Steelers' Jack Ham Believes There's A Game More Critical To The Dynasty Than The Immaculate Reception

The Pittsburgh Steelers have more than five decades of success in the NFL, which is staggering compared to many other teams. This is especially true because that success has been validated with six Lombardi Trophies. However, success for the franchise was not automatic. It all began with the hire of Head Coach Chuck Noll in 1969, but the play that signaled the start of their ascension is often incorrectly identified, according to one former player. 

If you ask most fans what game launched the Steelers dynasty, they would say it was the Immaculate Reception game. That game was right before Christmas in 1972 and that play has become one of the most famous in league history. Pittsburgh was playing the then-Oakland Raiders and was trailing them 7-6 with only seconds left in the game. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw attempted to throw a pass to running back John Fuqua, but it bounced off safety Jack Tatum's helmet and into the hands of Franco Harris, who lumbered for a game-winning touchdown. 

That game gave the Steel City their first playoff win in the franchise's history. It is like a Mandala Effect. Many fans seem to think that led to the Steelers' first Super Bowl win, but it did not. The next week, they lost the AFC Championship to the Miami Dolphins. 

Jack Ham, the Steelers' four-time Super Bowl champion linebacker, recently joined Joe Starkey on the Joe Starkey Show on 93.7 The Fan to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Super Bowl IX. Starkey mentioned that Ham's teammate and fellow linebacker, Jack Lambert, said that play isn't the one to launch an era. The game that did that was the AFC Championship in 1974.    

"We were a good team, and the Immaculate Reception will always be known as the big game," said Ham. "But '74 is when we had the draft with [Lynn] Swann, [Jack] Lambert, [John] Stallworth, and Mike Webster, so that put us over the top. That's when we realized we could be a championship football team. Winning on the road is very difficult at the NFL level, but it is that much more difficult to win a playoff game and, in this case, for the AFC Championship game to go to the Super Bowl. If you asked every football player on our team, that was the key game. That put us over the top."

Ham joked that he was loathe to agree with Lambert on anything, but he has to do so in this case. The Steelers beat the Raiders 24-13 and held an exceptional offense to a mere 29 yards rushing. The Raiders fans were outstanding, and playing them on their home turf was difficult. The two teams hated each other.   

The Steelers advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time after beating the Raiders. They traveled to New Orleans to play the Minnesota Vikings, led by Fran Tarkenton and their "Purple People Eaters" defense. However, they would be no match for the Steel Curtain, and Pittsburgh would pick up its first championship win, 16-6.

Steelers Had A Chip On Their Shoulder

The Steelers had been really bad for a long time, so it is understandable how few in the national media believed in them to win it all. Noll was known to be unemotional. Ham said he could have been the CEO of a business because of how serious he always was, but he got angry before Super Bowl IX. 

Raiders Head Coach John Madden disrespected the Steelers heading into the Super Bowl. He said the Dolphins and the Raiders were the two best teams in the league. Noll did not take that lightly. Ham said he sat the team down and was as passionate as they'd ever seen him. He told his players the best team in the NFL is sitting in this room right now. It got them so fired up that they wanted to prove their worth to the world. 

What game do you think launched the dynasty? Click to comment below. 

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