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By 1979, Chuck Noll‘s Pittsburgh Steelers had already become the team of the decade, winning three Super Bowls in five years, and aiming to repeat for the second time. What was special about the ’79 team, however, was that they were the first team in NFL history to be comprised of completely home grown talent that up until that time, had never worn another uniform other than the black and gold.
Coming off of a 35-31 victory against the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII, championships had become the standard and expectation in Pittsburgh, and 1979 would be no different.
In a season that would see the Steelers start without future NFL Hall of Famers “Mean” Joe Greene and Lynn Swann, along with Steelers great Rocky Bleier, and would end with losing starting safety Mike Wagner and Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham, the Steelers relied on players like Sidney Thornton, John Banaszak, Gary Dunn, and Tom Beasley to pick up the slack.
The banged-up Steelers would still go on to have the AFC’s top ranked defense as well as the #1 offense, despite posting a league high 52 turnovers.
The 1979 Steelers would start the season 5-1, before getting embarrassed by the 0-6 Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 34-10, dropping the Steelers to 5-2 and a tie for first in the AFC Central with the Houston Oilers.
Week 9 would pit the Steelers in a Super Bowl rematch against a Cowboys team who voiced certain opinions about the Steelers and how they felt they had gotten cheated out of a Super Bowl victory the year prior. In the words of Steelers legend and member of the vaunted “Steel Curtain” L.C. Greenwood, “They were talking a whole bunch of trash about what they were going to do and all that, and they were coming into Pittsburgh…bad mistake.” In what would be Roger Staubach’s last game against the Steelers, the Cowboys would go down 14-3.
The ’79 Steelers would go on to post a 12-4 record and achieve their 6th straight division title behind all-time greats like Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, and especially John Stallworth, who, with Lynn Swann out for most of the season, would emerge as the #1 receiver in the Steel City, catching 70 passes (a team record at the time), and being voted by his peers as the team’s MVP.
The Steelers would then go on another postseason run that perfectly put on display why they were the team of the 70’s. After beating the Miami Dolphins 34-14 in the divisional round, and their division rival Houston Oilers in the AFC Championship game 27-13, the Steelers catapulted themselves into their 4th Super Bowl in six years against the Los Angeles Rams.
Super Bowl XIV started sloppy for the Steelers, future Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw three interceptions before halftime, and the Steelers trailed 13-10 at the 30-minute mark. They would then lose Lynn Swann in the second half, leaving Stallworth to carry the offensive load, and he did not disappoint. On a key 3rd and 8, Stallworth did his best Willie Mays impression, catching a pass over the shoulder and taking it for six, giving the Steelers a 24-19 lead that they would never give back. Stallworth would catch another long ball from Bradshaw on the next drive, leading to a Franco Harris touchdown, sealing the Steelers 4th Super Bowl victory by a score of 31-19.
The 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers are the last NFL team to win a championship with entirely all home grown talent, and with the way the current state of the NFL works, with big name players on the move every couple of years, I believe it’ll stay that way.
10 NFL Hall of Famers (11 with the addition of head coach Chuck Noll) donned the black and gold in the 1979 season, helping the Steelers seal a dynasty that could be argued to be the greatest in the history of the game.
There’s a reason “The standard is the standard.”
Take a look at the full 1979 roster here. Where does the ’79 team rank in your books? Share your memories from the ’79 season that stick out to you the most in the comments below.
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