The 1980 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 48th season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. The Steelers struggled for the first time in many years. The aging defense was not as effective as it had been in the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

and ' 79 seasons, falling from 2nd to 15th in yards allowed. The Steelers also surrendered 313 points, ranked 15th in the league, compared to 262 points (5th in the league) the previous season. The Pittsburgh defense only garnered 18

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackle (football move), tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the l ...

s. The offense was still plagued with 42 total turnovers, but ranking 6th in total offense, and scoring 352 points. Despite the team's troubles, the Steelers could have again obtained home-field advantage throughout the playoffs had they not lost several close games, including games against

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

in which they lost despite having large leads in the fourth quarter. Pittsburgh remained in the playoff hunt until a 28–13 loss to Buffalo in week 12, and then a 6–0 loss to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

effectively eliminated Pittsburgh from the postseason. To many, these two losses marked the end of the Steeler Dynasty. Several key players retired after the 1980 season and the team was never the same again. The 1980 season was the first in which the Steelers did not qualify for the playoffs since

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Offseason

NFL draft

Undrafted free agents

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Schedule

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Houston Oilers

The Steelers sat on a 17-0 first quarter lead and then had to score twice in the final 13 minutes to fight off a Houston comeback as Terry Bradshaw accounted for three of the Steelers four touchdowns. Larry Anderson provided the early fireworks when he returned the opening kickoff for 63 yards. The Steelers went on to score three of the four possessions but realized only three points as a result of four interceptions by

Ken Stabler Kenneth Michael Stabler (December 25, 1945 – July 8, 2015) was an American professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Oakland Raiders. Nicknamed "Snake", he played col ...

passes the first six times Houston has the ball. The Oilers got the 17 points back in the third quarter. Trailing 17-3, they scored two touchdowns in a span of 97 seconds.

Earl Campbell Earl Christian Campbell (born March 29, 1955), nicknamed "the Tyler Rose", is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily with the Houston Oilers. Known f ...

's first pass, a sidearm wobbler, got the first score and when Theo Bell fumbled the next kickoff, Houston tied the game six plays later. Four Bradshaw passes ate up 72 of the 80-yard drive to get the Steelers back on top. A broken play on which John Stallworth outfought two defenders for a high Bradshaw lob was the final score of the game. Franco Harris passes Jim Taylor to become the third leading rusher in NFL history with 8,609 yards. Mel Blount and Donnie Shell had two interceptions each and Mike Wagner got the fifth.

Week 2: at Baltimore Colts

Week 3: at Cincinnati Bengals

Week 4: vs. Chicago Bears

Week 5: at Minnesota Vikings

Week 6: vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Week 7 : vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 8: at Cleveland Browns

Week 9: vs. Green Bay Packers

Week 10: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 11: vs. Cleveland Browns

Week 12: at Buffalo Bills

Week 13: vs. Miami Dolphins

Week 14 : at Houston Oilers

Week 15: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Week 16: at San Diego Chargers

Standings

References

External links

1980 Pittsburgh Steelers season at ProFootballReference.com

1980 Pittsburgh Steelers at jt-sw.com
{{1980 NFL season by team Pittsburgh Steelers seasons

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

Pitts 1980 in Pittsburgh