The Pittsburgh Steelers have had an incredible run since Art Rooney decided to hire Chuck Noll in 1969. Noll, Dan Rooney and Dick Haley built an incredible roster that delivered four Super Bowl victories in six seasons in the 1970s. They drafted multiple Hall of Famers, starting with Joe Greene, and built the best defense in NFL history.
For all the defensive gems they found, drafting Terry Bradshaw in 1970 ended up driving an offense that, by the end of the decade, secured the final two Lombardi Trophies of the 1970s for the black and gold. Bradshaw struggled mightily early in his career when he was thrust into the starting position in his rookie season.
Rookie quarterbacks are handed the keys to the franchise in the modern NFL so often that it is almost forgotten that the NFL of the 1970s was a different game. Rookie quarterbacks often didn’t see the field for years, and Bradshaw was a great example of why that was the case. He appeared in 13 games during his rookie season, starting eight.
Myron Cope, the longtime color commentator for the Steelers radio broadcast and credited with inventing the Terrible Towel, called virtually every game that Bradshaw played in Pittsburgh. Cope recalled just how brutal it was for the young quarterback to start his career:
“You know it used to be it was taken for granted that a quarterback would take five years to mature,” Cope said. “Having been the No. 1 player drafted, you didn’t want to see him take that long. So, they got all over him, they were brutal, the fans.”
Bradshaw was mercilessly booed and benched multiple times during his first five seasons in the league. He played in 59 games in his first five seasons and started 51. He completed 48 percent of his passes and threw 48 touchdowns versus 81 interceptions. Terry Hanratty and Joe Gilliam were both given extended looks in 1973 and 1974 to replace him. If social media had been prevalent in the early 1970s, he would have been derided as a bust and might have gone the way of JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf.
In 1974, Gilliam began the season as the starting quarterback for the Steelers. After starting 1-0-1, they faced their biggest rival at the time, the Oakland Raiders. After the Raiders shellacked them 17-0, a despondent Bradshaw approached Al Davis and asked him for help:
“This is 1974, Pittsburgh started Joe Gilliam in the game, and we beat them something like 17-0,” Davis told NFL Films. “After the game, Terry Bradshaw came in the locker room and said to me, ‘Can you get me out of here; can you trade for me?’ I said to him, 'Listen, I love you, but I got enough problems. I got Stabler, I got Blanda, and I still had Lamonica. I can’t get you, but let me put in a good word for you.'”
The Steelers and Raiders didn’t like each other. They were in the midst of a run that would see them meet in the AFC playoffs six times during the decade, and the wound of the Immaculate Reception was still very fresh. Noll and Davis had a relationship that predated the rivalry. They had both been assistants at the same time for the legendary Sid Gillman, and the ever-confident Davis pulled Noll aside on behalf of the apoplectic Bradshaw.
“Chuck Noll had been a close friend and I, probably one of the dumbest things I have ever done,” Davis recalled. “(Asked Noll) Why don’t you play Bradshaw and stop playing Gilliam? Bradshaw can win for you. He put Bradshaw back in the lineup, they beat us in the championship game in ‘74, they beat us in the championship game in ‘75 and we had our hands full with the Steelers from then on.”
The Steelers went 5-2 and won their first Super Bowl after Noll took his friend’s advice. Bradshaw’s career, notably in the fifth season, took off from that point. During the final nine seasons of his career, the Pittsburgh quarterback was Bradshaw. After his career started so poorly statistically, Bradshaw’s completion rate for the remainder of his career was 53.7%, and he threw 164 touchdowns compared to 129 interceptions.
He won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award for the 1978 season that saw Pittsburgh defeat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII 35-31, and he earned the first of a pair of Super Bowl MVP Trophies. He was 13-3 in the playoffs after Davis convinced Noll to stick with him as his starter, and he was the first quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in a Super Bowl.
Bradshaw became a Hall of Fame legend for the fans of Pittsburgh, but his early career troubles kept him away from the Steelers for nearly 20 years after he stopped playing. Eventually, Bradshaw mended fences with the organization, but he is still at best a reluctant participant in ceremonies honoring the heroes of the past for the black and gold.
Bradshaw’s No. 12 is not retired, and after losing Franco Harris just days away from his ceremony, Art Rooney II should strongly consider honoring Bradshaw, especially in light of his recent battles with cancer.
Pittsburgh and Bradshaw have a warmer relationship these days, but he and the fans who saw him play deserve one more night to stand and cheer for No. 12 and let him know that, despite everything, he is loved, even if it took Al Davis to make it happen.
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