1978 Pittsburgh Steelers season

1978 Pittsburgh Steelers season
OwnerArt Rooney
General managerDick Haley
Head coachChuck Noll
Home fieldThree Rivers Stadium
Local radioKDKA
Results
Record14–2
Division place1st AFC Central
Playoff finishWon Divisional Playoffs
(vs. Broncos) 33–10
Won AFC Championship
(vs. Oilers) 34–5
Won Super Bowl XIII
(vs. Cowboys) 35–31
Pro Bowlers
10
AP All-Pros
5
  • Terry Bradshaw (1st team)
  • Jack Ham (1st team)
  • Lynn Swann (1st team)
  • Mike Webster (1st team)
  • Mel Blount (2nd team)
Team MVPTerry Bradshaw

The 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 46th season in the National Football League (NFL). The season concluded with the team winning Super Bowl XIII to become the first franchise in the NFL to win three Super Bowl titles.[1] The championship run was led by quarterback Terry Bradshaw and the team's vaunted Steel Curtain defense. This team is regarded as one of the greatest defensive teams of all time and one of the greatest teams in NFL history. Bradshaw put together the best year of his career to that point, becoming only the second Steeler to win the NFL MVP award. Ten Steelers players were named to the Pro Bowl team, and four were judged as first-team All-Pros by the AP. Head coach Chuck Noll returned for his tenth season—moving him ahead of Walt Kiesling as the longest tenured head coach in the team's history to that point.[2]

The Steelers entered the season as defending champions of the AFC Central Division, coming off a 9–5 record in 1977.[3] Their two losses were by a combined 10 points. Despite winning their division, the previous season was a difficult one for the team (both on and off the field) which culminated in a division round playoff loss to the Denver Broncos on Christmas Eve.

The team began the 1978 season with seven straight victories, a franchise-best start to a season that stood for 42 years, before losing to the Houston Oilers in prime time on Monday Night Football. They finished the season with a league-best 14–2 record, including a 5-game winning streak to close the season. This record assured them they would play at home throughout the 1978 playoffs. It was also the best record compiled in the team's history (since surpassed only by a 15–1 mark in 2004).[4]

The 1978 Steelers team was rated the thirty-fifth best team in the history of the NFL (to September 2015) by FiveThirtyEight, a polling aggregation and statistical service. The rating is based upon FiveThirtyEight's proprietary Elo rating system algorithm. Only two Steelers teams were rated higher: the 1975 team at twelfth and the 2005 team one slot ahead of the 1978 team at thirty-fourth.[5]

In 2007, the 1978 Steelers were ranked as the 3rd greatest Super Bowl champions on the NFL Network's documentary series America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions, with team commentary from Rocky Bleier, Mel Blount, Randy Grossman and Joe Greene, and narrated by Bruce Willis. They also were #3 on the 100 greatest teams of all time presented by the NFL on its 100th anniversary.[6][7] For that, commentary was provided by actor Jon Hamm, radio personality Jon Hein, and players Tony Dungy, Franco Harris, Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Lynn Swann.

  1. ^ "NFL History 1971–1980". NFL.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
  2. ^ Emert, Rich (September 3, 1978). "Full speed ahead: Chuck Noll even relaxes hard". The Beaver County Times. pp. C-1. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  3. ^ "1977 Pittsburgh Steelers". Pro Football Reference. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
  4. ^ "Pittsburgh Steelers Franchise Encyclopedia". Pro Football Reference. Archived from the original on March 22, 2010. Retrieved April 8, 2010.
  5. ^ Paine, Neil (September 18, 2015). "The Best NFL Teams Of All Time, According To Elo". FiveThirtyEight. ESPN. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  6. ^ "NFL Top 100 Teams". Pro Football Reference.
  7. ^ "100 Greatest Teams: Numbers 100-1 SUPERCUT". NFL.com.