In Week Seven, the Pittsburgh Steelers will visit the Los Angeles Rams and it will mark the first time that they have played them in the state of California since 1993. That last meeting against the Rams, when they belonged to the city of Los Angeles, didn’t go well at all. In fact, neither did all of the previous eight road meetings, not counting Super Bowl XIV.
All-time, the Steelers are 0-9 against the Rams on the road when they have belonged to the city of Los Angeles. As previously stated, the last such meeting took place in 1993 and at Anaheim Stadium. The Rams shut out the Steelers in that Week Two game, 27-0. That game even featured then-rookie RB Jerome Bettis as it was his second NFL game after being selected by the Rams 10th overall in the 1993 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame.
Bettis, who obviously would later become a member of the Steelers in 1996, rushed for 76 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown in that September 1993 game against Pittsburgh. His touchdown run, a 29-yard scamper to the left side with 10:32 remaining in the fourth quarter, was the first of his career. He also had one reception for a loss of four yards in that big win over the Steelers.
In that shutout loss, the Steelers’ offense couldn’t do much of anything right. That unit registered 175 net yards with 55 of those coming on the ground. Fifty of those were registered by Steelers RB Barry Foster on 15 carries.
The Steelers’ passing game wasn’t much better as QB Neil O’Donnell completed just 17 of his 33 total pass attempts in the contest for 169 yards with an interception. O’Donnell also fumbled away the football once in the game and he was sacked five times. Rams DT Sean Gilbert had four of those five sacks. The Steelers’ offense had just one explosive play against the Rams, a 20-yard completion from O’Donnell to WR Ernie Mills on the second-to-last play of the contest.
While the Steelers defense managed to intercept Rams QB Jim Everett twice in that 1993 shutout loss, the unit only registered one sack and that was by CB Rod Woodson, who also had one of the two picks. That shutout was the first one ever suffered by then-head coach Bill Cowher. In case you’re curious, Cowher was shut out just six times during his tenure as the Steelers’ head coach.
As for the previous eight regular season Steelers’ losses to the Los Angeles Rams on the road, dating back to 1948, six of those included Pittsburgh failing to score more than 14 points. The most points that they scored in those previous eight road games against the Los Angeles Rams was 26 and that came in the team’s 1955 loss at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. They lost that game by one point, by the way, 27-26. You can see a video recap of that game below.
Week 2, 1955#Rams #Steelers
Bobby Boyd 3-114-1
Richie McCabe 50 yard fumble recovery touchdown
Fears 4-43-1
Chandnois 17-78-2
27-26 #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/juTjVXYuOy— Old Time Football 🏈 (@Ol_TimeFootball) June 3, 2023
As previously noted on the site, the Rams are currently 3.5-point home favorites over the Steelers. The game will take place on Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
