The 1988 Steelers finished 5-11. That’s a franchise worst since Chuck Noll’s 1969 inaugural 1-13 campaign. Just how bad were they? Consider:

• Dan Rooney openly decried “stupid plays”
• Chuck Noll quipped that they would struggle against a grade school team
• Cornell Gowdy started 14 games at strong safety and disappeared from the NFL
• David Little and Rod Woodson were co-MVPs… on the 28th ranked defense

Yet the 1988 Steelers will always hold a special place in my heart, because that’s the season I re-forged my faith in the Black and Gold.

A Steelers Fan Confesses to “Youthful Indiscretion”

I grew up in the 70’s in Maryland outside of DC, the child of two “Pittsburgh Expats” who weren’t serious Steelers fans. Sure, we went all in for the Super Bowls, and Steelers jackets, shirts, hats, scarfs, gloves were glued to me through elementary school.

• As the 70’s faded into the mid-80’s I began to stray.

Washington’s first Joe Gibbs era was underway and, honestly, all things being equal, I’d have probably traded Black for Burgundy and “converted” to the home team.

• But my older brother did convert.

Thanks to sibling rivalry, rooting for the then Redskins was out of the question.

Rooting for the Steelers was hard because there was so little news on them. What did filter down made it clear that the Pittsburgh was pretty mediocre.

But I still liked football. And I longed for a team that could thwart either Washington or San Francisco’s quest to break the Super Steelers records.

So I’d get behind the Bears and/or Giants and even hoped Buffalo would develop to the point where they’d fit the bill (pun intended.) That changed in 1987. I’d reached high school and that’s when guys got serious about sports. I needed a skin in the game at both the lunch table and inside the locker room

• And there was no question: The Pittsburgh Steelers were my team.

Still, I didn’t follow the ’87 Steelers closely. And in Super Bowl XXII I backed the Denver Broncos. What followed was one blissful quarter and then dejection as Doug Williams authored perhaps the most incredible 15 minutes in football history.

The lesson was clear: Never trust in another set of colors that wasn’t Black and Gold.

1988 – Going All In on the Steelers

The Steelers actually started 1988 on a high note.

The ’87 Steelers had finished 8-7 overall and 6-6 in non-strike games despite starting quarterback Mark Malone’s 46.4 passer rating. Tony Dungy’s opportunistic defense had scored 5 touchdowns. Even Joe Greene was back in Pittsburgh as defensive line coach.

The Steelers began the off-season by committing to moving on from Malone, and thus began my days of scouring the Washington Post sports section for any hint of news. The Steelers shipped Malone off to San Diego for an 8th round pick, flirted with trading for Jack Trudeau with the Colts (Indy also wanted Louis Lipps – killing the deal), until finally bringing in Todd Blackledge.

The pundits pronounced the Steelers as winners in 1988 NFL Draft, and I drank the Aaron Jones Kool aid, thinking his prediction of 20 sacks was realistic. Chuck Noll declared that winning in preseason was important to him and on cue, the Steelers went 3-1.

• Then Steelers Nation lost Art Rooney Sr. on August 25, 1988.

While Pittsburgh lost one of its finest citizens, viewed from a 16-year-old’s eyes the Chief’s passing also seemed to signal the start of a new era on the field.

The Steelers 1988 Season – Opening a New Era with a Win Over and Old Foe

And so it was on September 4th 1988 that the Pittsburgh Steelers would play their first game ever without Art Rooney, Sr. against the Dallas Cowboys. Rookie quarterback Bubby Brister won his first start as Earnest Jackson scored two touchdowns giving Chuck Noll his final win over Tom Landry.

A glance at the Post’s Sports section revealed that wins by Cleveland, Cincinnati and Houston had created a four-way tie in the division. The AFC Central would be tough, it seemed, but the Steelers seemed well-positioned to make a run.

• Or so this naïve 16-year-old thought.

Week 2 brought the Steelers to Washington to face the defending Super Bowl Champions. The game set the tone for the rest of the season.

The ’88 Steelers lost to the defending Super Bowl champions by 30 to 29 as Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams threw for over 400 yards. It is tempting see the close score and conclude that Steelers combined a lucky turnover with a few garbage time scores to make the outcome look a lot closer than it really was.

• The opposite is actually true.

The ’88 Steelers actually went toe-to-toe with Washington, as Brister and Louis Lipps hooked up to burn Darrell Green for an 80-yard touchdown early. Brister did it again by connecting with Dwight Stone for a late 72 yard score. Brister ran for a score of his own, but Harry Newsome bobbled a snap costing Pittsburgh an extra point. (Video courtesy of Steel City Star.)

35 years ago today…

Bubby Brister’s 1st career TD pass

An 80-yarder to Louis Lipps who beats Darrell Green

Brister then throws to Dwight Stone who goes 72 yards for TD against the defending SB Champs.

Steelers lose on late FG.

Brister 12-28, 258 yds, 2 TD, 1 TD run, 0 int pic.twitter.com/xmqDZC6Fhy

— Steel City Star (@steelcitystar) September 11, 2023

That extra point didn’t seem to mean much as the Steelers held a 9 point lead going into the 4th quarter, but alas, the defense couldn’t hold as Williams led Washington to not one, but two scores.

That formula repeated itself throughout the season as the loss at RFK started the Steelers on a six-game losing streak.

Nothing went right for Pittsburgh. Bubby Brister got hurt and coaches couldn’t choose between Todd Blackledge and Steve Bono as a replacement. It didn’t matter. Both were terrible. Harry Newsome suffered four blocked punts of his six blocked punts during the steak.

As the losses mounted, pundits demanded that Chuck Noll step aside. Things reached a fever pitch in week 8 as Terry Bradshaw joined the chorus.

The Steelers responded by exploding for a 39 to 21 win over the Denver Broncos that included six Gary Anderson field goals and 2 Rodney Carter touchdowns. Rod Woodson led the defense with 10 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception. The day also saw Greg Lloyd’s first start and first ejection.

Carter, who rushed for over 100 yards, also completed a halfback option pass. When reporters quizzed Noll about this, he quipped that he’d gotten the idea in a letter from a fan.

• The win over the defending AFC Champions, failed to morph into a midseason rally.

The 1988 Steelers lost their next four games. The Bengals demolished them 42 to 7. The Steelers hit rock bottom in the mud at Cleveland Stadium the week before Thanksgiving as Newsome suffered another blocked punt and Mike Webster sailed one snap well above Newsome’s head and another came in so low that Newsome couldn’t handle it.

That left the Steelers in the thick of the Aikman derby i.e. the right to draft Troy Aikman. The only question was whether Pittsburgh had hit rock bottom.

Thanksgiving Interlude as Steelers Sit @ 2-10

Dan Rooney was not happy. He grabbed Ed Bouchette pf the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the coffee room and declared, “I want to get it across that I’m not taking this situation alright.”

The story went “viral,” or at least it was picked up by the Washington Post, and it certainly caught the attention of the young 16-year-old whose daily highlight came at about 6:45 in the morning when the Post had something on the Steelers.

Rooney minced no words, explaining to Bouchette, “I don’t think we can say all is well and good. At times [Sunday] we played alright, but stupid plays took us out of the game.” Rooney then criticized Noll’s decision to punt on 4th and a foot at Cleveland’s 44. And of course he was not happy with the punting errors.

Having grown up outside of Pittsburgh I was unacquainted with just how unique the Rooneys were. So the most part, the uncharacteristic nature of Rooney’s frankness went over my head.

I was at least as focused Rooney’s observations that “At times we played alright,” and “I think we have some pretty good players” and his assertion that the 1988 Steelers were better than their 2-10 record.

That’s what the 16 year-old in me had seen from Monday morning newspaper summaries and ESPN NFL PrimeTime clips. The losses to Cincinnati and Cleveland had been ugly sure, but the Steelers had led against the Jets and Buddy Ryan’s Eagles until losing at the very end, just as they done at Washington. Earlier in the season, after recovering not one but two on sides kicks, they’d given the Bills a run for their money too.

Add those should haves, could haves and might haves together, and that would transform the Steelers record from 2-10 to 6-6.

Offensive mainstays such as Earnest Jackson and Frank Pollard had been benched in favor of Merril Hoge and Warren Williams, with Hoge earning his first 100-yard game in the loss to the Jets. On the defensive side, Rod Woodson was already establish a Hall of Fame trajectory, Greg Lloyd was making a name for himself, as were fellow members of the Steelers 1987 draft class Hardy Nickerson and Thomas Everett.

• While he never said it explicitly, those were the players Dan Rooney had been referring to.

But perhaps the one who was the most to that ’88 team was a player who hadn’t been on the field since week 4….

The 1988 Steelers “Unleash Hell in December”

History geeks will remember week 3 of the 1988 Steelers season as their near upset of the Bills. But the game also marked the first start of an unheralded 2nd round guard from Kentucky.

Unfortunately, that left guard injured his knee when his uncle Art Still fell on it, costing him the next 8 weeks of the season. Few noticed his absence.

• But Chuck Noll noted his return as he made Dermontti Dawson his starting right guard coming out of Thanksgiving.

The Steelers opened December with a 16-10 win over the 3-9-1 Kansas City Chiefs. A week later they went down to the Astrodome and flipped the script of the season. (Video courtesy of Steel City Star.)

 

35 years ago today….

Bubby Brister and Louis Lipps bomb the Oilers

First, the pair connect on an 80-yard TD in the 1st half

Then they connect on a 65-yard TD in the 2nd half

As an ESPN Sunday Night Football audience witnessed, the Bubby bomb was as accurate as any. pic.twitter.com/RMRXb5KDW7

— Steel City Star (@steelcitystar) December 5, 2023

The a game that saw the lead change 10 times, saw both teams return kicks for touchdowns, while Bubby Brister connected with Louis Lipps for touchdowns of 80 and 65 yards. Finally, with the Steelers down 34 to 31, Bubby Brister capped off a 4th quarter comeback with a 16 yard touchdown pass to Merril Hoge.

A week later irony caught up with the Steelers, as Mark Malone who logged his final win in Pittsburgh a year earlier against the Chargers, led San Diego to a 20-14 win over the Steelers in his final start as an NFL quarterback.

The Steelers closed the 1988 season at Three Rivers Stadium, with Chuck Noll hosting his mentor Don Shula. Many wondered if it would be Noll’s final game in Pittsburgh. (IT did, in fact, turn out to be Mike Wester’s final game in Pittsburgh.)

• Chuck Noll was never wont to pep talks, but he share before the game, “I re
  

  Mike Webster talks to Don Shula before his final game with Steelers. Photo Credit: Gene J. Puskar, AP via Pro Football Talk.

  ally want to win this on.”

His players responded. Dwayne Woodruff, the defense’s lone Super Bowl veteran, opened the scoring with 78 yard pick six of Dan Marino. Louis Lipps rushed for a 39-yard touchdown on a reverse. Gary Anderson kicked four field goals, Rodney Carter rushed for a touchdown and Darin Jordan made another pick six as the Steelers won 40-24.

Finishing 5-11 brings no bragging rights, but it at least allowed me to do a bit of “How’d Miami do yesterday” trash talking in Driver’s Ed with avowed Miami Dolphins fan named Frank.

21 years before Mike Tomlin would utter his infamous “Raise hell in December” promise the 1988 Steelers did just that. We’ll never know how much credit Dermontti Dawson’s return deserves for that turn around, but injecting future Hall of Famers into your starting line up does tend to improve things.

’88 Steelers Set the Stage to “Shock the World”

As soon as the season ended Dan Rooney made good on his midseason comments to Ed Bouchette. Things got tense. Chuck Noll almost resigned. But, with an assist from Joe Greene, Noll and Rooney continued to talk, agreed to changes, and The Emperor remained.

Rooney, who once commented that he and his wife Patricia wanted Chuck Noll to raise their kids of anything ever happened to them, clearly didn’t want to end on a bad note.

• But Rooney wasn’t simply making an emotional decision.

In his autobiography Rooney remarked that 1988 was the year “Chuck really showed his greatness” with his post-Thanksgiving rally following a 2-10 start. As Rooney remarked, “I thought – our whole organization thought – better days lay ahead.”

The 16 year old fan rooting for the team from in suburban Maryland agreed. A year later, the 1989 Steelers vindicated us both. No, they didn’t win the Super Bowl, but they fulfill Bubby Brister’s promise to “Shock the world.”

But that is another story….

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