Steelers History When Playoffs Were On the Line in the Final Week

Here's a recap of all the times the Steelers went into the final week of the season with a chance to make the playoffs, without having clinched a spot yet. The results are mixed, but (I hope) make for interesting holiday reading:

1963- NO

Steelers historian Jim O’Brien once told me that this was the worst loss in franchise history (although he told me that in 1995 prior to the 2 Super Bowl losses). The Steelers somehow had a shot to reach the NFL title game with a win against the Giants in week 14 (this was prior to multiple rounds of playoffs, which did not begin until 1967). This was also prior to overtime, and before ties counted as half a win, half a loss in the standings. So, had the Steelers defeated the Giants, they would have the best winning % in the East and gone to the championship. Sadly, the Steelers were beaten 33-17 and would not have another good shot at the postseason until 1972.


1976-YES
Perhaps the most famed of all Steelers turnarounds, the team started 1-4 after winning the past two Super Bowls. They ended up needing help to win- not in the last week of the season, but in the week before. The hated archrival Oakland Raiders, who already had wrapped up the top seed and had nothing to play for, beat Cincinnati to drop them into a tie for first place. (No wild card was possible because the Patriots were a game ahead and had already beaten the Steelers earlier in the year). The Steelers had the tiebreaker due to 2 head to head wins over Cincy and clinched 1[SUP]st[/SUP] place in the Central by beating Houston 21-0 in the Astrodome on the final Saturday of the season.

1977-YES
Again, playoffs would come in the final game of the season at the Astrodome, but this time it would be the Oilers victory that got the Steelers into the playoffs. A turbulent regular season filled with dissension, injuries, penalties, and turnovers found the Steelers again tied with Cincinnati for first place at the end of week 13. Only this time, the Bengals had the tiebreaker edge. However, the Oilers rose up and defeated the Bengals 21-16 to put the Steelers (who won a meaningless game against the Chargers later that day) into the playoffs as AFC Central champions.

1980-NO
Going into the last week of the season, the Steelers still had a shot to be the last wild card. They needed to beat San Diego on Monday Night Football, giving the Raiders the AFC West, while the Patriots had to lose on Sunday to the 1-14 Saints. New Orleans gave it their all, leading the Patriots 27-24 late in the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] quarter before giving up 2 touchdowns in the final minutes. With nothing to play for, the Steelers played out the string in a listless 26-17 loss to San Diego that signified the end of an era.
1984- YES
The Steelers led the Bengals by a single game for the division lead going into week 16. However, the Bengals held the tiebreaker edge and won their earlier game 52-21 over the Bills. So, the Steelers were faced with defeating the playoff bound defending Super Bowl champion Raiders at Los Angeles in the late game to win the division (no wild card was possible). In one of the great “**** You” games in team history, the heavily underdog Steelers won the division with a stirring 13-7 victory in a game not nearly as close as the score indicated. Walter Abercrombie, in the greatest game of his career, rushed for 111 yards and made the game breaking play with a 59 yard run on a screen pass to set up the Steelers touchdown.
1987-NO
Following a horrible stretch from 1985-1986 in which the team lost 10 of 12 games (sound familiar) the Steelers began to snap out of it a bit, despite horrible play from Mark Malone at Qb. The team went 5-4 to finish 1986 and then were in first place at 8-5 with 2 weeks to go in the 1987 strike season. However, a week 15 loss in Houston dropped them out of the lead. They still had a chance to go as a wild card if they beat Cleveland in the final Saturday game at home while Houston lost the next day to Cincinnati. Trailing the whole game, reserve DB Cornell Gowdy put the Steelers within reach with a pick 6 in the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] quarter to make the score 19-13 Browns. Unfortunately, they never got the ball back, as the Browns somehow managed to run out the last 7 minutes thanks to a couple of bad Steelers penalties.
1989- YES
In a season that recalls this one, the Steelers started by getting crushed by the Browns and Bengals in the first two weeks and then found themselves 4-6 after being shut out by the Bears. The team rallied to go 4-1 in the next five games, but had a slim chance to make the playoffs in the last game of the season. All that had to happen was a Steelers win over Tampa Bay, while the Raiders, Colts, Dolphins, and Bengals all had to lose. The Steelers won their game easily and then had to wait and watch until Monday night, when the Vikings beat the Bengals giving the Steelers the last wild card spot. (Note-it was a nothing to play for Chiefs team whose road win over the Dan Marino Dolphins made this all happen…)
1990- NO
Going into the final Sunday night game of the season, it all looked pretty simple. The Steelers just needed to beat the Oilers, minus an injured Warren Moon, to win their first AFC Central championship in six years. (They also had a chance to clinch a wild card berth earlier in the day but both Cincinnati and Seattle won their games). However, the game was a disaster, as backup Cody Carlson and the run n’ shoot offense destroyed the Steelers 34-14. In a move I still don’t understand, Noll chose to start Tim Worley at RB that week over Barry Foster, who’d rushed for over 100 yards the week before. Foster sat on the bench the whole game and Worley’s early fumble opened the floodgates.
1993- YES
An underachieving Steelers team looked dead after losing to Houston and Seattle , which dropped them to 8-7 with a week to go. The Steelers needed to beat Cleveland and then get help from the division champion Oilers against the Jets. The Steelers rallied after a big half time speech by Greg Lloyd to win their game, but the arch rival Oilers had nothing to play for after the Bills wrapped up home field advantage in the early game. Still, the Oilers beat the Jets 24-0 and the Steelers were in the playoffs.
2000-NO
In another season like this one, the team started badly at 0-3. Cowher put Kordell Stewart back at QB and the team began to win, finishing on a 9-4 run with promises of better things to come. In the final week the Steelers still had a shot to make the playoffs provided they beat San Diego and the Colts lost to the Vikings. The Steelers did finally put away a terrible Chargers team, but it was to no avail. The division champion Vikings pulled their stars in the second half and the Colts won easily to take the last wild card spot away.

2005-YES
The epic end to this season is still well known in these parts, so I won’t spend much time recapping it. Essentially, the Steelers had to go on a 4-0 run to end the season and get help, which came early when the Chiefs lost back to back game in week 14 and week 15. By week 17, it was simple. The Steelers needed to beat the Lions to clinch the last playoff spot- had they lost, they’d miss the playoffs if the Chiefs also beat the Bengals. Cincy rolled over and died, 37-3 but Jerome Bettis scored 3 TD’s in his last game in Pittsburgh and the Steelers won 35-21. The rest is history of course…

2009-NO
The Steelers really had no one to blame but themselves this season. In one of the most aggravating slumps in franchise history, the team lost 5 in a row to find themselves at 6-7. The team rallied to win their next 2 with dramatic wins over the Ravens and Packers. In the final week, they needed to win against the Dolphins while the Ravens lost the late game to Oakland. The Steelers nearly blew a big lead in the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] quarter (which they’d been doing all season) but hung on to beat the Dolphins 30-24. However, the Raiders, while hanging tough for 3 quarters, lost to the Ravens and the playoffs didn’t happen.
2013- Who knows. I’m predicting a NO but stranger things have happened, as you can see.

 

good read, I remember a few of them, such as 1989, but surprisingly, I don't remember 2000. I wonder why that is? I did have a 1 yr old then.

 

thanks, that season ended on a big upswing just like this one.

Anyway, taking a look at precedent, teams with nothing to play for still have helped the Steelers in the past.

 

Jets will do to Miami what Buffalo did to them last week. The Ryan factor will do the steelers a big favour. Believe it or not 8-8 Jets team can save Ryan's job and the players want him back..

Cincinnati playing for a first round bye (2nd seed). Baltimore has the Super Bowl hangover, plus Flacco is playing hurt.

The 4:00 game will be our season outcome. The scrubs will play for the Chiefs. Cross our fingers San Diego won't show up and a predictable Rivers choke.