Out Of The Junkyard
Passing Along The Steeler Legacy
By Guy Junker

My seven year-old son is just getting into the art of being a sports fan. He recently asked me if the Steelers were going to play Pitt this year. After I explained to him why that wasn't going to happen, he asked me when did the Steelers have their best team? I thought it over for about two seconds and told him—1976.

I'm certainly not alone in those thoughts. Steelers founder, the late Art Rooney, felt that the 1976 team was the Steeler best ever, even though they lost the AFC Championship game to Oakland. Long time Steeler broadcaster Myron Cope says "they were at least AS good as any of the four Steeler teams that won the Super Bowl".

When the '76 season started, the Steelers were trying to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls. No team has done that yet. But to the shock and dismay of black and gold faithful everywhere, they fell to 1-4 with an 18-16 loss in Cleveland. In that game, defensive end Turkey Jones, tossed quarterback Terry Bradshaw to the ground like a rag doll, knocking him out of the lineup with neck and back injuries. Steeler Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham said they were "all ready to take the bridge" on the bus ride back from Cleveland. They were 1-4 with a rookie from Boston College, Mike Kruczek, ready to take over at quarterback. Things could not have been bleaker.

But Kruczek, would start the next two games and win them both. Bradshaw came back only to get hurt again. But it was Kruczek back to the rescue. He started 6 games, and he earned a permanent spot in Steelers' lore by winning them all. Oddly, he didn't throw a single touchdown pass all year!

He didn't need to with Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier running the ball. For just the second time in the history of the NFL, two backs from the same team each gained over 1,000 yards rushing. Franco ran it 41 times himself in a 23-6 win over the Bengals at Three Rivers Stadium. At the time, it set a new NFL record for carries in a game. Of course, the Steelers led the league in rushing.

But the main reason the bicentennial Steelers were so special was DEE-fense. When Bradshaw first got hurt, Steeler defensive end Joe Greene stood up in the locker room and declared "no one gets past the 50!" Of course teams did, but barely. What that Steel Curtain defense did was absolutely mind boggling.

Over an eight game period, they had five shut outs and gave up only 22 total points—less than a field goal per game. They went 22 quarters without allowing a touchdown. Ham said "we knew Kruczek wasn't going to light it up like Dan Fouts and each player had to pick it up." And did they. Ham was one of six members of the Steeler defense to go to the Pro Bowl. Jack Lambert was the AFC defensive player of the year.

The '76 Steelers, when healthy, may also have had their best blend of offense and defense during their dynasty of the seventies. The first two Super Bowls were won by running the ball and with great defense. The second two Super Bowls were won with Bradshaw's aerial wizardry to Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. But the '76 team had it all, including a passing game that helped set a postseason record for total yards in their playoff win over the Baltimore Colts.

Shortly after that game ended and minutes after the fans had cleared out, a small plane crashed into the upper deck at Memorial Stadium, narrowly averting a disaster. But there were disastrous results for the Steelers. Both Franco and Rocky got hurt in that game forcing them to use Reggie Harrison as the feature back in the AFC title game in Oakland. They lost 24-7 ending their string of seven straight postseason victories. Ham says as great as the Super Bowl teams were, what the '76 team did is still a source of great pride for him.

They dug themselves a huge hole and fought out of it with a rookie quarterback replacing a Hall of Famer. They won ten straight games before losing to the Raiders. And with a healthy running game, I'm convinced would have won their third straight Super Bowl. It will be a longtime, if ever, before another team like that comes along. They are about as rare as ... the Steelers playing Pitt.

Guy Junker is co-host of Sports Beat and the 11 p.m. Regional Sports Report with Fox Sports Pittsburgh.