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: Tim freakin’ Tebow
No. 1: Take two sinks Steelers
Background: Jan 28, 1996, Super Bowl XXX, Steelers vs. Cowboys in beautiful Tempe, Ariz. Both teams were vying for a coveted fifth Super Bowl trophy to tie the San Francisco 49ers. Dallas jumped out to a 13-0 lead before Pittsburgh scored in the waning seconds of the half on a Neil O’Donnell to Yancey Thigpen touchdown pass to make it 13-7 at the break.
In the third quarter, Larry Brown intercepted his first pass of the game, setting up an Emmitt Smith touchdown to make it 20-7. That was the score heading into the fourth quarter. In the final stanza, Norm Johnson hit a field goal to make it 20-10 and Bill Cowher rolled the dice on a gutsy onside kickoff that surprised Dallas and the Steeler recovered the ball. Pittsburgh marched down the field and Bam Morris punched it in to make it a 20-17 game. Momentum was clearly on the side of the Steelers. Levon Kirkland sacked QB Troy Aikman, forcing the Cowboys to punt, giving the Steelers the ball with 4:15 remaining. The Steelers were in business. Until they weren’t.
The play: The Steelers’ hopes and momentum were short lived. On second down, lightning struck twice when Brown intercepted his second O’Donnell pass of the game and ended the Steelers’ hopes of Super Bowl win No. 5. Shortly after, Smith scored again, cementing a 27-17 victory for the Cowboys.
Why it stung: The pain of this play was that the Steelers had fought like hell to get back in this game and had all the momentum on their side. Steelers fans were brought back to life after being demoralized early in the game to thinking that this was going to be one of the greatest comebacks in history. And then the air was taken out of our sails with extreme prejudice. It was pain akin to being one number away from hitting the lottery. SO CLOSE. And to boot, we weren’t used to losing Super Bowls. It had never happened and didn’t seem possible. Yet, we are left to live with that image burned into our brains for the rest of eternity. Thanks a lot, Neil.
