'78 Steelers players see similar traits, styles in this year's 6-0 start

The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers started a season with six consecutive wins, they had a defense littered with Pro Bowl players, a strong-armed quarterback seeking his third Super Bowl ring and a core of talented young wide receivers.

The Steelers also were recovering from a turbulent offseason that followed two years in which they fell short of expectations.

Sound familiar?

“There are similarities,” said Tony Dungy, the Hall of Fame coach, NBC analyst and former Steelers defensive back. “It’s really a complete team, and a lot of guys are contributing. There is a certain energy and feeling they have that we are going to get it done no matter what.”

With a win Sunday in Baltimore, the Steelers will tie the 1978 team for the best start in franchise history. That group 42 years ago used its 7-0 start as a springboard to the franchise’s third Super Bowl title in five seasons.

These Steelers aren’t even halfway to writing their story, yet the parallels between the two seasons go beyond a run of early-season wins.

“I see a lot of comparisons to this team,” said Rocky Bleier, the four-time Super Bowl champion running back. “We had experience, depth and young players coming of age just like this team.”

Four decades ago, the Steelers entered the 1978 season smarting over events of the previous two years. Although that group didn’t miss the playoffs two years in a row like Mike Tomlin’s team has, they fell short of the Super Bowl despite having the NFL’s best collection of talent. In 1977, the Steelers finished 9-5 and were knocked out of the postseason by the Denver Broncos in the divisional round.

“You just had the feeling that it wasn’t clicking,” Bleier said. “We weren’t on our game and you knew it wasn’t going anywhere.”

Team president Dan Rooney and coach Chuck Noll were determined to correct the shortcomings. Free agency wasn’t yet part of the NFL landscape, so they relied on addition by subtraction, ridding the roster of players unhappy with the money they were making.

Defensive lineman Ernie Holmes and safeties Glenn Edwards and Jimmy Allen, who each had contract disputes the previous year, were traded along with guard Jim Clack and wide receiver Frank Lewis. The Steelers got no immediate help in return, yet the trades opened spots for younger, talented players.

“I remember coming to training camp and the atmosphere was so much better,” said Dungy, who was entering his second NFL season. “It was unbelievable the difference from 1977 to ’78. We had a good rookie class, but it was more of a feeling the way things were going in camp.”

Although the Steelers didn’t have to deal with a pandemic that drastically altered their offseason, they reported to Saint Vincent College preparing for a longer season (from 14 games to 16) and rules changes designed to hinder one of their star defensive players.

Beginning in 1978, no contact with wide receivers could be made beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage. It was known as the “Mel Blount Rule” because of the way the Steelers’ corner would harass receivers down the field.

The rules change upset Noll but didn’t hinder the secondary. Six players had at least three interceptions, including Blount’s four and Dungy’s team-high six. Meantime, the Steel Curtain playing in front of them continued to frustrate offenses.

The byproduct was that wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, each entering their fourth season, could freely run throughout the secondary. Terry Bradshaw led the NFL with 28 touchdown passes, which was a career high and 10 more than he threw in any previous season. Swann also had career highs of 61 catches, 880 yards and 11 touchdowns. Stallworth had 41 catches for 798 yards – a 19.5 average – and nine scores.

Dungy had a sense of what was to come – on offense and defense.

“I remember before we played a preseason game telling my mom and dad that you need to get reservations for Miami,” he said, referring to the Super Bowl site. “This team is special.”

While this year’s Steelers team is dealing with the loss of tackle Zach Banner and inside linebacker Devin Bush to season-ending injuries, the ’78 team began the season without Pro Bowl cornerback J.T. Thomas. He was sidelined in the offseason with Boeck’s sarcoid, a blood disorder, and didn’t return until 1979.

Rookie first-round pick Ron Johnson took Thomas’ place in the secondary and had four interceptions.

“It showed the great transition of the team,” Thomas said. “Ron was a tough kid who fit right in. It showed the greatness of the team and how they adjusted to adversity.”

Thomas said he spent the year assisting in the scouting departments – much like Ryan Shazier did the past two seasons before his retirement. The time away gave Thomas an appreciation for football that perhaps can come in handy for Banner and Bush.

“You’re on the outside looking in after being used to being at the party,” he said. “They say athletes die two deaths – their natural death and when their career ends. I found that when I returned I had a perspective about the game that I didn’t have before.”

In reeling off seven consecutive wins, the ’78 Steelers handed the Cleveland Browns their first loss, a 15-9 overtime decision in Week 4. That was the closest call the Steelers had until a Monday night game at Three Rivers Stadium against another division rival, the Houston Oilers.

Behind Earl Campbell’s three touchdown runs, the Oilers improved to 5-3 and knocked the Steelers from the ranks of the unbeaten, 24-17. When the two teams met six weeks later at the Astrodome, the Steelers were 11-2 and the Oilers 9-4. Had the Oilers swept the series, they would be one game behind the Steelers and own the head-to-head tiebreaker with two games remaining.

The rematch is remembered for Donnie Shell’s thunderous hit on Campbell that knocked the running back out of the game with bruised ribs. It set the tone for a physical 13-3 Steelers’ victory that clinched the division title and home-field advantage for the playoffs.

“Once we had that, we pretty much knew we were going to the Super Bowl,” Dungy said.

In the postseason, the 14-2 Steelers avenged their loss to Denver a year earlier, 33-10, to set up a third meeting with the Oilers, this one in the AFC championship game.

On a cold, rainy day at Three Rivers Stadium, the game was won before kickoff.

“They were warming up with jackets,” Dungy said. “When they came out, there were shivering with gloves on. Mike Webster and our linemen were out there with no sleeves.”

This one was no contest, as the Steelers waltzed to a 34-5 victory. In the Super Bowl, the Steelers showed off their high-flying offense with a 35-31 victory against the Dallas Cowboys to give Bradshaw and the rest of the core players their third championship.

Bleier, for one, doesn’t see why these Steelers can’t do the same for Ben Roethlisberger.

“They’ve got a better balance, more maturity and experience – much like we had back then,” he said. “They are playing at a level that they know they can win. They know they have the talent to be able to win.”

On offense, the Steelers are scoring at a rate unseen in franchise history, reaching at least 26 points in all six games behind a quartet of young wide receivers and a solid running game.

“You lose two really great dynamic players with (Le’Veon) Bell and (Antonio) Brown, but you replace them with some dynamic guys,” Dungy said. “Everybody, I think, is feeling we’re on the same page now.”

Then there is the defense that ranks first in allowing the fewest yards while collecting the most sacks.

“I saw where coach Tomlin was quoted as saying defense is always at the forefront here,” Dungy said. “They are playing at a championship defensive level. It makes you think, ‘Hey, this could be the year.’”