Pro sports have the power to produce the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. We can all recall moments from our favorite teams that shaped our lives and brought us tremendous joy or painful heartache. As ABC’s Wide World of Sports once reminded us weekly, sports consist of the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
Pittsburgh Steelers fans have certainly experienced their share of victory and celebration with the team winning six Super Bowls. But they have also experienced those excruciatingly painful moments that broke hearts and shattered dreams. This series looks back at five devastating plays that crushed the souls of die-hard Steelers fans.
No. 5: Say it ain’t so, Joe (Montana)
No. 4: Phantom roughing the kicker penalty
No. 3: Three yards to glory
No: 2: No way Steelers lose to Tim Te…Oh my God!
Background: January 8, 2012, AFC Wild Card Game in Denver. The Steelers finished the regular season 12-4, Denver 8-8. Pittsburgh boasted the No. 1 defense in the NFL and had a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger. Denver had much-maligned quarterback Tim Tebow and a prayer. Tebow was under heavy fire in Denver after horrible performances in the Broncos’ previous three games.
Dispatching Denver was simply a formality for Mike Tomlin and his Steelers. At least that was the sentiment among Steelers’ faithful heading into the game. The first quarter went as planned. The Steelers jumped out to a 6-0 lead on two Shaun Suisham field goals. Denver had eight yards when the quarter ended.
The second quarter, however, went haywire. Tebow started the barrage with a 30-yard strike to Eddie Royal, followed by a Tebow 8-yard touchdown run. Matt Prater added two field goals and just like that, the Steelers were down 20-6 at halftime. No problem, 30 minutes to go. Surely Tebow won’t keep this up.
In the third quarter, the Steelers regrouped and Roethlisberger drove the team to the 1-yard line where WR Mike Wallace scored on a reverse. The third quarter ended 20-13. In the final stanza, the teams traded field goals to make the score 23-16. After a LaMarr Woodley fumble recovery, Big Ben hit Jerricho Cotchery for a 31-yard touchdown and the game was tied at 23-23. Neither team could mount a drive and the game went to overtime.
Ben vs. Tebow. The Steelers’ vaunted defense had righted the ship, only giving up three points in the second half. Just get the ball in Ben’s hands and end this thing. Denver won the coin toss and had the ball. The Steelers’ defense guessed that Denver would play it conservative and moved the entire defense within 7 yards of the line of scrimmage. What happened next was complete shock, agony and disbelief for Steelers Nation.
The play: Tebow took the snap and fired a dart to Demaryius Thomas, who had gotten behind the defense on a crossing pattern. He raced 80 yards to seal a 29-23 upset that rocked the football world. Tebow completed only 10 passes in the game but threw for 316 yards against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. The Steelers had allowed an average of only 172 passing yards per game in the regular season, lowest in the NFL.
Why it stung: The number one defense in the league vs. a guy who would soon be out of the league? I still can’t watch the play without pangs of angst and disdain. It was supposed to be a bloodbath. It was Tebow’s ONLY shining moment in an otherwise fleeting career as an NFL quarterback and it came against the best defense in the league. Unfathomable, impossible, unacceptable. Yet, it happened. And it will haunt Steelers fans for our entire lifetime.
