The Pittsburgh Steelers have carried the burden of being 14.5-point underdogs to the Buffalo Bills all week. The Steelers are the last NFL team to be 14-point underdogs in the NFL since the merger. They are starting a rookie quarterback and will be missing several key defenders in Orchard Park on Sunday. It is big news when the black and gold are thought to have no shot to win in a football game and there has been no shortage of gleeful opinions on the subject.
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Levon Kirkland was an All-Decade middle linebacker in the 1990’s for the Pittsburgh Steelers and he was involved in two of the wildest point spread differentials in modern playoff history. In 1995, the Steelers were favored by 11 points against the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game. The Colts beat the New England Patriots 10-7 on the final day of the regular season to sneak in to the playoffs as a 9-7 Wild Card. After beating the San Diego Chargers and the number one seeded 13-3 Kansas City Chiefs, they arrived in Pittsburgh against the 11-5 Steelers who were playing in their second consecutive AFC Championship game at Three Rivers Stadium.
“We didn’t take the Colts lightly,” Kirkland shared. “They played us hard. San Diego, I thought we were a little bit arrogant going into the game. I thought we took those guys too lightly. It’s just a lesson learned that you can’t take opponents lightly.”
A Hail Mary to go to the Super Bowl? It nearly happened.
— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) January 17, 2019
(1995 AFC Championship: Jan. 14, 1996) @Colts @steelers @CoachJim4UM pic.twitter.com/mxSKY3h3KC
The Colts gave the Steelers fits and late in the fourth quarter when Bam Morris plunged into the end zone on a 1-yard rush, the entirety of Steeler Nation held its breath. There was one minute and thirty-four seconds on the clock and Jim Harbaugh, "Captain Comeback," maneuvered the Colts into position for two shots from the Steelers 29-yard line. The Steelers had lost the previous year when Stan Humphries found Tony Martin for a 43-yard dagger with just five minutes to play. When Harbaugh dropped back to pass, fans exhaled and players celebrated when Randy Fuller knocked the last gasp away and the Steelers were in the Super Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys.
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The Steelers went from 11-point favorites in the AFC Championship game to 13.5-point underdogs in Super Bowl XXX, a 24.5-point swing. The 13.5-point line represented the biggest spread against Pittsburgh in the post-merger NFL era until this week. Kirkland recalls that Dallas had not learned the same lesson that the Steelers had at home in 1994.
“I think they thought, we are the Dallas Cowboys,” Kirkland said. “We’re going to run over these guys. They didn’t understand that we were from Pittsburgh. We weren’t going to be punk’d by nobody. I don’t care if you won two of the last three Super Bowls.”
Pittsburgh had some of the toughest men ever to wear the black in gold in 1995. Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene and Rod Woodson suited up for the Steelers against the Cowboys that day. Dallas jumped out to a 13-0 lead, but then Pittsburgh went to work. Just before half with the defense stiffening, Neil O’Donnell found Yancey Thigpen for a touchdown to cut the lead to 13-7.
“We just kind of settled down,” Kirkland remembers. “We held them to a field goal, and we felt like, we can play with these guys. We were really good against the run. We were fast and tough; I don’t think they were used to the 3-4. Once we got a beat on them, they couldn’t do anything.”
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O’Donnell threw the first interception to the eventual Super Bowl MVP, Larry Brown in the third quarter and after they returned it to the Pittsburgh 18-yard line, the defense surrendered seven points when Emmitt Smith scored to make it 20-7. After Morris scored with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, the game was 20-17. The Steelers gave up a first down, but after stuffing Smith with just under six minutes to play in the game, Kirkland sacked Troy Aikman for an 8-yard loss. Two plays later, they punted the ball back to the Steelers who had a chance to drive down and win the game.
“If we don’t turn the ball over, I think we win the game by at least two possessions,” Kirkland concludes. “They took us a little lightly, until we were in the game, then it was like, whoa these guys can play with us.”
Unfortunately, the Steelers did turn the ball over. O’Donnell found a once again wide-open Larry Brown who returned the ball to the Steelers 6-yard line. The Cowboys took a 10-point lead with just under four minutes remaining and despite the monumental effort by the defense after falling behind early in the game, Pittsburgh fell in a Super Bowl for the first time. O’Donnell is persona non grata in Pittsburgh to this day.
This is not the Super Bowl on Sunday, but the Steelers have a unique opportunity to demonstrate the organizational pride that is uniquely Pittsburgh. They are facing the long odds of starting a rookie for the first time on the road, visiting the AFC favorite and being the largest underdog of any Steelers team post-merger. The Steelers have nothing to lose and everything to gain against the Buffalo Bills and it will give Mike Tomlin the chance to earn a signature win. Levon Kirkland and the 1995 Steelers rose to the challenge, but fell a little short; the question is will the 2022 version do the same?
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Will the black and gold shock the NFL on Sunday? Please comment below or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
