1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season explained

Team:	Pittsburgh Steelers
Year:	1972
Record:	11–3
Division Place:	1st AFC Central
Coach:	Chuck Noll
Owner:	Art Rooney
Stadium:	Three Rivers Stadium
Playoffs:	Won Divisional Playoffs (vs. Raiders) 13–7 Lost AFC Championship (vs. Dolphins) 17–21
Mvp:	Franco Harris
Shortnavlink:	Steelers seasons

The 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the team's 40th in the National Football League.

Pittsburgh finished with an 11–3 record in, their first winning season in 9 years (1963), and won their first-ever AFC Central Division title. It was the Steelers' third-ever postseason appearance, first in ten seasons (the Playoff Bowl for third place in the league), and only its second playoff game since 1947. This season is famous for the Immaculate Reception, where the Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13–7 in the playoffs on a last second touchdown by rookie running back Franco Harris.

The rebuilding of the franchise that began in 1969 with the hiring of head coach Chuck Noll finally came to fruition in his fourth year. After winning only once in that first season, the Steelers then showed steady improvement. They broke through in 1972 and made the playoffs for the first time since 1947; their three losses were by a combined eleven points. The division title was the first in team history, as was the appearance in the AFC Championship game which they lost to the undefeated Miami Dolphins 21–17. It was the first of eight consecutive playoff appearances for the Steelers that led to four Super Bowl championships.

Offseason

NFL draft

^[1]

Roster

^[2]

Depth chart

Staff

•Lionel Taylor - Receiver Coach

•Charlie Sumner - Linebacker Coach

• - Quarterback Coach

•Dick Hoak – Defensive backfield coach

•Bud Carson – Defensive backfield coach

•Bob Fry – Offensive line coach

•Lou Riecke - Strength Coach

•George Perles – Defensive line coach

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue
1	September 17	Oakland Raiders	W 34–28	1–0	Three Rivers Stadium
2	September 24	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 10–15	1–1	Riverfront Stadium
3	October 1	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 25–19	2–1	Busch Memorial Stadium
4	October 8	at Dallas Cowboys	L 13–17	2–2	Texas Stadium
5	October 15	Houston Oilers	W 24–7	3–2	Three Rivers Stadium
6	October 22	New England Patriots	W 33–3	4–2	Three Rivers Stadium
7	October 29	at Buffalo Bills	W 38–21	5–2	War Memorial Stadium
8	November 5	Cincinnati Bengals	W 40–17	6–2	Three Rivers Stadium
9	November 12	Kansas City Chiefs	W 16–7	7–2	Three Rivers Stadium
10	November 19	at Cleveland Browns	L 24–26	7–3	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
11	November 26	Minnesota Vikings	W 23–10	8–3	Three Rivers Stadium
12	December 3	Cleveland Browns	W 30–0	9–3	Three Rivers Stadium
13	December 10	at Houston Oilers	W 9–3	10–3	Astrodome
14	December 17	at San Diego Chargers	W 24–2	11–3	San Diego Stadium
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Oakland Raiders

See also: 1972 Oakland Raiders season.

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197209170pit.htm

The Steelers were able to start off against the Raiders at home scoring 17 unanswered points (2TDs/PATs and a FG) and eventually ended up defeating the team by 6 for a 34–28 victory and a 1–0 start.

Week 2: at Cincinnati Bengals

See also: 1972 Cincinnati Bengals season.

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197209240cin.htm

Week 3: at St. Louis Cardinals

See also: 1972 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season.

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197210010crd.htm

Week 4: at Dallas Cowboys

See also: 1972 Dallas Cowboys season.

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197210080dal.htm

Week 5: vs. Houston Oilers

See also: 1972 Houston Oilers season.

• References:https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197210150pit.htm

Week 6: vs. New England Patriots

See also: 1972 New England Patriots season.

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197210220pit.htm

Week 7: at Buffalo Bills

See also: 1972 Buffalo Bills season.

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197210290buf.htm

Week 8: vs. Cincinnati Bengals

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197211050pit.htm

Week 9: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197211120pit.htm

Scoring drives:

• Kansas City – Kearney 65 interception return (Stenerud kick) – Chiefs 7–0
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 25 – Chiefs 7–3
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 10 – Chiefs 7–6
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 49 – Steelers 9–7
• Pittsburgh – Harris 7 run (Gerela kick) – Steelers 16–7

Week 10: Cleveland Browns

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197211190cle.htm

Scoring drives:

• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 39 – Steelers 3–0
• Cleveland – FG Cockroft 26 – Tie 3–3
• Cleveland – Phipps 1 run (Cockroft kick) – Browns 10–3
• Cleveland – FG Cockroft 38 – Browns 13–3
• Cleveland – Pitts 17 pass from Phipps (Cockroft kick) – Browns 20–3
• Pittsburgh – Mullins 3 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick) – Browns 20–10
• Cleveland – FG Cockroft 12 – Browns 23–10
• Pittsburgh – Fuqua 1 run (Gerela kick) – Browns 23–17
• Pittsburgh – Harris 75 run (Gerela kick)- Steelers 24–23
• Cleveland – FG Cockroft 26 – Browns 26–24

Week 11: vs. Minnesota Vikings

See also: 1972 Minnesota Vikings season.

Week 12: vs. Cleveland Browns

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197212030pit.htm

Franco Harris breaks Jim Brown's record for consecutive 100 yd games.

Scoring drives:

• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 19 – Steelers 3–0
• Pittsburgh – Harris 1 run (Gerela kick) – Steelers 10–0
• Pittsburgh – Harris 11 run (Gerela kick) – Steelers 17–0
• Pittsburgh – McMakin 78 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick) – Steelers 24–0
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 44 – Steelers 27–0
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 37 – Steelers 30–0

Week 13: at Houston Oilers

Scoring drives:

• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 24 – Steelers 3–0
• Houston – FG Butler 34 – Tie 3–3
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 39 – Steelers 6–3
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 13 – Steelers 9–3

Steelers clinch their 1st playoff berth.

Week 14: San Diego Chargers

• References: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197212170sdg.htm

The Pittsburgh Steelers clinched their first AFC Central Division title. The day before the game Frank Sinatra is inducted into Franco's Italian Army.

Scoring drives:

• Pittsburgh – Harris 7 yd run (Gerela kick) Steelers 7-0
• San Diego – Safety, Costa tackled Bradshaw in end zone – Steelers 7-2
• Pittsburgh – Fuqua 2 run (Gerela kick) – Steelers 14–2
• Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 24 – Steelers 17–2
• Pittsburgh – Shanklin 17 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick) – Steelers 24–2

Standings

Postseason

Game summaries

AFC Divisional: vs. Oakland Raiders

See main article: article and The Immaculate Reception.

See also: 1972 Oakland Raiders season.

AFC Championship: vs. Miami Dolphins

See also: 1972 Miami Dolphins season.

• PIT – Mullins recovered fumble in end zone (Gerela kick) PIT 7–0
• MIA – Csonka 9 pass from Morrall (Yepremian kick) 7–7
• PIT – FG Gerela 14 11:00 3rd PIT 10–7
• MIA – Kiick 2 run (Yepremian kick) MIA 14–10
• MIA – Kiick 3 run (Yepremian kick) MIA 21–10
• PIT – Young 12 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick) MIA 21–17

External links

• 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season at Profootballreference.com
• 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season statistics at jt-sw.com

Notes and References

1. http://www.footballdb.com/teams/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/draft/1972 Football Database – 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers Draft
2. News: Steelers numbers . Pittsburgh Press . October 22, 1972 . D9.