In 2011, the Pittsburgh Steelers were looking to return to the Super Bowl after losing the previous year’s championship to the Green Bay Packers. At 12-4, they drew a favorable matchup in the first round. They played the 8-8 Denver Broncos, led by quarterback Tim Tebow. Unfortunately, the Steelers choked, allowing Tebow to complete a game-winning touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime. While it’s been over a decade since then, Tebow gave details on the play that might sting even more now.
“We had been in that formation on 1st down maybe 20-something times in the game,” Tebow said Thursday on The Rich Eisen Show. “We had been running a lot of zone-read because their ends were so gifted. Why would we not just read them instead of block them when they’re somewhat unblockable, especially James Harrison…
“We had that pass concept we ended up using, but we had never done it out of that formation. I think we had only ever done it out of under center as a play action. So, Coach [Mike] McCoy, we’re sitting down, we think, ‘Can we do this off of the gun?’ Although we’d done that play action and we’d done the route concept, we’d never done it all together. That was the first time we had ever done that.”
Tebow wasn’t a traditional quarterback. He was a better runner than thrower, a fact reflected by the Broncos’ offensive play-calling. They ran the ball 34 times against the Steelers in that game. Compare that to Tebow’s 21 pass attempts, of which only 10 were completions.
It’s surprising that the Broncos came out throwing the ball to start overtime. It caught the Steelers’ defense off guard, too, as Tebow recalls.
“When I walk up to the line, calling the protection, I’m looking, I’m like, ‘There’s no way. Are they really playing [cover] zero right now?’ It was because of the run, and they wanted both of those safeties to be able to come and fill and gap contain. So, I’m just like, ‘No way.'”
The Steelers sold out to stop the run, and that cost them. They had the right idea considering the Broncos’ offense. However, it should’ve never gotten to that point. Their team was too talented to go into overtime against the Broncos.
That was the beginning of the end of that era of Steelers football. The following two seasons saw them miss the playoffs, with many of their stars aging out of the league. That year was likely their last chance at a Super Bowl with that core, and they fell flat on their faces against Tebow’s Broncos.
The Broncos went on to play the New England Patriots in the next round. That game wasn’t even a contest, with the Patriots winning 45-10. The Steelers had no one to blame but themselves for that failure, especially considering that the Broncos never ran that play. If they were actually Super Bowl contenders, then they would’ve had a performance like the Patriots did.
Since then, the Steelers have experienced plenty more playoff heartbreak. Currently, they’re on a postseason losing streak, with their last win coming in the 2016 season. Their personnel have changed significantly over the years, but some of the same issues remain.
We’ll see if they can change their playoff luck this year. They’d be hard-pressed to have a more disappointing loss than the one to the Broncos, though. That team was talented, but the Steelers’ vaunted defense should’ve picked Tebow apart. He only started two NFL games after that.
Instead, he sent them packing, ending their Super Bowl dreams. There’s no point crying over spilled milk, though. That game may always be a sore spot for Steelers fans, but there’s no changing it now. All fans can do is hope the team returns to its former glory sooner rather than later.
