Tim Benz: Rating the Steelers’ 6 wins, 5 losses in residence AFC Championship video games

On Thursday, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II came out against the idea of having neutral site AFC and NFC Championship games.

“I hate the idea,” Rooney said. “I don’t like that at all. My sense is that if you put that up for a vote it wouldn’t pass today, but who knows.”

Good. Let’s hope that’s the case. And let’s hope Rooney II keeps up that stance and vehemently argues against the idea if it does come up for a vote.

This whole conversation began when Atlanta was designated to host this year’s AFC Championship game if the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs had ended up being the two combatants.

That’s because the league canceled the Week 17 “Monday Night Football” game (due to the collapse of Buffalo defensive back Damar Hamlin) between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, thus leaving the two franchises with incomplete seasons and win totals that were askew from the rest of the conference.

That plan was averted because the Bengals won in Buffalo during last week’s divisional round. So they’ll simply travel to Kansas City as would normally be the case for a No. 3 seed versus a No. 1.

But because the NFL was pumping out information that advanced ticket sales were brisk for the game in case it happened (although that was largely based on the secondary market), many in the national media opined that those were signals to the country from the league to warm up to the idea of permanent neutral-site title games.

Perhaps as early as next year.

Sadly, I think those predictions are going to come true. Maybe not next year. But very soon. The financial windfall may be too much for Rooney’s peers to ignore.

So, in case Sunday’s games in K.C. and Philadelphia are the last two to ever be staged in home stadiums, I thought it’d be worthwhile to spend some time reliving all the moments of the 11 AFC Championship games hosted in Pittsburgh since 1972.

Steelers.com contributor and team historian Bob Labriola joined me for Friday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. We discussed all the memories of the Steelers’ six AFC Championship game home wins and their five painful home title-game losses.

Labriola ranked the six victories in order of what he thinks were the best games. I ranked the five defeats in terms of what I deemed to be the most painful.

Ranking the Steelers’ 6 AFC Championship home wins

6. Steelers 27 Oilers 13 (Jan. 6, 1980 — Three Rivers Stadium): This Steelers win would propel the franchise to its fourth and final Super Bowl of the Chuck Noll era. Pittsburgh wouldn’t enjoy another home playoff victory until 1994.

The game is best remembered as the “Renfro Game” to those in Houston. Late in the third quarter, down 17-10, quarterback Dan Pastorini appeared to hit receiver Mike Renfro for a touchdown. But the play was ruled incomplete. The angst over the apparent blown call is widely perceived as an early argument for the advent of instant replay, which eventually was implemented in 1986. Replay was ditched after the 1991 season and brought back in 1999.

The Steelers scored the final 10 points of the game in the fourth quarter. Franco Harris had 136 yards from scrimmage. The Steel Curtain defense held Oilers star running back Earl Campbell to just 15 yards on 17 carries.

Labriola: “It was an AFC Championship game. A lot of Hall of Fame players. But with the exception of the one officiating controversy, there wasn’t anything all that compelling about it. Somebody had to be sixth. So 1979-80 is sixth.”

5. Steelers 24 New York Jets 19 (Jan. 23, 2011 — Heinz Field): The Steelers built a 24-3 lead before halftime. They gave up the next 16 points.

On third down and six with less than two minutes left, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hit Antonio Brown for a crucial third-down conversion, and the Steelers ran out the clock.

Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown. The Steelers went on to face the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV. That game didn’t end as well.

Labriola: “The one thing about that game that, to me, was somewhat eye opening, was that it showcased what we were going to see over the next five or six years — the pairing of Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown.”

4. Steelers 20 Indianapolis Colts 16 (Jan.14, 1996 — Three Rivers Stadium): After having lost to the San Diego Chargers at home as a big favorite in the AFC title game the year before, the Steelers found themselves losing to a big underdog again in this game.

The Jim Harbaugh-led Colts built a 16-13 fourth quarter advantage. But Neil O’Donnell led a 67-yard touchdown drive that featured a dropped interception, a fourth-down conversion to Andre Hastings, a 37-yard connection to Ernie Mills and a Bam Morris touchdown.

So, down 20-16, the Colts advanced to the Steelers’ 29 with five seconds left. On the game’s final play, Harbaugh attempted a Hail Mary pass which came down into a crowd of players in the end zone. It momentarily looked like Colts receiver Aaron Bailey was going to be able to haul the ball in for a soul-crushing score. But it fell to the turf and the Steelers won.

The Steelers advanced to Super Bowl XXX before losing to the favored Dallas Cowboys.

Labriola: “I was seriously thinking that if the Steelers lose this game again, come this far to a championship game at home, and lose to a team that was a heavy underdog — two times in a row, back-to-back seasons — you’d probably have to blow the whole thing up and start over. Because I don’t know if you could’ve continued with that roster that had gone through that and then expect them to not have PTSD and go in the tank for a while.”

3. Steelers 16 Oakland Raiders 10 (Jan. 4, 1976 — Three Rivers Stadium): After having beaten the Raiders in Oakland for the AFC crown the previous season, the Steelers made it two in a row by winning a frigid, low-scoring game at Three Rivers.

This would come to be known as the “Frozen Sidelines” game. Oakland owner Al Davis and head coach John Madden accused the Steelers and Three Rivers Stadium grounds crew of allowing the artificial turf to ice over, in an effort to slow Oakland’s vertical passing attack — particularly down the sidelines.

Oakland quarterback Ken Stabler wound up 18 of 46 for 246 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked twice, and Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert recovered three fumbles.

Raiders defensive back George Atkinson concussed Lynn Swann during the game. But the second-year wide receiver would respond two weeks later to win Super Bowl X MVP.

Labriola: “The bitterness of the Steelers-Raiders rivalry — I won’t say it peaked (with that game) — but it was at its zenith in that era.”

2. Steelers 34 Oilers 5 (Jan. 7, 1979 — Three Rivers Stadium): A game played in 27-degree frozen rain, it proved to be an all-out coronation of the fabled 1978 Steelers, who went 14-2 during the regular season.

The defense allowed only 142 yards in total offense while forcing nine Houston turnovers and collecting three sacks while allowing just one field goal.

Meanwhile, Swann and quarterback Terry Bradshaw connected four times for 98 yards. Five different ball carriers combined for 179 rushing yards. Then the team went on to beat the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII.

Labriola: “The Steelers had dominated so many of their regular-season opponents. They paid back the Broncos in the divisional round (33-10). The Broncos had eliminated the Steelers from the playoffs in ‘77. That was the rubber match against the Oilers, who, at that time, maybe (were) the second-best team in the NFL and just dominated them.”

1. Steelers 23 Ravens 14 (Jan. 18, 2009 — Heinz Field): After the Immaculate Reception playoff game versus Oakland in 1972, this is considered by many Pittsburghers to be the most memorable, hardest-hitting NFL game ever played in this city.

Limas Sweed’s block on Corey Ivy. Roethlisberger’s touchdown to Santonio Holmes. Ryan Clark knocking out Willis McGahee. And Tyrone Carter’s game-sealing interception.

Which wasn’t even close to the biggest interception of the day.

It’s #NationalHairDay, so it’s only right we drop a Troy Polamalu highlight.

Jan. 18, 2009: The @steelers safety sealed a Super Bowl berth with a pick-six in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship Game. @tpolamalu pic.twitter.com/UqieIVvmz4

— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) October 1, 2018

That pick-6 from Troy Polamalu; every NFL fan base deserves to have that kind of moment happen in their city at least once. That moment right there, as anyone who was at Heinz Field that day will tell you, is why any conference title game is better when it is in a home stadium.

Whether it’s Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Buffalo or Cincinnati, that kind of moment will never be as good in somebody else’s dome or on a warm-weather neutral field.

Labriola: “The Steelers had settled into some offensive doldrums at the time. They were leading 16-14. The Ravens had started to move the ball again. And I really had a bad feeling that it was going to be a field goal and a 17-16 loss. But Polamalu really made one of the great plays in his career and iced that game.”

So that’s how Labriola ranked the Steelers six home AFC Championship game wins. My rankings were a little different, but not at the top.

1. Steelers beat Ravens in ‘09

2. Steelers beat Colts in ‘96

3. Steelers beat Oilers 34-5 in ‘79

4. Steelers beat Oilers 27-13 in the Renfro Game in ‘80

5. Steelers beat Raiders in ‘76

6. Steelers beat the Jets in ‘11

The losses

As far as ranking the five home AFC Championship game defeats in terms of pure disappointment, here’s how I stacked them. For me, it was harder to sort through the negative emotions than it was to itemize the joy of the wins.

5. Miami Dolphins 21 Steelers 17 (Dec. 31, 1972 — Three Rivers Stadium): First of all, I was still two years from being born. So I can’t speak to the anguish of this one.

But the euphoria of the Immaculate Reception and the franchise’s first-ever playoff win still had to be hanging in the air at kickoff. The Steelers probably shouldn’t have hosted that game against the unbeaten Dolphins anyway, but annually rotating the AFC title games through the division winners was the rule at the time. Plus, the Steelers got goofed by Larry Seiple’s fake punt.

Hey, (stuff) happens. The next seven years went pretty well, though. Didn’t they?

4. Broncos 24 Steelers 21 (Jan. 11, 1998 — Three Rivers Stadium): Some may have this game higher because the Steelers strategically mangled a game that they were winning.

Agreed.

Jerome Bettis had 105 yards on 23 carries. Yet the Steelers shifted to the passing attack with Kordell Stewart making his first title-game start. He wound up throwing three interceptions — two in the end zone — and had a fumble. The Steelers ended up blowing an early lead as a result and losing what would turn out to be their last-ever playoff game at Three Rivers.

The truth is, though, the Broncos had a better record than the Steelers, they went on to win the Super Bowl twice in a row, and (at the time) the sense was Stewart was going to be really good for a while. So, the loss was a little easier to digest.

Hold that thought.

3. New England Patriots 24 Steelers 17 (Jan. 27, 2002 — Heinz Field): After three years of erratic play, Stewart and the Steelers had a great year in 2001, the first year at brand-new Heinz Field. They beat the hated Ravens in the divisional round despite missing an ailing Bettis.

The upstart Patriots came to town with some second-year punk quarterback named Tom Brady riding a magic carpet into the postseason.

The Steelers’ Lethon Flowers knocked him out in the second quarter. Drew Bledsoe came in to lead a touchdown drive anyway. The Patriots scored two touchdowns on special teams. Stewart threw three more picks, and Bettis walked away with eight yards on nine carries.

Because the Super Bowl was to be played the next week that year, I was told to have a bag packed and to be ready to leave early the next morning. I came home and a full suitcase was sitting there mocking me. I was convinced I’d never see the Steelers in a Super Bowl again. If, after a 13-3 season, they could lose to a bunch of no-names from New England who were obviously going to lose the Super Bowl the next week and be a total flash in the pan (right?), they were just never going to win an AFC Championship again.

2. Patriots 41 Steelers 27 (Jan. 23, 2005 — Heinz Field): Given that Roethlisberger had yet to lose a start during his fabulous rookie season, why would the AFC Championship game be any different?

And if the Steelers could beat the Patriots at home by two touchdowns as they did in October, why couldn’t they do it again in January with the Super Bowl on the line?

But Roethlisberger threw three interceptions, and Brady hit Deion Branch four times for 116 yards and a touchdown.

New England was one step ahead all game. It’s almost like they knew what plays were coming, or something.

1. Chargers 17 Steelers 13 (Jan. 15, 1995 — Three Rivers Stadium): This is the only game ever to make me physically ill. I felt great going into the stadium. I went to bed with a migraine and a chest cold.

When it was 59 degrees on Jan. 15 in Pittsburgh, to welcome a team from San Diego for an AFC title game, that was the first sign of disaster.

The last sign of disaster was Dennis Gibson batting away O’Donnell’s last-ditch, fourth-down pass to Barry Foster in the end zone.

4th and goal from the 3.
Dennis Gibson knocks down the pass and the #Chargers are headed to their first Super Bowl, winning in Pittsburgh 17-13. pic.twitter.com/9clNfgi79V

— Old Time Football (@Ol_TimeFootball) January 16, 2023

In between, Foster fumbled, Tony Martin caught a long touchdown, and Alfred Pupunu did his coconut TD celebration.

The Steelers were the AFC’s best team that year. The Chargers victory over Dan Marino and the Dolphins the week before was supposed to make a 15-year return trip to the Super Bowl all the easier.

Beating San Diego was supposed to be academic. Then it was supposed to be on to the Super Bowl for a third go-round with the Cowboys or a battle with the San Francisco 49ers to see which organization was going to be the first to claim a fifth ring.

I remember my father describing downtown Monday morning as having tumbleweeds rolling through the streets because the whole city was just like me. Too sick to go to work.

But you know what? You need to witness hurt like that in person to become a good fan as well. It’s not all about the good times. And none of those games would hurt as much if they are in a dome in Atlanta.

For the wins. For the losses. Keep the title games at home venues. We need Troy Polamalu. We need Dennis Gibson. And the NFL doesn’t need another measly billion dollars.

Listen: Tim Benz and Bob Labriola rank the Steelers’ AFC Championship games

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.