Was this the biggest choke in modern steeler history ?

My memory as a Steeler fan goes back to 1970, in all that time, we have played many of championships, many playoff implication games, and just down right huge games, given the circumstances of where we were at going into this past Sundays game, where we have came from to get there, who our competition was, and the pouring of loyal fans coming to a visiting stadium to the tune of 30,000 Steeler nation faithful.

From my perspective and memory that game was the single biggest important game choke in Steeler history, dating back to 70.

Can anyone think of a time we choked this bad, in any other important game of this magnitude ?

 

Tim Tebow. That's all I really need to say

 

Well, I only go back to 1972, but I can think of several. For one thing, that game did not eliminate us from the playoffs. Nor would winning it have put us in the playoffs.

I'll posit a 1990 game against Houston, when if the Steelers beat the Oilers they would win the AFC Central title. Warren Moon was injured and out so the Steelers only had to beat backup Cody Carlson.

Instead, they got killed, lost the game, lost the playoffs, lost everything.

I won't use the word choke- but these are some of the most galling upset defeats I can remember-

#1- 1994 AFC Championship game loss v. San Diego

To me this is still the most hurtful loss I can remember enduring. The Steelers were at home, were heavy favorites, and had way more talent than the Stan Humphries led Chargers.

#-2 2001 AFC Championship game loss v. New England-

See above, this was not as bad but still very bad. History changes dramatically if the Steelers win that game, I think.

#3- 2011 AFC Wildcard round loss v. Denver. Losing to Tebow and the 8-8 Broncos in an awful defensive performance.

I posted on here then- and got scoffed at- and said that the team would look quite a bit different the next time they went to the playoffs and that game was the end of a particular era. I stand on that claim.

Then again, those 3 were playoff games, and all 4 games were against better teams than the 2015 Ravens.

After the 1994 loss to San Diego, I was talking to friend and Steelers author Jim O'Brien and asked him if that was the worse loss in team history. He said no, it was a 1963 loss to the Giants that kept the Steelers from going to the championship game.

 

maybe against better teams but I remember a couple of afc championship games where we were clearly the better team in the late 90's against the broncos and chargers. both games were at home. I remember one afc champ game against the pats were I think we were favored not sure. we got drilled. I think that was bens rookie year

 

yes of course, I have been so blinded by this loss I forgot about the Tim Tebow game and the 1994 game against SanDiego

 

I would say the 94 AFC Championship at home vs SD.

 

2007 Wildcard loss to the inferior Jacksonville Jaguars

 

I go back to 1965 so it's hard to pick a most disappointing loss, but this certain ranks in the top five.

 

Loss to SD at home in the '94 AFCCG. Pittsburgh was 9pt favorites. But that turned out okay because SF would have slaughtered them in the SB.

 

Yea I'd say

#1 Tebows Bronco's
#2 Getting kicked out of the playoffs by the 4-10 Raven's using a walk on QB they've had for 12 days.

The rest are distant 3rds IMO. Yes the Chargers loss ranks up there but it was the AFCC. Bad teams don't make it to the AFCC. So were we really that badly upset? It was the game to get into the SB... and yes we would have been killed by the 49ers IMO. Jags also ranks up there...but not nearly as bad as the Bronco's or Raven's.

I'd also talk about some of the embarrassing losses to last place teams like the Raiders a while back. I think the last 5 years we've lost to horrible teams more then once each season.

 

Just going with regular season, yes, that 1990 loss at Houston was awful...but even with Carlson at QB, Houston was formidible.

I might rank this 2015 Ravens loss as worse considering how bad they are and who was at QB.

Post-season: worst choke was at Denver vs Tebow. Hands down.

 

While a very long time ago, the 1963 season was very similar to the 2004 (Ben's rookie) season when we smashed NE mid-season and got skunked in the AFC championship round. In '63 the Steelers had a two headed QB named Bobby Layne and Ed Brown and a stellar defense led by D-tackle Big Daddy Lipscomb (google him for a great but sad tale). Steelers had pummeled the NY Giants earlier in the season and a photo of NY's QB - Y.A. Tittle kneeling stunned on the turf with a bleeding chrome dome from a safety sack by Big Daddy graced the cover of that weeks Newsweek magazine. However, the second time we played them, they readily beat the Steelers, ending what would have been (I believe) the first and only Steeler entry into the NFL Championship game from the 30's into the 70's.

 

This! I was so stunned and angry, I couldn't speak for hours!
Nobody would have beaten the 9ers that year.

 

I'd say the '94 loss to SD in the AFCCG was the worst.

The ones already mentioned are good choices. But here's a couple to consider: the loss to the expansion Texans in '02, the loss to the expansion Jags in '95, the loss in Cle during the collapse of late '09

 

That was the first and LAST time I ever placed a sizable wager on the Steelers and the worse part was the guy I bet with could have bought and sold me 10,000 times over and was just toying with me on the bet. He didn't care about either team. He offered to let it ride but how could I do that AND ever watch a game with him again. And just think it was only 12 short months later when Neil O would break our hearts for another 10 years.

 

Oh yeah, that's the one where we held them to 50 TOTAL yards and they still beat us. Or rather, we beat ourselves (thanks Tommy).

 

No way. The Steelers were decimated by injuries heading into the playoffs that year. They were screwed over in OT by a non-holding call the NFL admitted was a mistake. The Jaguars carved up our run D earlier in the season, but the Steelers came out and shut down their running game, much to everyone's surprise. I was proud of the Steelers that night, despite the loss.

 

That was a BLATANT hold! And not like it was away from the play either. It directly led to there being a hole for the QB to run through. Just an awful missed call.

But for me it was the 94 Chargers AFCCG that was the worst choke job. Having to watch that no name Chargers TE do his pineapple opening celebration (twice!) made me sick.

 

Alfred Pupunu

 

I was never convinced that had we went to the superbowl and got past the AFCC, the 9ers were going to slaughter us, our team due to a great defense was the only team in the AFC, that potentially may have made it a competitive game, just as we made it competitive the following year against Dallas.

 

Ugh...thanks for dredging that name up. Were those the only two TDs of his career? I've always thought of him as the Steelers version of Francisco Cabrerra.

 

Losing to San Diego in the 1994 AFCCG at home.

 

Losing to Tebow and to SD sucked, but those were in the playoffs and stuff happens. This was to a very banged up 4-10 team where the Steelers controlled their own destiny. Number 1 in my memory...