKER_10: They're observing a moment of silence, and they're, I don't know, a handful of voices out there at the top of their lungs shouting obscenities and whatnot during the moment of silence.
11:51
SPEAKER_10: But I guess there are uh proportionately more cuckoos in this kind and elsewhere.
11:56
SPEAKER_10: Is that fair to say?
11:58
SPEAKER_11: I wouldn't want to say that, but Myron, if you uh if you didn't have him, you'd think the human race was uh suddenly becoming just too perfect.
12:05
SPEAKER_11: Well, it's just unbelievable.
12:07
SPEAKER_11: Oh, it's terrible, it's absolutely unbelievable, but uh here it is, particularly in San Francisco, you get that kind of reaction.
12:13
SPEAKER_11: Paul Holper is going deep for the forty niners.
12:18
SPEAKER_07: Well, end of the game.
12:20
SPEAKER_07: I wow.
12:21
SPEAKER_07: I mean, gotta love Myron calling it how it is.
12:24
SPEAKER_07: I mean, that's ridiculous.
12:26
SPEAKER_07: Like I don't even understand.
12:28
SPEAKER_07: Wasn't weren't both those guys popular?
12:30
SPEAKER_07: They were popularly elected.
12:32
SPEAKER_07: I mean, I don't know.
12:33
SPEAKER_07: Maybe they weren't popular back in the 70s.
12:35
SPEAKER_07: I I don't know.
12:37
SPEAKER_07: It's just odd that why would you do that?
12:39
SPEAKER_06: That's I I don't even know that it was like people were were uh upset because of the moment of silence was for those two guys, or it was just it's quiet, and so if I yell out something, then then everybody will hear it, right?
12:54
SPEAKER_06: Just somebody being a a jerk.
12:56
SPEAKER_06: I I I feel like that rant from Myron Cope would cause more controversy today with him.
13:02
SPEAKER_06: They deserved it.
13:03
SPEAKER_07: I'm sorry, they deserved it.
13:04
SPEAKER_07: What you're gonna defend people yelling during a moment of silence?
13:07
SPEAKER_06: No, but then he kind of he kind of like labels the whole entire city of San Francisco as disrespectful nut jobs.
13:13
SPEAKER_06: I feel like that part would have gotten garnered a little bit of controversy.
13:16
SPEAKER_07: But again, stop yelling during the moment of silence, uh just hey, you know, perfectly within your control.
13:24
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
13:25
SPEAKER_06: Right.
13:25
SPEAKER_06: No, I mean for for sure criticized that, but then the kind of him and Fleming insinuating that you know that's what you get in a place like San Francisco.
13:33
SPEAKER_06: Uh I think that part would have wrinkled a few feathers.
13:37
SPEAKER_06: But nevertheless, uh as for the game itself, uh Terry Bradsaw throws three touchdown passes, Dak Ham has two interceptions, and the Steelers win pretty easily 24-7.
13:50
SPEAKER_06: But uh pretty interesting.
13:51
SPEAKER_07: I wonder if the fans had any swear words for that performance.
13:54
SPEAKER_06: Probably maybe it's a more appropriate, more appropriate time to swear after that.
14:01
SPEAKER_06: Uh but yeah, pretty interesting.
14:02
SPEAKER_06: The Stewart were entwined in that, you know, historical event in San Francisco's history, and a lot of controversy there too about whether or not to play the game.
14:12
SPEAKER_06: And I I don't know, hindsight's always 2020 on those kinds of things.
14:15
SPEAKER_06: Do you do you cancel that game or not?
14:18
SPEAKER_06: It's hard to say.
14:19
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it seems kind of drastic, but I mean, like they said, I mean, back before then there was no precedence because they had played during the Kennedy assassination, so I can see their point.
14:29
SPEAKER_07: It's like, well, we didn't cancel for Kennedy, we'll just play it now.
14:32
SPEAKER_06: So Yeah, and and I the only thing that they did cancel for was um September 11th.
14:39
SPEAKER_06: Uh and that was, you know, I think they when they when they made that decision, there was a lot of talk about Pete.
14:47
SPEAKER_06: I think P.
14:47
SPEAKER_06: Rosel had always said he regretted not canceling when Kennedy was shot, and and so they wanted to, you know, the NFL was very conscious of that whenever September 11th happened.
14:58
SPEAKER_07: And I mean they've moved games.
15:00
SPEAKER_07: Even last year, didn't they move a Buffalo game to Detroit because of the snow?
15:04
SPEAKER_06: Well, yeah, but that's more situational.
15:06
SPEAKER_07: Or like the flood.
15:08
SPEAKER_07: There was a flood in Houston, they had to move a game to San Antonio or something.
15:12
SPEAKER_06: So but I mean, even during the COVID year, they I mean they just they played through.
15:16
SPEAKER_06: So it it's it's really hard to stop the NFL train.
15:20
SPEAKER_06: You know, it just is.
15:23
SPEAKER_06: Um, let's go to 1984.
15:26
SPEAKER_06: In 1984, 49ers are in the middle of their dynasty.
15:30
SPEAKER_07: Sounds like an ominous year.
15:32
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
15:33
SPEAKER_06: I've heard there's a book written about that somewhere.
15:36
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
15:36
SPEAKER_06: Uh 1984 is arguably the 49ers' best team ever.
15:41
SPEAKER_06: Uh, they're really kind of revolutionizing football with Bill Walsh and his West Coast offense.
15:46
SPEAKER_06: They have a quarterback who's pretty good.
15:48
SPEAKER_06: His name is Joe Montana.
15:50
SPEAKER_06: He's from around these parts.
15:52
SPEAKER_06: Nobody can figure out how to stop him.
15:54
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers, meanwhile, are a team in transition.
15:57
SPEAKER_06: Pretty much all the guys from the 70s, they're gone by this point, replaced with the likes of Mark Malone and Frank Pollard and Lewis Lips, names like that.
16:07
SPEAKER_06: When they meet at Candlestick Park in week seven, the 49ers are undefeated.
16:12
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers are three and three.
16:15
SPEAKER_07: Sounds like a fair matchup.
16:17
SPEAKER_06: So it's Joe Montana versus Mark Malone.
16:19
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it does not feel like much of a fair matchup, right?
16:23
SPEAKER_07: And who who's like who's like the big defensive player for the Steelers?
16:27
SPEAKER_07: Like, I don't know.
16:29
SPEAKER_06: Uh good question.
16:32
SPEAKER_07: Mereweather, I don't know.
16:34
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, Mike Merriweather, David Little.
16:36
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, David Little.
16:37
SPEAKER_07: David Little versus Roger Craig.
16:39
SPEAKER_07: There's a matchup for the ages.
16:41
SPEAKER_06: There you go.
16:42
SPEAKER_06: Well, it it the Steelers actually do come out and and surprise everyone.
16:48
SPEAKER_06: They jump out to an early 10-0 lead.
16:50
SPEAKER_06: I mean, you mentioned the defense, but they did a really good job shutting down the high-powered San Francisco offense for most of the game.
16:57
SPEAKER_06: The defensive coordinator for the Steelers is a guy named Tony Dungey.
17:01
SPEAKER_07: And he really calls-he'll never do anything.
17:03
SPEAKER_07: He'll never go anywhere.
17:04
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
17:05
SPEAKER_06: Well, he really calls it a masterful game.
17:06
SPEAKER_06: I mean, somebody should really give that guy a head coaching job at some point.
17:09
SPEAKER_07: Let's wait 20 years to do that.
17:11
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, for sure.
17:12
SPEAKER_06: Because the NFL is very smart.
17:14
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
17:16
SPEAKER_06: So the defense really, really shows up, but as we mentioned before, that you know, the Steelers offense isn't isn't great.
17:22
SPEAKER_06: You know, Lynn Swan and Terry Bratch aren't walking through that door.
17:26
SPEAKER_06: So they're not really getting any more points.
17:28
SPEAKER_06: And ultimately the Niners.
17:31
SPEAKER_06: Yep, that was my Patino reference.
17:33
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
17:34
SPEAKER_06: Ultimately the Niners mount a comeback.
17:36
SPEAKER_06: They take a 17 to 10 lead in the fourth quarter, but don't count out Mark Malone.
17:41
SPEAKER_06: He responds with a 15-play, 83-yard drive, comes down to a fourth and goal from the six-yard line.
17:47
SPEAKER_06: So remember, at this point, we're late in the fourth quarter.
17:51
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers are down by seven.
17:53
SPEAKER_06: And then the fourth and goal from the six.
17:55
SPEAKER_06: So it's touchdown or bust.
17:57
SPEAKER_06: And here's what happens.
18:00
SPEAKER_03: Going to go for the touchdown.
18:02
SPEAKER_03: 336 to play.
18:03
SPEAKER_03: Malone, lots of time.
18:05
SPEAKER_03: Malone now roading throwing over the middle.
18:08
SPEAKER_03: Oh, good play by Eric Wright.
18:11
SPEAKER_03: All right, another call interference.
18:13
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that call interference.
18:16
SPEAKER_03: Very late play.
18:19
SPEAKER_03: There's Stallworth.
18:20
SPEAKER_03: Wright comes on.
18:22
SPEAKER_03: Well, I don't know about that.
18:24
SPEAKER_03: I'm telling you.
18:26
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I it's Eric Wright made a nice play that probably shouldn't have been a penalty.
18:31
SPEAKER_07: And that's in San Francisco, right?
18:33
SPEAKER_07: Or is that here?
18:33
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, that's out San Francisco.
18:35
SPEAKER_07: That's grass, yeah.
18:37
SPEAKER_07: So boy, when the where were the fans with the swear words then?
18:45
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
18:46
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
18:46
SPEAKER_06: It's you know, we we've talked about this on the show before.
18:52
SPEAKER_06: I I think there's there's to me, there's like two categories of of bad calls.
18:56
SPEAKER_06: There's close calls and just outright terrible calls.
19:00
SPEAKER_06: I feel like that was a close call.
19:02
SPEAKER_06: Eric Wright was a Pro Bowl cornerback.
19:04
SPEAKER_06: He's really good.
19:05
SPEAKER_06: He's covering John Stallworth.
19:07
SPEAKER_06: He gets his arm in there.
19:08
SPEAKER_06: If you watch it on super slow motion, it looks like he makes a pretty good play.
19:12
SPEAKER_06: He gets his arm in front.
19:14
SPEAKER_06: Maybe he's grabbing onto the shoulder a little bit.
19:16
SPEAKER_06: It's it's ticky tack.
19:18
SPEAKER_06: They could have really let that go, but they don't.
19:21
SPEAKER_06: They call pass interference.
19:22
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers get a fresh set of downs, and they get the game-tying touchdown.
19:27
SPEAKER_07: Well, the game's only tied, and in, you know, the Steelers defend.
19:32
SPEAKER_07: It's not like they took the lead on that play.
19:34
SPEAKER_06: That's what I was just about to note, Steve.
19:36
SPEAKER_06: I'm glad you said it.
19:37
SPEAKER_06: It does only tie the game.
19:41
SPEAKER_06: Tough calls.
19:42
SPEAKER_07: And you have Joe Montana like the greatest offense ever.
19:45
SPEAKER_07: That's you know.
19:46
SPEAKER_07: It's not like they'll ever be able to drive the field 98 yards with John Candy in attendance.
19:53
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
19:53
SPEAKER_07: Score a game-winning touchdown.
19:55
SPEAKER_06: They don't even need 90 yards, Steve.
19:57
SPEAKER_06: All they need is a field goal.
19:58
SPEAKER_06: It's tied, like you said.
19:59
SPEAKER_06: So Joe Montana certainly can get you in field goal range with three minutes left, right?
20:04
SPEAKER_06: Let's see.
20:07
SPEAKER_03: Montana's got time, got a man, and it's hole.
20:11
SPEAKER_03: Coming back with it is Hinkle.
20:13
SPEAKER_03: Hinkle down the sideline.
20:15
SPEAKER_03: Hinkle still going.
20:16
SPEAKER_07: It was the other linebacker.
20:19
SPEAKER_03: All the way down inside the
20:23
SPEAKER_07: That's right.
20:24
SPEAKER_07: Don't sleep on.
20:25
SPEAKER_07: Was it Craig Hinkle?
20:26
SPEAKER_07: Brian Hinkle.
20:28
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, who was a pretty good linebacker on that on those 80s teams.
20:31
SPEAKER_06: He intercepts Montana, takes it inside the five.
20:34
SPEAKER_06: Gary Anderson trots out, kicks an easy field goal, and the Steelers win.
20:39
SPEAKER_06: It's a huge upset because it ends up being the only game San Francisco loses that entire season.
20:46
SPEAKER_07: Wow, another 15-1 team.
20:48
SPEAKER_07: Yep.
20:49
SPEAKER_07: So in back-to-back years is the NFL had two 15-and-one teams.
20:53
SPEAKER_06: Correct.
20:54
SPEAKER_07: That's crazy.
20:56
SPEAKER_06: Yep, and that's the only that's the only game they lost.
20:58
SPEAKER_06: Uh to this day, there's still controversy over that pass interference call, the Niners.
21:04
SPEAKER_06: I think that that cost them an undefeated season.
21:09
SPEAKER_07: I would say Joe Montana throwing an interception cost you in the undefeated season, but that's just me.
21:15
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I mean we've talked about this before too, right?
21:18
SPEAKER_06: So there's bad calls, close calls.
21:20
SPEAKER_06: There's tough calls that go don't go your way.
21:23
SPEAKER_06: But then there's a lot of instances in NFL history where you look back on a bad call or a close call and forget that the team still had ample opportunity to do something after that.
21:34
SPEAKER_06: Even the worst call that I've ever seen, the Jesse James call.
21:37
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, we could have kicked the field goal after that.
21:39
SPEAKER_06: We could have, yeah, we still had a chance to do something after that.
21:42
SPEAKER_06: The Tuck roll is another good example.
21:44
SPEAKER_06: You know, okay, the Patriots still had the ball, but they still could have stopped them from driving and tying the game.
21:50
SPEAKER_06: Well, I don't know.
21:50
SPEAKER_07: That that was a heck of a kick by Adam, but that's that 50 yards in the snow, that was insane.
21:57
SPEAKER_06: But they weren't in field goal range when the Tuck roll play had.
22:00
SPEAKER_06: is what I'm saying.
22:01
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
22:01
SPEAKER_06: You play defense and you know, and and and the Tuck roll play.
22:06
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
22:06
SPEAKER_06: So anyway, point this being that you you can still you can still and in this case you had Joe Montana and he threw an interception.
22:14
SPEAKER_06: So again conveniently forgotten, but here's Bill Walsh addressing it with his team the week after the game.
22:21
SPEAKER_05: We say that officials can lose it for you.
22:23
SPEAKER_05: They did.
22:24
SPEAKER_05: But that's part of the game.
22:26
SPEAKER_05: They're inept idiots.
22:32
SPEAKER_05: But that is part of life, whether you're driving down the street or in the military or working somewhere or making love or whatever the hell it is.
22:42
SPEAKER_05: There are some things that happen out of your control.
22:44
SPEAKER_05: You have to account for them and overcome it.
22:47
SPEAKER_07: He actually said the exact same thing that that we said.
22:52
SPEAKER_07: He really did.
22:53
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
22:53
SPEAKER_07: I mean I I mean I'm sure the officials don't appreciate being cold enough idiots but his his point being like I think he was just tapping into the emotions of his team and just like basically saying well that's fine.
23:06
SPEAKER_07: You can be upset about it all you want but he's saying the same thing we're saying.
23:10
SPEAKER_06: Yeah you got you had a chance don't throw an interception to Brian Ingle okay yeah right and that was not a press conference that was private discussion with his team that somebody happened to film.
23:21
SPEAKER_07: So that's what he told his team privately that's probably why he didn't get fined for it.
23:26
SPEAKER_06: Right.
23:27
SPEAKER_06: Right.
23:28
SPEAKER_06: Uh one one footnote we mentioned the Steelers are three and three coming into that game.
23:32
SPEAKER_06: That win really gives them a bunch of momentum and they make a surprise run that year all the way to the AFC championship game where they bow out to Dan Marino and the Dolphins.
23:42
SPEAKER_06: So they were one game away from a rematch with the 49ers in Super Bowl nineteen imagine the storyline if that would have happened Steve if the Steelers would have found a way to win that game against Miami.
23:54
SPEAKER_06: So that the 49ers would have been in the Super Bowl against the only team they lost to that season do you think Mark Malone beats go Montana twice?
24:02
SPEAKER_07: How does Harvey the toast Clayton hold up against Jerry Rice twice?
24:06
SPEAKER_07: I mean Gary Rice was still in college at the time that's how oh who's the receivers uh they had Dwight Clark he was pretty good.
24:17
SPEAKER_06: Yeah I I again it was their offense was Montana.
24:20
SPEAKER_06: I mean that as long as you had they still had Roger Craig so right I mean look at look at Brady I mean he had Randy Moss once he had other decent receivers but it didn't really matter as long as you had the the all world quarterback not Jerry Rice obviously super super good too so David Patton is immortal all right so let's fast forward three years.
24:46
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers are opening the 1987 season at home against guess who uh Dallas Cowboys.
24:53
SPEAKER_06: Yes how did you know that uh it's the it's the 49ers so it's Joe Montana versus Mark Malone part two the revenge well Montana's not going to lose to Malone twice right never uh so there's a lot of hand wringing in Pittsburgh prior to this game Steve well there's one thing we're good at that's wringing our hands oh yes and and dread and doom but the reason for that might surprise you it's because the Steelers have gone 0 and 4 in the preseason who cares so in in the defense of 1987 Pittsburgh fans back then you did play your starters in preseason games way more than you do now.
25:39
SPEAKER_06: Right now it's like they might get a series sometimes they sit for the entire game back then the the preseason games you you played a lot of starters for significant time so it was kind of seen as a spirometer for how the season was going to go.
25:53
SPEAKER_06: So people were really just dreading the season this is going to be a terrible team that the offense especially looks terrible in those preseason games can't do anything on offense but in week one of the regular season here against San Francisco the offense still looks really bad.
26:14
SPEAKER_07: Mark Malone in this game Steve this Joe is this the Joe Walton offense or are he still pre-Joe Walton?
26:21
SPEAKER_06: We're still pre-Joe Walton okay but but Mark Malone in this game nine for 33 for 99 yards passing.
26:29
SPEAKER_06: It's better than eight for 33 he's booed by the crowd at Three River Stadium which isn't wasn't unusual in those days.
26:38
SPEAKER_07: Who is their backup Cliff Stout?
26:40
SPEAKER_06: I don't even I believe it was Bubby Burster by that point.
26:43
SPEAKER_06: The Bubster so you know always the be careful what you wish for thing there.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: So the offense stinks good news though is that the the defense comes to play once again Tony Dundee for whatever reason has Bill Walsh's number and his defense gets off to a big start with this play on 49ers running back Roger Craig And the man with the football is the rookie number 35, Belton Hall.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: number Mike with the number 57 right there takes the buffet nobody around you know they don't have enough announcers with southern accents in the game anyway do you know who that was I don't know somebody from the South the snake Kenny Stabler.
27:39
SPEAKER_06: Nice Alabama yeah yeah they they they really I like I like I like it like you know even Peyton Manning kind of got rid of his southern draw it's like they should just let people be people they used to have a lot more announcers that had an accent you don't you don't see that as much anymore it's a good let me announce a game and fool Yinzer hey you had like you had like Lindsay Nelson you had like Keith Jackson those guys all had those thicker at cents you're right you don't see that the Barnburn of a play Dalton Hall yeah so yeah so so uh a fumble return for a touchdown the defense also intercepts Montana three times one of those was again from Delton Hall that was that guy was playing in his first ever football game and he was if Steelware fans remember Dalton Hall they'll probably remember he was not good uh he got burned a lot but man in that game he thought he was an extra I didn't think he was that terrible was he that bad I don't know he he wasn't he wasn't good I mean he had a I think I if I remember correctly he had a really good rookie season obviously very good first game has an interception and a and a fumble return for a touchdown uh but yeah basically the defense uh Montana Jerry Rice is playing by this point Montana and Rice still rack up a bunch of yards but those turnovers really kill them and the Steelers win 30 to 17.
29:04
SPEAKER_06: Yikes not even a game yeah yeah it's another shocking win because in 1987 the 49ers only lose two games in regular season two wow yeah and that's one of them so in 1984 and 1987 the 49ers lost three regular season games and two of them were to Mark Malone Well you can't stop Mark Malone you can only hope to contain him I mean and their defense was pretty good like they had um Ronnie Lott and you know I don't know if Eric Wright was still playing in 1980 was this eighty seven yeah yeah but they definitely had Ronnie Lott.
29:42
SPEAKER_06: Well well again Malone was nine for 33 I think I think honestly that was all turnovers.
29:48
SPEAKER_07: It was just the the you have a defensive touchdown you had interceptions that put them in in scoring range so it was one of those you know yeah when you can score 30 points on only throwing nine completing nine passes that's probably your offense there's that much.
30:05
SPEAKER_06: For sure uh what one footnote to this game uh Niners owner Eddie D'Bartolo who also wins the Penguins at the time uh says this after the game quote if I had to lose to anybody today I'm glad I lost to Pittsburgh I think the world of Art Rooney Dan and his family I wish them the best they went all out to make things comfortable for us today except on the field I like Eddie Darbartolo you gotta like it yeah yeah class all class right so when he wasn't well that was his dad that built the balls right yeah yeah he was a good owner of the penguins he was a good owner of the penguins he was yeah yeah yeah so that was 1987 let's go to 1990 and this this script might sound familiar 49ers are really really good in fact at this point they have just won the previous two Super Bowls and this is another season where the Niners only lose two regular season games once again they're playing the Steelers this time it's Montana versus Bubby Brister uh Tony Dundee's gone by this point but once again the defense is all over Montana they intercept him twice in the first half this is at San Francisco too and Steve here's here's a great trivia question Tony Dundee's gone you have to be a real diehard Steelers fan to know the answer to this who's the Steelers defensive coordinator at this point what year is this 89?
31:28
SPEAKER_07: 90 90?
31:30
SPEAKER_05: Yikes I you got me on that one it's Dave Brazil oh yeah the immortal Dave Brazil yep like I said you really have to be a diehard I get the feeling San Francisco's gonna win this one well let's see let's see what happens let's see how this plays out because I honestly don't know who won this game I know there's another year where Steve Young carves this up there there is so in in the second half the 49ers they have a slim lead but the Stewart are right in this game they're they're they're primed to make a comeback make it a trifecta of go Montana upsets it's very similar to the 84 game you know they're down in the second half but the defense has kept it very close all they have to do is put together a drive like they did in that 84 game and then here's what happens kick is short coming up together that
32:18
SPEAKER_02: Foster.
32:19
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a free ball.
32:20
SPEAKER_02: That's a free ball.
32:21
SPEAKER_02: And the 49ers get a touchdown.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: Rookie Barry Foster from now, Arkansas just let the ball go.
32:32
SPEAKER_05: I haven't ever seen that before in 30 years of football.
32:35
SPEAKER_05: You always talk to people about it.
32:37
SPEAKER_05: You warn them about it.
32:39
SPEAKER_05: Oh while George Seafert was the coach then George Sefort was the coach Bill Walsh was actually the guy announcing there he was the one that said in 30 years of football I've never seen that totally taking credit oh I took total I I totally coached him up on that play what hap what happens there is the 49ers are kicking off and Barry Foster for the Steelers is the return man and it goes over his head and he just lets it bounce at the five yard line he he he treats it like a punt.
33:14
SPEAKER_06: It's like oh I can't catch it so I'll just let it go and let the other team down it like you would a punt.
33:19
SPEAKER_06: But on a kickoff of course that's a live ball and the 49ers pounce on it they open up a two score lead the Steelers aren't able to overcome that and the and San Francisco ends up winning that game pretty handily.
33:32
SPEAKER_06: Everybody's really angry at Barry Foster after that game.
33:36
SPEAKER_06: Chuck Knowle says quote we screwed up good and the prevailing narrative looking back on that it's it's one of those like all-time bloopers and and I the narrative in Pittsburgh is has always been that Knoll never forgave Foster for that play and basically made him ride the bench for the next two seasons until Bill Cower came in as head coach and then Foster got to play and and promptly set the team single season rushing record.
34:03
SPEAKER_06: But the way Foster tells it uh he was a rookie he was still learning and he says Knowle was actually very supportive Foster says that when the other coaches would yell at him Chuck Knoll would say back off and Foster said quote I always respected that about him he just kind of made me feel a little bit better that even though I was making mistakes he supported me yeah that's why I always thought about what happened to him but maybe he just wasn't ready to play for two more years.
34:33
SPEAKER_07: I don't know when he was ready to play though he had a heck of a couple seasons there before decided just to collect the paycheck and go home and sit in he lives somewhere in Arkansas I imagine I don't know hanging out in Arkansas.
34:46
SPEAKER_06: I mean if he saved his money right I mean I could imagine he lived like a king in Arkansas with all that NFL money yeah he didn't have a very long career he he um he was out of the league by like ninety five ninety four I think yeah or you're right ninety five ninety four was his I think his last game was that I think his last play was that pass in the Chargers game yep yeah so yeah and and that was again one of those instances where maybe the Steelers come back and win maybe they don't but that play definitely definitely killed any chance of that uh and the 49ers again Steelers very mediocre 49ers uh at the peak of their powers so this would have been interesting Steve if they would have actually beaten them three times in that Joe Montana era but it was it did not happen not to be not to be all right we're gonna zip forward to the year 2011 for our next Steelers 49ers memory and that year the the two teams are scheduled to meet on a Monday night game at San Francisco in week 15 very late in the season huge game because both teams are 10 and 3 at the time some people are even saying this is this is a Super Bowl preview Steelers and 49ers both 10 and 3 both both very good that year.
36:11
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers have a couple of problems however problem number one James Harrison is suspended for this game because of a hit on Brown's quarterback Colt McCoy the week before Colt McCoy by the way projected opening day starter for your Arizona Cardinals this season so kudos to that guy for playing into his 80s foul yeah foul for Social Security along with his NFL pension or NFL payjack.
36:42
SPEAKER_06: So so no James Harrison the other big problem that happened in that Cleveland game the week before Ben Rothesberger had sprained his ankle and he was in a walking boot all week and at this point in the season we said the Stewart are 10 and 3 but two of those three losses had come against the Ravens so the only way that they can beat out Baltimore in the division is to have more wins than them because Baltimore wins all the tiebreakers and there's only three games left on the schedule so that feels like it's unlikely.
37:15
SPEAKER_06: So the question all week is who do you start in this game?
37:18
SPEAKER_06: Do you start a very hobbled Ben can he even play or do you start Charlie Batch well we said this game was on a Monday.
37:27
SPEAKER_06: On Sunday the Ravens lose to San Diego so now if the Sea O's can win this game then they can leave Prague in front of Baltimore and there's only two weeks left in the season after this right they can win the division.
37:42
SPEAKER_01: So Mike Tomlin makes the decision he's gonna start Rothisberger even though Ben can barely walk and I mean that was the pregame reports he was out there warming up and he could barely walk but Tomlin feels like that's still their best option the the the 49ers this was the Jim Harbaugh era 49ers they had a really good defense so that just the thinking from Tomlin was Ben's our best option uh it does not start well rothlisberger throws two early interceptions and then in the second quarter this happens we're back live in San Francisco just seconds before we went to break all of the power has gone out again here at hand of the card at 59 plus effectively 11 minutes before we put it on the gets started We had a transformer blow and we were delayed about twenty minutes or so in kicking the game Manifest and the street I think 43 plus effective three minutes into the second quarter the lights have gone out again you're a candlestick the only light that you're seeing actually other than the scoreboard are lights from cameras and cell phones.
38:59
SPEAKER_07: Nobody forgot to pay the Powerbow Do you remember that Steve?
39:06
SPEAKER_07: Ah yes I do.
39:08
SPEAKER_07: I remember I think the Steelers didn't have much a chance to beat this team before this week.
39:13
SPEAKER_07: I I think this is the game I'm thinking of I just remember knowing they would lose this for whatever reason just maybe just because all the times they've gone out and lost to the Raiders like like Tomlin does not do well on the West Coast.
39:26
SPEAKER_07: Except for that one time against San Diego where he inexplicably beat them with Duck Hodges.
39:31
SPEAKER_07: That's right.
39:32
SPEAKER_06: So I I I I don't know I mean yeah it was it was a weird game and and then the the the as you heard there two did actually two separate power outages just grind this game to a halt.
39:46
SPEAKER_06: And what I remember thinking Steve is I I remember thinking they should make San Francisco forfeit this game.
39:52
SPEAKER_06: Because I mean it was ridiculous.
39:54
SPEAKER_06: You know if you're responsible for providing the facilities if you can't get stuff to work and we can't play a real football game then that's on you right like the the it was it was just these delays and you had to wait forever for them to get the power back on.
40:09
SPEAKER_06: But again like we said earlier nothing stops the NFL train.
40:13
SPEAKER_06: They ultimately do get the lights back on.
40:16
SPEAKER_06: Unfortunately when they do that Ben and the Steelers offense are still in power outage mode the the 49ers do win that game 20-3.
40:24
SPEAKER_06: And that's a big deal because it basically relegates the Steelers to wildcard status.
40:28
SPEAKER_06: And then three weeks later they have to go to Denver to face Tim Tebow in the playoffs and they have to sit Ryan Clark because it's in Denver and we all know how that game ended.
40:39
SPEAKER_06: So losing this game in San Francisco kind of ruined whatever chances the Steelers had of doing something special that season yeah it would that was a weird year.
40:50
SPEAKER_07: Was that the San Francisco Baltimore Super Bowl year?
40:53
SPEAKER_06: No that was the Giants and Patriots Super Bowl year the second Giants Patriots San Francisco actually ended up hosting the NFC championship game but uh the guy whose name I won't remember their punt returner fumbled the ball in overtime and uh the Giants recovered and took a field goal and beat them.
41:13
SPEAKER_06: Yeah and the Ravens lost the AFC championship game to the Patriots because their kicker missed a pretty easy field goal.
41:23
SPEAKER_06: So it yeah it it it honestly the Ravens that didn't happen for a couple more years yeah it was the it was the year after but honestly like if it weren't for missed field goals and guys fumbling punts that really could have been the Super Bowl two years in a row pretty easily wow that's crazy I forgot how good San Francisco was back then they were they were a really good team for a couple years.
41:47
SPEAKER_06: Hardball you know say what you will like he was a pretty good NFL coach and because they were nothing they were nothing before he showed up right that's right the the the they kind of went from you know they they went from Montana to Steve Young and they had basically like two decades of dominance and then the 2000s were were bad.
42:07
SPEAKER_06: I mean they were really bad yeah they were they they had Jeff Garcia they had a if if I remember correctly a couple decent seasons with him but then they were just awful and they went went through all these coaches remember Mike Singletary was their coach for a while.
42:18
SPEAKER_07: I remember Dennis Erickson was their coach Dennis Erickson yeah they had Mike Nolan they didn't they have a guy named Mike Nolan is yeah he's he's a guy that wore suits remember yeah well he wanted to wear a suit in the NFL because his dad Dick Nolan had coached the NFL I guess he had worn a suit so it's like as a tribute to my dad can wear a suit in the NFL it's like no you have to wear the approved sideline wear.
42:41
SPEAKER_07: They they eventually let him I think wear a suit and it had to it had to say like it had like a little San Francisco it like the NFL finally caught on to like hey wait a minute we can make money and sell suits too and it's like finally the greed got the better of the NFL and they're like oh okay yeah we'll put in like a little 49ers logo on like the pocket of the suit and it's like ooh look I like who would go out and buy like a suit with a 49ers pocket logo on it like ooh do you work I'm sure they sold I'm sure they sold at least some of them so it was worthwhile for them.
43:11
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
43:13
SPEAKER_06: But you're right yeah Harbaugh you're right Harbaugh not a guy is easy to like but you can't argue with his track record.
43:21
SPEAKER_06: No no yeah after that after this 2011 game a lot of bad feelings uh Ryan Clark insinuates that the power outages were intentional because there'd been a lot of drama in San Francisco about a new stadium.
43:36
SPEAKER_06: This was still Candlestick Park in 2011 and it was before they built that new stadium in Santa Clara and there was a bunch of hubbub over that so Ryan Clark thinks they did it on purpose to try to like oh we need a new stadium.
43:49
SPEAKER_06: Right.
43:50
SPEAKER_07: I always thought that too maybe that's why I got that from Ryan Clark.
43:53
SPEAKER_07: I mean I don't think it affected the game at all besides having to sit around for a couple minutes.
43:59
SPEAKER_06: Well it's one of Those things you could argue affects both teams equally, right?
44:03
SPEAKER_06: It's not like anybody got an advantage out of it.
44:06
SPEAKER_07: I I think it the people that were advocating for a new stadium got an advantage out of it.
44:11
SPEAKER_07: True.
44:13
SPEAKER_07: Look, the old stadium can't even keep the lights on.
44:16
SPEAKER_06: So so Ryan Clark says that.
44:18
SPEAKER_06: Ben says that he feels like the Niners defenders were targeting his injured ankle.
44:23
SPEAKER_06: Like they were diving his ankle on purpose.
44:26
SPEAKER_07: What a shocker.
44:27
SPEAKER_07: Like they weren't doing that.
44:28
SPEAKER_07: Like if they weren't doing that, were you playing football?
44:31
SPEAKER_07: I mean, come on.
44:33
SPEAKER_06: So yeah, just a surprising amount of just kind of hard feelings after that game.
44:38
SPEAKER_06: And again, I think the Steelers probably realized at the time that losing that game would really hurt their chances of getting back to the Super Bowl.
44:46
SPEAKER_06: A lot of Monday morning quarterbacking on this one, too, as to whether or not you should have played Ben Rothesberger.
44:54
SPEAKER_06: For what it's worth, Tomlin does start Charlie Batch the following week against the Rams.
44:59
SPEAKER_06: And the Steelers win that game 27-0.
45:02
SPEAKER_06: But to be fair, the Rams were just a putrid two-win team that year.
45:06
SPEAKER_07: Is that what they're still in St.
45:07
SPEAKER_07: Louis?
45:08
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and I think they had um oh who was Sam Bradford.
45:12
SPEAKER_06: Was that the guy they drafted that was a bust, right?
45:15
SPEAKER_07: People from Oklahoma that won't be going to the NFL hall.
45:18
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
45:19
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
45:19
SPEAKER_06: So so I mean, that's that's not quite the same as if you would have started Charlie Bat in San Francisco.
45:27
SPEAKER_06: Uh so so I don't know.
45:29
SPEAKER_06: Was it the right move to start Ben or not?
45:31
SPEAKER_06: Did they win that game?
45:32
SPEAKER_06: Did they lose that game no matter what Steve D'Ar point?
45:36
SPEAKER_07: I thought I thought I thought they I just thought I remember thinking they're not going to win this game.
45:40
SPEAKER_07: Just because Tomlin's horrible on the West Coast and San Francisco was good.
45:45
SPEAKER_07: So that was kind of my my thought process on that one.
45:49
SPEAKER_07: I don't know.
45:50
SPEAKER_07: I just like sometimes you just get an intuition about certain games.
45:54
SPEAKER_07: You're like, okay, there's no way the Steelers win this.
45:57
SPEAKER_07: Sometimes you're wrong, but I don't know.
45:59
SPEAKER_07: I've noticed mine, especially with like more pit football and you maybe just have, well, I just I could probably go through their schedule and with 90% accuracy tell you which ones are gonna win and lose.
46:11
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you kind of get that.
46:13
SPEAKER_06: You kind of get that uh after watching a team for enough years.
46:17
SPEAKER_07: I guess too, it's like you have a 50-50 chance, you know.
46:20
SPEAKER_07: It's like, you know, flip a flip a coin, you could pick it that way too.
46:24
SPEAKER_07: Would it be any better?
46:25
SPEAKER_07: I don't know.
46:26
SPEAKER_06: Not not having James Harrison hurt too, that was that was a big controversy.
46:30
SPEAKER_06: We actually covered that in our forgotten controversies episode, him getting suspended for that hit on Colt McCoy, because the controversy there was that uh McCoy was running on that play.
46:41
SPEAKER_06: He scrambled, so he he turned himself into a running back.
46:45
SPEAKER_06: So the hit that Harrison put on him really if that was if that was that where they made him start after he had he had a concussion?
46:53
SPEAKER_07: Like Yeah, that's right.
46:55
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah.
46:55
SPEAKER_06: Cleveland, yeah, that's right.
46:59
SPEAKER_06: James Harrison completely knocked him out.
47:01
SPEAKER_06: He he in Cleveland in all their Cleveland wisdom put him back into the game, and he said later that he didn't remember half of the fourth quarter or whatever, but uh that was another another controversy about that game in the NFL um publishing a picture of of the of him being dazed or something.
47:21
SPEAKER_06: They had it on their website to sell or something.
47:23
SPEAKER_06: Remember that?
47:24
SPEAKER_06: So yeah, there was there was a whole thing around that.
47:27
SPEAKER_06: Um so yeah, who who knows if they win anyway?
47:30
SPEAKER_06: Uh honestly, I think the thing that I'll kind of always remember from this is that I think that season was really lost the week before in that game against Cleveland, not when Harrison got suspended, but when Ben got hurt, and he got hurt trying to extend a play like he always did back then.
47:52
SPEAKER_06: He was he was yeah, he was in the pocket, he was um being pressured, he didn't try to throw it away, he didn't take a sack, he tried to scramble around and then he got hit, and that's when he hurt his ankle.
48:04
SPEAKER_06: And and Ben had so much success playing like that.
48:07
SPEAKER_06: He had been to three Super Bowls, obviously, but it's also what got him injured a lot.
48:12
SPEAKER_06: And you know, I I've said it before on the show that 2011 season is when I think the Rooneys just decided enough is enough, we can't do this anymore.
48:21
SPEAKER_06: And then they fired Bruce Arians after that year.
48:24
SPEAKER_06: Bruce Arians was a very successful offensive coordinator, obviously went on to become a very successful coach other places, but they just couldn't play that style of offense anymore.
48:35
SPEAKER_06: And and I mean, again, looking back, it it Ben played another decade after he after he stopped playing with that style.
48:44
SPEAKER_06: So I I don't know.
48:45
SPEAKER_06: I just I think that was the kind of the seminal moment of the season, him getting hurt because he was scrambling, and then him getting hurt made it almost guaranteed they were gonna lose that game as the 49ers, and because of that, they you know they're wild card and they lost that game because they had to play in a city where their their starting safety had to sit.
49:07
SPEAKER_07: So definitely like a weird like butterfly effect there going on.
49:14
SPEAKER_06: For sure.
49:16
SPEAKER_06: All right, uh, we're gonna go to the 2015 season.
49:20
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers once again opened their home schedule that year against the 49ers.
49:23
SPEAKER_06: Here's a fun fact in the last 40 years, the 49ers have made six trips to Pittsburgh.
49:29
SPEAKER_06: Four of those those six games, including this upcoming game in 2023, served as the Steelers home opener.
49:37
SPEAKER_06: So that's kind of interesting.
49:39
SPEAKER_06: I I don't I don't I don't know if that's coincidence or what, but probably.
49:44
SPEAKER_07: I mean, I don't know.
49:45
SPEAKER_07: I mean it's hard to like without like uh you know something to give perspective.
49:51
SPEAKER_07: I mean it's not like a divisional opponent where you're gonna play them a lot.
49:56
SPEAKER_06: Right.
49:57
SPEAKER_06: Just just interesting that you know you have eight home games a year, and of those six times they came here, four of those six were the the home opener.
50:05
SPEAKER_07: So they don't get the home opener a lot either.
50:09
SPEAKER_07: Like in well, I guess they have a home opener every year, but early in the season they don't have a home opener.
50:15
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
50:16
SPEAKER_06: I mean the after the the first home game.
50:19
SPEAKER_06: Not sometimes it was the first game, like that 87 game was the first game.
50:22
unknown: Yeah.
50:23
SPEAKER_06: And then and then one of those Steve Young years, it was the first game.
50:27
SPEAKER_06: But um, I think in 2015, I think it might have been week two at that point, but it was the homeover because of yeah, what we stated before, because the pirates always play on Labor Day.
50:36
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
50:37
SPEAKER_06: Pirates always ruin everything.
50:39
SPEAKER_06: I think that's the moral of the story.
50:41
SPEAKER_09: Okay.
50:41
SPEAKER_06: Uh this game is worth mentioning because it comes at a time when the Steelers offense is is at the height of its powers.
50:48
SPEAKER_06: Ben Rothesberger torches the 49ers' defense for 369 yards.
50:53
SPEAKER_06: 195 of those yards are to Antonio Brown.
50:56
SPEAKER_06: And that's all despite the fact that the Steelers only had the ball for 23 minutes during that game.
51:02
SPEAKER_06: D'Angelo Williams has three touchdowns, and you know it's going to be a long day for your defense when you get burnt by this guy.
51:11
SPEAKER_02: Target three.
51:13
SPEAKER_02: Cross-play action.
51:15
SPEAKER_02: Offless Berger to the end zone.
51:17
SPEAKER_02: Is Hayward Bay makes the catch for Steelers touchdown?
51:23
unknown: Wow.
51:27
SPEAKER_07: I remember that game.
51:28
SPEAKER_07: I when you first said I I didn't remember.
51:30
SPEAKER_07: But then when you showed that highlight, that was the game I remember Ben was absolutely on fire.
51:34
SPEAKER_07: Like his passes, like even that pass, like it wasn't like he was wide open.
51:39
SPEAKER_07: He was just pinpoint accurate.
51:41
SPEAKER_07: And I think with then did Kaepernick play in this game, they had to Nope.
51:45
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was Kaepernick.
51:46
SPEAKER_07: And he was horrible.
51:48
SPEAKER_07: He like overthrew everybody.
51:49
SPEAKER_07: I I remember thinking, why do people think this guy's even good?
51:53
SPEAKER_07: Like, and then like, oh, he should be in the NFL.
51:55
SPEAKER_07: I watched him play, he was not that good.
51:58
SPEAKER_07: He I don't even know how they made the Super Bowl with him that one year.
52:01
SPEAKER_07: He has a he has a really strong arm, but he's not accurate.
52:05
SPEAKER_07: He is like the classic Cordell Stewart problem.
52:08
SPEAKER_07: Like, you're just like one of those quarterbacks has a really strong arm, but it's not accurate, and that just if you're not accurate in the NFL, you're you're not gonna be a quarterback for very long.
52:19
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think Cordell Stewart's a great comp because guys like that can have short-term success because they're playmakers.
52:25
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
52:26
SPEAKER_06: They can make plays, like Cordell would make plays, you know, and that's how you'd win games.
52:30
SPEAKER_06: But then if you got into like something very clutch, like say an AFC championship game, then he he wouldn't, or the defense or good defense would just figure it out.
52:41
SPEAKER_06: And and you're right, Kaepernick had that success early in his career, and by 2015, he's not good anymore.
52:47
SPEAKER_06: And this is before all the national anthem stuff.
52:50
SPEAKER_06: And what I remember about that game, Steve, is that the the the people sitting in front of me, I was at this game at Heinz Field.
52:57
SPEAKER_06: The people in front of me were 49ers fans with their 49ers gear on, and they were screaming at him the whole game.
53:05
SPEAKER_06: And instead of calling him Kaepernick, they were replacing the N in his last name with a D.
53:11
SPEAKER_07: Oh, okay.
53:12
SPEAKER_07: Well, that that that went better than I thought it would.
53:16
SPEAKER_06: I mean So that's what I remember.
53:19
SPEAKER_06: Their their fans were just didn't like him, thought he should be benched.
53:23
SPEAKER_06: And again, there's there's always narratives that form in sports, just like their narratives that form everywhere else.
53:28
SPEAKER_07: And the Jabroni coach, too.
53:30
SPEAKER_07: Like their coach was a joke, too.
53:32
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think that was that Tim Tom Sola guy.
53:34
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, he was there one year.
53:36
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
53:36
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
53:37
SPEAKER_06: I I could be wrong, but I remember that sounds right, yeah.
53:40
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and and and you know, the the narrative around Kaepernick is he was a Super Bowl quarterback, and then he protested and then he was banned from the league.
53:49
SPEAKER_06: But people don't remember that he was not very good for a couple years, actually lost his job to I want to say Blaine Gabbard, uh, who also wasn't very good, right?
54:00
SPEAKER_06: So that was kind of really if if you want like the real story, that's really what happened.
54:04
SPEAKER_06: And then when it came time for, you know, uh would somebody want to sign him or not, I mean eh, you know, yes, you could have a mediocre backup or third string quarterback, but there's lots of those guys, right?
54:19
SPEAKER_07: And they don't have all the, yeah.
54:21
SPEAKER_07: That's he he is the same problem, and I've said this before.
54:24
SPEAKER_07: Him and T Tim Tebow have the same problem, right?
54:27
SPEAKER_07: And quite honestly, Tim Tebow is like has half the arm that this guy has, and but he's not as accurate and can't read a defense.
54:36
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, would you want your your second or third string quarterback to be the subject of every interview, all this media hubbub?
54:44
SPEAKER_06: I I I don't see why you'd want that.
54:46
SPEAKER_06: And what the cost-benefit analysis is you're you're you're not winning out there.
54:52
SPEAKER_06: Uh and and like you said with the 49ers, interesting, like we talked about like Montana Young, and then they stink, and then Harbaugh.
55:00
SPEAKER_06: They had this dip in the mid-2010s where after Harbaugh was gone, they went through a bunch of really bad seasons again.
55:08
SPEAKER_06: And then uh Shanahan comes in, and they've been to what, I want to say three of the last four NFC championship games, if I'm counting correctly.
55:18
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and then they go to a Super Bowl, too, didn't they?
55:20
SPEAKER_06: And a Super Bowl that they almost won against Kansas City.
55:23
SPEAKER_07: So uh, you know, I they almost won with their third string quarterback, who I don't I think the the book's still out on Brock Birdie.
55:32
SPEAKER_06: And and going back to this 2015 game, it wasn't it wasn't much of a game.
55:37
SPEAKER_06: The Steelers win 43 to 18.
55:39
SPEAKER_06: But I I put it on here just kind of a reminder of how elite the Steelers offense was in the mid-2010s, and how really unfortunate it was that they were never able to make it to a Super Bowl.
55:50
SPEAKER_06: Because when you had Rothesberger and Lev Bell and Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant, and it was, you know, even like D'Angelo Williams, like we said, had three touchdowns in this game.
56:02
SPEAKER_06: It was it was just such a good offense, and it just never it just never came together.
56:09
SPEAKER_06: Lots of reasons for that we've talked about before, definitely some team cancers and things like that, some unfortunate events like Brian Chazier getting hurt.
56:18
SPEAKER_06: Uh, but man, it just reminds you of how how good that offense was.
56:24
unknown: Right?
56:25
SPEAKER_07: How like teams went 15 and 1, like it boggles your mind.
56:28
SPEAKER_07: Like, you know, how does a team like even there was a year, what year was it?
56:32
SPEAKER_07: Was it the COVID year when the Steelers were undefeated?
56:35
SPEAKER_07: Was that the I mean even that year, but then everybody got hurt because they kept having to play like three games in a week.
56:43
SPEAKER_07: It was in that that ended that season.
56:46
SPEAKER_07: If they don't have to, if the Rooney stand up a little bit more to the league and say, no, you can move Baltimore schedule.
56:52
SPEAKER_07: Like Baltimore never that never happened to Baltimore, not once.
56:55
SPEAKER_07: And I would I mean I would be really ticked because that totally ruined, they had a legitimate gripe that year that that ruined their season.
57:02
SPEAKER_07: Because wasn't there a year Yeah, there was one was that over Thanksgiving where they had to play an extra game in the middle of a week?
57:08
SPEAKER_07: They literally played like three games in two weeks.
57:11
SPEAKER_07: It's like Detroit doesn't even do that, and they have to play on Thanksgiving every year.
57:16
SPEAKER_07: It's ridiculous.
57:18
SPEAKER_06: Yep.
57:19
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
57:20
SPEAKER_06: But but yeah, I just I I don't know.
57:23
SPEAKER_06: I don't know what will it be interesting to look back on those 2010 2010 tens.
57:30
SPEAKER_06: It's hard, hard decade to really 70s, 80s, 90s, the tens.
57:34
SPEAKER_06: The tens.
57:35
SPEAKER_06: But looking back on those teams, I mean, I don't know if the Stewart will ever have that good of an offense ever again.
57:40
SPEAKER_06: But but it never really they never won anything.
57:44
SPEAKER_06: Like we were our last episode, we were talking about Dan Marino, you know, and his great NFL career, but he never won anything.
57:50
SPEAKER_06: It it just that offense was kind of feel, yeah.
57:54
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
57:55
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
57:55
SPEAKER_07: And I'm so I'm I'm sad you didn't cover the Steve Young game where he covered us up in the beginning.
58:01
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that wasn't the greatest memory.
58:02
SPEAKER_06: Steve Young, for the record, Steve Young actually beat the Steelers twice, 93 and 96.
58:08
SPEAKER_06: Both of those Steelers teams were good.
58:10
SPEAKER_06: Both of those teams were playoff teams, uh, but they could not stop Steve Young or Jerry Rice or Terrell Owens.
58:17
SPEAKER_06: Both of those games were at the River Stadium, too.
58:20
SPEAKER_06: Uh but yeah.
58:22
SPEAKER_06: Uh Steve Young was pretty good too.
58:24
unknown: Yeah, yeah.
58:25
SPEAKER_07: Well, especially with Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens.
58:28
SPEAKER_07: Yes, yes.
58:30
SPEAKER_06: All right, folks.
58:30
SPEAKER_06: That's uh that's it for our uh episode.
58:33
SPEAKER_06: Hope you enjoyed that uh memory memory lane jaunt of Dior S49ers memories.
58:40
SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast.
58:42
SPEAKER_06: We so appreciate your support of this show.
58:44
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58:48
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58:50
SPEAKER_06: That's really we think the best way that people can find out about the show is to word mouth, and we will catch you next time.