A new series we’re bringing to Steelers Depot to get us through a portion of the offseason. A list of the top 10 individual player seasons in team history. Which, as I sat down to collect, turned out to be a lot harder than I figured. A team that’s been around for 90 years has had lots of great seasons – who would’ve guessed?
So we’re counting down from 10 to one the top single-season performances by anyone who has worn the black and gold. One important caveat: players can only appear on this list once. So their best of the best season. You won’t see any repeat names on here.
As we begin to near the end of the list, I’ll post an honorable mention of players and performances that just missed the cut. Let me know your thoughts of the top 10 in the comments below.
Today, we’ll start with #10 and #9.
#10 – 1985 WR Louis Lipps: 59 receptions 1,134 yards 12 TDs + 1 rushing TD + 2 PR TDs
Lipps’ 1985 season might not be the first one that comes to mind in thinking about this list. But I give extra Depot points to those who impacted the game in more than one area. Lipps was a threat all over: receiving, running, and returning kicks and punts.
Though he didn’t have a high volume of receptions, he averaged a tremendous 19.2 yards per catch, routinely making himself a deep threat. It’s the sixth-best YPC in team history of players with 50+ receptions in a season and third-best since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. He averaged 0.75 touchdowns per game, opening the year with a 9/175/3 line in a blowout win over the Indianapolis Colts and found the end zone in 10 of his 16 games that year.
Don’t think he had great QB play to boost him either. He caught passes from Mark Malone, David Woodley, and Scott Campbell, who combined to complete fewer than of half their passes and threw more interceptions than touchdowns.
And Lipps didn’t just find the end zone through the air. He ran back two punts for scores, a 62-yarder against the Cincinnati Bengals and a 71-yarder to take the lead in a win over the Kansas City Chiefs weeks later. Those two scores tied for the league-best on punts. Here’s a look at the latter against KC, with Lipps breaking a tackle and outrunning everyone into the end zone.
He became the first player in NFL history to have 1,000+ yards receiving and two punt return touchdowns in the same season. To date, he’s just one of four to ever do it with Joey Galloway, Troy Brown, and DeSean Jackson joining him, the last occurring in 2009, meaning it’s been well over a decade since the most recent instance.
Lipps’ season is easy to forget because he was on a lackluster Steelers bunch that finished 7-9 but he was a true bright spot who made plays seemingly every game.
#9 – 2014 RB Le’Veon Bell: 1,361 yards rushing 8 TDs + 83 receptions 854 yards 3 TDs = 2,215 yards from scrimmage
Though Bell’s been in the headlines for a lot of negativity, don’t forget how special a player he was when the good times were rolling. And oh boy, were they rolling in 2014, his sophomore season in the league. He got past a rookie knee injury and dropped weight for his second year and exploded, dominating on the ground and through the air.
While Bell only had four 100+ yard rushing performances, he went for 204 yards in a Week 11 win against the Tennessee Titans, becoming the fifth player in team history to accomplish the feat (Bell would make it a sixth two years later with a record-breaking 236-yard showing). Here’s one of his close out runs late in the game, a snapshot of his power and dominance over the Titans’ helpless defense.
What Bell did in the passing game really sets him apart. Eighty-three receptions became a Steelers record for a running back, a mark he’d break with 85 in 2017. He had 4+ receptions in 12 of his 16 games and went for an incredible 159 yards in a Week 13 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Put it all together and his 2,215 yards from scrimmage became a franchise record by a wide margin, breaking Barry Foster’s mark. Bell and Foster are the only two Steelers to have 2,000+ yards from scrimmage in a season, and his 2014 total still ranks 23rd in NFL history. It’s a rushing/receiving combination not seen in team history and probably won’t be seen again for quite some time.
Steelers Top Ten Single Season Performances
#10 WR Louis Lipps (1985)
#9 RB Le’Veon Bell (2014)
