When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, two things cannot be disputed. One is that they have the most Super Bowl wins in league history and secondly they won three of the most exciting Super Bowls ever. For whatever reason, many people don’t consider Super Bowl XIV to be one of them.
Super Bowl XIV pitted the veteran ladened Steelers versus the up-and-coming Los Angeles Rams. Going into the game, the Steelers were 12-4 in the regular season and had already won three of the last five Super Bowls including the year before. The Rams were on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. The Rams were 9-7 that season and hadn’t won a championship since 1951. Needless to say, the Steelers were heavily favored to win their fourth Super Bowl.
The game was being hyped as the classic “David and Goliath” matchup. However, when the final whistle blew, nobody could believe that the Rams and Steelers actually played one of the most competitive Super Bowls in history.
The Rams started the game with the ball but the AFC’s number one defense forced them to go three-and-out. With their first possession of the game, the Steelers drove 53 yards down the field, highlighted by a 32-yard pass to Franco Harris, but they had to settle for a Matt Bahr field goal. The Steelers early 3-0 lead didn’t last very long as the Rams drove down the field and scored the first rushing touchdown against the Steelers in Super Bowl competition.
When the first quarter ended, the Rams were leading the Steelers by a score of 7-3. The back-and-forth style of play in the first quarter would continue to be the trend of the game until the fourth quarter. The Steelers responded to the Rams touchdown with a rushing touchdown of their own by Harris.
Once again the lead was short lived as the Rams responded on the next possession with a field goal to tie the game at 10. Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw then made a costly error throwing an interception to Rams defensive back Dave Elmendorf. The Rams converted the turnover into points and kicked one more field goal before the end of the half to regain the lead with a 13-10 score.
The Steelers came out of the locker room on fire, return man Larry Anderson gave the team great field position like he did numerous times throughout the game. Bradshaw took advantage of that by running the ball three times to setup a deep 47-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Lynn Swann. Once again the Steelers defense couldn’t hold the lead and the Rams scored a touchdown on the next possession but missed the extra point. Going into the fourth quarter, the underdogs were leading the defending champs with a score of 19 to 17.
When the fourth quarter started, things weren’t looking too good for the defending champs. Swann was out of the game due to an injury and the Steelers last two drives of the third quarter ended with Bradshaw throwing interceptions.
The Steelers faced a third down and eight on their first possession and Bradshaw responded with a beautifully placed bomb to wide receiver John Stallworth. Stallworth caught the ball over the outstretched hands of a Rams’ defender and streaked up the field to score a 73-yard touchdown. Just like that, the champs were back on top 24 to 19.
After each team was forced to punt, the Rams were driving down the field led by their quarterback Vince Ferragamo. Ferragamo completed three out of four passes, when All-Pro middle linebacker Jack Lambert stepped in front of his target and picked off Ferragamo’s pass. Bradshaw converted the turnover into points and put the game away by leading the Steelers to another touchdown scoring drive, highlighted by another third-and-long pass to Stallworth that put the Steelers deep into enemy territory.
The final score of the game was 31-19 and the Steelers won their fourth Super Bowl. Many people think that the game wasn’t competitive due to the final score, but they are wrong. The Steelers became the third team to overcome a fourth quarter deficit and trailed the Rams at the end of each of the first three quarters. Super Bowl XIV in fact set the record with seven lead changes which still stands today and if it wasn’t for three big plays in the fourth quarter who knows what the outcome would have been.
