In what should have been a Steelers vs Buccaneers matchup in Super Bowl LV, we would have been looking forward to the game as one for the ages and as a cap-off to a wild and unpredictable 2020 season.
Although a disastrous Wild-Card Playoff put those dreams to bed and we looked at a Chiefs vs Bucs matchup that was supposed to show a fantastic Football showcase between the two powerhouses of this year. One of the biggest matchups of them all between Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady. It did not feature Pittsburgh in any capacity, except for Arians, Leftwich, AB, and Bell. Congrats to the Tampa Bay Buccanneers after a dominating performance from kickoff to the final kneel down as Tom Brady was efficient enough along with Gronkowski, Mike Evans, and the entire Tampa Bay defense.
While another Super Bowl without the Steelers has come and gone, we still can bask in the glory of the Steelers’ past as we have gone to 8 Super Bowls and have a 6-Pack to show for it. I always would watch the NFL Network throughout the regular season and the playoffs, and what used to be about every week, they would show a Top 10 of many topics that dealt with the NFL’s past, present, and future.
There’s a ton-load of Steelers-featured shows that are still shown or you can watch highlights of them on YouTube. That got me thinking of a performance ranking system of the times Pittsburgh played in the Super Bowl. As an honorable mention, I will briefly mention the two losses and rank them as such because it should be talked about based on how we got to the game in those seasons, but came up short. Thankfully for this season, we are still on the top of the mountain in terms of Super Bowl wins tied with the Patriots, but Brady became the only one withstanding along with his former coach Bill Belichick. So let’s begin with the two heartbreaking losses … Super Bowl XXX and XLV.
Super Bowl XXX
I have mentioned this game in my 1st post as a StillCurtain contributor so I won’t say much more regarding this game, but it was a heartbreaking moment due to an attempted comeback Pittsburgh could have pulled away with.
Under “The Valley of the Sun” as ole Dick Enberg stated at the beginning of the game, Pittsburgh was going to attempt to defeat the 90s Cowboys led by Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin. If the 70s showed anything that I’m foreshadowing in the Top 6, Pittsburgh was definitely capable of winning. One mistake after another cost the Steelers and the Cowboys were able to capitalize on every one of them, despite an onside kick that Sean Payton would carry over in Super Bowl XLIV.