With it being the middle of the offseason and all of us missing football, I’ve decided to turn back the clock. I always find it fun to go back and look at some of the Pittsburgh Steelers star players’ first big games. So that’s what we are going to do. Previously we’ve looked at Le’Veon Bell’s first 100-yard rushing game against the Green Bay Packers and T.J. Watt’s flashes of greatness in his first-ever game against the Cleveland Browns. Today we will be looking at wide receiver Antonio Brown’s first-ever multi-touchdown game and breakout out a national stage against the Chicago Bears.
Breakout Player: Wide Receiver Antonio Brown
Breakout Game: 2013 vs Chicago Bears (nine receptions, 196 yards, two touchdowns)
Antonio Brown is one of the best players to ever don the Black and Gold. During his time as a Steeler, he ascended to superstardom and became one of the most popular players in the NFL. However, it took a while to get there. Brown was famously a sixth-round pick who struggled to see the field on offense his first season and wasn’t a number one option in 2011 either. In 2012 Brown started to see more consistent targets and in 2013 he really took off. We can trace Brown’s consistently elite play to one game: Week Three against the Chicago Bears in 2013.
Pittsburgh entered its Sunday Night Football matchup against the Bears 0-2 and was looking to right the ship before the team dug itself too deep of a hole. Unfortunately, in 2023 we know how the story ended and that the team did dig itself a hole too deep to overcome, but looking back this game it marked the beginning of the Antonio Brown era.
Pittsburgh started the game horrifically, going down 24-3 halfway through the second quarter and basically securing an 0-3 start to the season. Despite this Brown decided to do everything he could to try and reverse the deficit, quickly responding with a 33-yard touchdown reception with one defender draped all over him and another in the vicinity.
This catch was great and showcased how good Brown’s hands were, but it was overshadowed by a catch Brown made a little later on in the game. With the Steelers trailing 27-13, one touchdown could get them back in the game, so in what was a foreshadowing of the years to come, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger turned to Brown.
Roethlisberger once again took a shot in the end zone for Brown. While there was not as tight of coverage this time (shout out to Brown’s route running ability), Brown made a diving catch where he tipped the ball back to himself and managed to keep his two feet inbounds.
This catch is one of Brown’s best ever. Yet because it is so early in his career and came in a game Pittsburgh was blown out in it isn’t remembered much by the masses. Despite the Steelers trailing the Bears by only four points with less than six minutes left to play, a late touchdown reception by Earl Bennett and a fumble returned for a touchdown by Julius Peppers resulted in Pittsburgh losing by 17 points, 40-23.
This game dropped Pittsburgh to 0-3, a record that would soon sink to 0-4. However, Brown broke out this game and it was the start of his first great season. Brown finished the year with 110 receptions, 1,499 yards, and eight touchdown receptions. At the time all of these were career highs and resulted in him making his first Pro Bowl as a wide receiver.
Brown would be the best receiver in the NFL from 2014-2018 and was arguably the face of the team in that era. While he exited as a Steeler on bad terms, he played a huge part in the fun times of the mid-2010s. Going back to when he first blossomed into a superstar was a trip down memory lane. It is crazy to think that a game on Sunday Night Football in 2013 where Antonio Brown casually went for 196 yards and two touchdowns was almost a decade ago.
If you would like to watch the highlights of this game, NFL Throwback posted them on YouTube in their part to remember Brown’s breakout performance.
