The Pittsburgh Steelers have played a veritable cornucopia of both memorable and bizarre games over their nine-decade-plus existence. Drilling down to one particular game is like finding a needle in a bed of almost identical needles.
That is exactly what I am going to do with this discussion, however. The year was 1984. The Steelers were somewhat, unsurprisingly, plodding along with a record of three wins and three losses heading into a game against the then-undefeated San Francisco 49ers.
The Steelers were five years removed from their last Super Bowl appearance, and they were firmly past their unstoppable prime of the '70s. The 49ers, meanwhile, were well on their way to becoming the team of the '80s, a decade that saw them match the Steelers' total of four Super Bowl titles. And yet, none of it mattered during their Week 7 meeting that season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers pulled off an upset of epic proportions in 1984
An upset victory isn't necessarily bizarre, but I would argue that what the Steelers accomplished against the 49ers was both bizarre and memorable, at least for me. It was bizarre because the 49ers gained more yards than the Steelers did, although not by much.
It was memorable from the standpoint that they held the ball for nearly ten minutes longer than the 49ers. They also out-rushed the 49ers by almost sixty yards. Considering both teams during that era liked to establish the run, it was surprising to me how effectively Pittsburgh was able to run the ball against a team that would summarily dispatch the Miami Dolphins by 22 points in Super Bowl XIX.
What was also bizarre was how well quarterback Mark Malone played in that game. I don't mean that as a knock on Malone, but considering David Woodley was brought in to compete with Malone for the starting job that year, I remember thinking, "Why did we bring in Woodley at all if Malone is going to play like this?"
Of course, that was my fifteen-year old brain talking. From what I had seen of Malone up to that point was underwhelming, but not in that game against the 49ers. On the defensive side of the ball, they held the 49ers in check with the remnants of the vaunted Steel Curtain.
The aftermath of that game would culminate in an appearance in the AFC Championship game against the Miami Dolphins, where the Steelers would get trounced by 17 points. Talk about memorable. The bizarreness of the 1984 season was on full display that night, and the most memorable stat of all was what that loss represented for the 49ers.
The Steelers didn't just upset them: they were the only team to beat them all season. So, for the remaining members of the 1972 17-0 Miami Dolphins team, they should pour one out for the 1984 Steelers every year as well.
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