It didn’t matter the opponent – Vikings, Cowboys, Rams, Seahawks, Green Bay, or Cardinals – there wasn’t much sleep the night before those eight Super Bowls since January 1975 when Hall of Fame fullback Franco Harris ran for 158 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries to beat Minnesota 16-6.
Of course, you have to be around 55 years old and older to recall those four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s when Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Rocky Bleier, John Stallworth, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert, L.C. Greenwood, Joe Greene, Mel Blount, and Jack Hamm escorts those Lombardi trophies to Pittsburgh.
There was the “Steel Curtain,” Happy Louie’s and Julcia’s Polka Band fight song, the best Coke commercial ever, “Franco’s Army,” and “Gerela’s Gorillas,” and head coach Chuck Noll was the glue that kept it all together.
Then well, there was a horrible drought after the Steelers beat Vince Ferragamo and the L.A. Rams 31-19 following the 1979 season,’ and it wasn’t until 1995 when Pittsburgh quarterback Neil O’Donnell was named the MVP for Dallas (just kidding) after he threw interceptions in the Cowboys’ – two of which were to cornerback Larry Brown – 27-17 defeat victory.
A decade passed before the Bill “The Chin” Cowher’s Black and Gold returned to the final game of the year, this time in Detroit against the Seahawks and Hines Ward was the MVP this time with five receptions for 123 yards and an all-important 43-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Just a few years later, Pittsburgh returned to the Super Bowl – this time with Mike Tomlin at the head coaching helm – and they squeaked out a 27-23 win thanks to a final-minute, 6-yard TD pass to Santonio Holmes.
Tomlin took the Steelers back to the Super Bowl following a 12-4 regular season in 2010, but Green Bay ruined Pittsburgh’s quest to become the first NFL franchise to win seven Lombardi trophies with a 31-25 win in front of 103,000 fans in Arlington, Texas.
It’s been depressing, disappointing, and difficult to accept ever since.
Tomlin has put up a 3-9 in postseason games, including five straight defeats since 2017, and even though the head coach has been celebrated quite a bit for his 18 consecutive non-losing seasons, he’s not guided Steeler Nation back to the biggest game of all for 14 years.
That sure is too many non-winning seasons for many Pittsburgh fans to digest.
That’s why, for Steelers fans anyway, today’s Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the KC Chiefs is about their location, the menu, their numbers on the boards, and the debate about how much longer the Rooneys will accept average as excellence.
PREDICTION: Eagles 38-27 with Barkley winning MVP, Patrick Mahomes blaming the refs, and President Trump being shown on TV more often than singer Taylor Swift.
