Editing Super Bowl XIV (section)

==Game summary==
Despite being the underdogs, the Rams managed to hang onto a 13–10 lead at halftime, and a 19–17 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter. But the Steelers held the Rams scoreless in the fourth quarter and scored two unanswered touchdowns for the win. Despite the game's uneven matchup and the final score, this game is regarded by some as one of the most competitive games in Super Bowl history. Overall, the lead changed seven times between both teams, a Super Bowl record (Pittsburgh took the lead 4 times, while Los Angeles took it 3 times).

===First quarter===
The Rams won the coin toss and took the opening kickoff, but the Steel Curtain defense forced a three-and-out. Then on the Steelers' seventh play of their first possession, quarterback [[Terry Bradshaw]] completed a 32-yard pass to running back [[Franco Harris]] to reach the Los Angeles 26-yard line. But a deep third down pass intended for wide receiver [[Lynn Swann]] fell incomplete, forcing Pittsburgh to settle for a 41-yard field goal by kicker [[Matt Bahr]], giving them an early 3–0 lead.

Bahr's ensuing kickoff was very short, giving Los Angeles great field position at their own 41-yard line. On the first play of the drive, running back [[Wendell Tyler]] caught a 6-yard pass from quarterback [[Vince Ferragamo]]. Then on the next play, Tyler took a handoff, ran left, broke several tackles, and ran 39 yards to the Steelers 14 before he was finally taken down by safety [[Donnie Shell]]. This was the longest run against the Steelers all season. Shell saved the touchdown by making the tackle after previously being knocked to the turf 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. Six plays later, however, running back [[Cullen Bryant]] scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Rams their first lead of the game, 7–3. The score was the first time the Steelers allowed a rushing touchdown during a Super Bowl in franchise history.

But the lead did not last long. Pittsburgh cornerback/kick returner [[Larry Anderson (American football)|Larry Anderson]] returned the ensuing kickoff 45 yards to his own 47, and then the Steelers marched 53 yards in 9 plays using every offensive weapon in their arsenal. First, Harris ran for 12 yards, running back [[Rocky Bleier]] ran for 1, then tight end [[Bennie Cunningham]] caught a pass for 8. Bleier ran again for 2, followed by Bradshaw's 12-yard completion to Swann to end the first quarter.

===Second quarter===
[[File:1986 Jeno's Pizza - 46 - Terry Bradshaw (Franco Harris crop).jpg|thumb|right|Harris scored two touchdowns and led the team in rushing with 46 yards during the game.]]
The second period opened with Bradshaw's 13-yard completion to Cunningham to reach the Los Angeles 5-yard line, and then Harris ran through the middle to the 4. Wide receiver [[John Stallworth]] was then stopped at the 1-yard line, but then Harris ran to the right untouched and scored a touchdown on the next play, putting the Steelers back in front with a 10–7 lead. Harris' touchdown run, his third in Super Bowl play, broke the previous record of two set by [[Elijah Pitts]] in [[Super Bowl I]] and by the Butch and Sundance Duo of [[Jim Kiick]] and [[Larry Csonka]] in [[Super Bowl VII|Super Bowls VII]] and [[Super Bowl VIII|VIII]] (Kiick rushed for a touchdown in both games while Csonka scored twice in VIII en route to winning that game's MVP award).

However, like the Rams' previous lead, the Steelers' lead also turned out to be short-lived. Aided by Ferragamo's 12-yard pass to running back [[Lawrence McCutcheon]] and a 20-yard pass interference penalty against Shell, Los Angeles advanced 67 yards in 10 plays to score a 31-yard field goal by kicker [[Frank Corral]] to tie the game at 10. Anderson gave the Steelers great field position after returning the ensuing kickoff 38 yards to the Pittsburgh 46-yard line, but the Steelers could not move the ball and had to punt. The Rams were also forced to punt on their next possession after only gaining 6 yards. On third down, Ferragamo completed a pass to tight end [[Terry Nelson (American football)|Terry Nelson]], who then appeared to fumble the ball while getting tackled by Shell, but the officials ruled Nelson down before the ball came out of his hands. On the first play of the Steelers' next drive, Los Angeles safety [[Dave Elmendorf]] intercepted a pass from Bradshaw and returned it 10 yards to the Pittsburgh 39.

On the first two plays after the turnover, Ferragamo was sacked for a 10-yard loss by linebacker [[Robin Cole]] and threw an incomplete pass. But he managed to overcome the situation with a 12-yard completion to Bryant on third down and a 10-yard completion to wide receiver [[Billy Waddy]] on 4th-and-8. Ferragamo's next pass was a 14-yard completion to Nelson for a first down at the 13, but after throwing two incompletions, Pittsburgh defensive end [[John Banaszak]] sacked Ferragamo on third down for a 12-yard loss. However, Corral kicked a 45-yard field goal to give the Rams a 13–10 halftime lead.

===Third quarter===
The heavily favored Steelers trailed at the end of the half.  "How can you mess up this way?" Steelers assistant coach [[Woody Widenhofer]] asked his team at halftime. "Didn't we go over these things a dozen times? You guys are standing out there like statues."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Richman|first1=Milton|title=Needle Spurs Super Steelers|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=U8omAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u44EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5214%2C2611372|website=Google News Search Archive|publisher=Sarasota Journal|access-date=March 3, 2017|pages=10|date=January 21, 1980}}</ref>

Anderson once again gave the Steelers great starting field position, returning the opening kickoff of the second half 37 yards to the Pittsburgh 39-yard line. The Steelers lulled the Rams defense by running the ball on three consecutive plays of the drive, and then Bradshaw burned them with a 47-yard touchdown completion to Swann, who made a leaping catch at the Los Angeles 2 and tumbled into the end zone to give Pittsburgh a 17–13 lead.

Again, the Steelers' lead did not last long. After the first two plays of the Rams' ensuing drive, Ferragamo completed a 51-yard pass to Waddy. Then on the next play, Ferragamo handed the ball off to McCutcheon, who started to run to the right. The Steelers' defense came up to tackle him behind the line of scrimmage, only to watch him throw a 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver [[Ron Smith (wide receiver)|Ron Smith]]. Corral missed the extra point attempt wide left, but the Rams had retaken the lead, 19–17.

The Steelers had some success advancing into Rams territory on their next two possessions, only to see the Rams intercept the ball both times. On Pittsburgh's next drive, Bradshaw completed a 14-yard pass to Harris, but then threw a deep pass that was intercepted at the Los Angeles 27 by safety [[Eddie Brown (safety)|Eddie Brown]], who then [[lateral pass|lateraled]] to cornerback [[Pat Thomas (defensive back)|Pat Thomas]] to gain an additional 7 yards and give the Rams a first down at their own 38. Then after forcing Los Angeles to punt, the Steelers drove all the way to the Rams 16-yard line on a 19-yard reception by Harris and a 23-yard reception by wide receiver [[Sidney Thornton]], but then after two running plays ended with no gain, Elmendorf deflected a pass intended for Stallworth that was intercepted by cornerback [[Rod Perry (American football)|Rod Perry]], giving the ball back to the Rams at their own 4-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Los Angeles managed to escape a game-tying safety with a 12-yard run by Tyler to end the third quarter with the Rams still in the lead, 19–17, seemingly in control of the game. To make matters worse for the Steelers, prior to Brown's interception, Pittsburgh lost Swann to injury, when he was knocked out of the game by Thomas.

===Fourth quarter===
[[File:1986 Jeno's Pizza - 46 - Terry Bradshaw (Terry Bradshaw crop).jpg|thumb|right|Bradshaw, who passed for 309 yards and two touchdowns, was named Super Bowl MVP.]]
After being forced to punt to start the final period, with 12:59 left in the game, Rams punter [[Ken Clark (punter)|Ken Clark]]'s 59-yard punt planted Pittsburgh back to their own 25-yard line. Then faced with 3rd-and-8, Steelers head coach Chuck Noll called for "60 prevent slot hook and go", a play that the team had practiced all week and couldn't complete it. Before Bradshaw went back on the field, Noll told him to "go deep and get the big play, because they're going to take away high percentage passing". Bradshaw took the snap, dropped back, and then threw a pass to Stallworth, who was running a streak pattern down the middle of the field. Stallworth caught the ball barely beyond the outstretched hand of Perry and took it all the way to the end zone for a 73-yard touchdown to make the score 24–19 in favor of the Steelers. When being interviewed for the documentary series ''[[America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions|America's Game]]'', Stallworth said that Bradshaw had overthrown him and departed his planned route and simply ran towards the goal line.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=April 24, 2017 |title=America's Game 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers - video Dailymotion |url=https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5jipbg |access-date=May 13, 2022 |website=Dailymotion |language=en}}</ref> The NFL Films highlight film notes that Brown was supposed to help Perry in covering Stallworth, but for some reason, Brown ignored the Steeler receiver. On the ensuing kickoff, the Rams tried a reverse, with running back [[Eddie Hill (American football)|Eddie Hill]] handing the ball off to fullback [[Jim Jodat]], which resulted in poor field position for the Rams at their own 14.

After an exchange of punts, the Rams were given one more chance for a spirited game-winning drive. Ferragamo smartly moved the Rams down the field, completing 3 out of 4 passes around runs by Tyler, including a 24-yard pass to wide receiver [[Preston Dennard]]. His 14-yard completion to Waddy on 3rd-and-13 moved the Rams to the Pittsburgh 32-yard line with just under 6 minutes remaining. However, on the following play, Ferragamo made his first and only mistake of the game; despite the fact that Waddy had broken free down the right side of the field, Ferragamo had zeroed in on Ron Smith down the middle of the field but did not notice Steelers linebacker [[Jack Lambert (American football)|Jack Lambert]] playing behind Smith. As Ferragamo released the ball, Lambert jumped in front of Smith and intercepted the pass with 5:24 remaining.

When faced with 3rd-and-7 on Pittsburgh's ensuing drive, Bradshaw once again made a crucial long pass completion to Stallworth, this time a 44-yard completion to the Los Angeles 22-yard line, barely beyond the outstretched hand of Perry. Stallworth's clutch catch, his third and final reception of the game, came off the same play that he scored the touchdown on and just like before Bradshaw misjudged Stallworth and instead underthrew him. During the same ''America's Game'' interview, Stallworth said if Bradshaw threw it out a little more, they could have scored again.<ref name=":0" /> Two plays later, a pass interference penalty on Thomas in the end zone gave the Steelers a first down at the 1-yard line. The Rams managed to keep Bleier and Harris out of the end zone for the first two plays, but Harris then scored on a third-down, 1-yard touchdown run to give the Steelers a 31–19 lead and cement their fourth Super Bowl title. The Rams responded by driving to Pittsburgh's 37-yard line, but ended up turning over the ball on downs with 39 seconds remaining, and the Steelers ran out the clock to end the game.

===Aftermath===
The city of [[Pittsburgh]] celebrated its third major pro championship in 13 months. The Steelers had also won the [[Super Bowl XIII|previous year's Super Bowl]], and the city's [[Major League Baseball]] team, the [[Pittsburgh Pirates|Pirates]], had won the [[1979 World Series|World Series]] three months before this Super Bowl game. Ten days after the Steelers' Super Bowl victory, the city's [[National Hockey League]] team, the [[Pittsburgh Penguins]], changed its uniform colors to match the black and gold scheme of the Pirates and Steelers, as well as that of the Pittsburgh city flag.

This was the third time in Super Bowl history that a team overcame a deficit entering the fourth quarter to win the game. The [[Baltimore Colts]] entered the final quarter down 13–6 against Dallas in [[Super Bowl V]] and won the game 16–13. The [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] started the final period against Dallas in [[Super Bowl X]] down 10–7 and eventually won the game 21–17. The lead had changed hands seven times, a Super Bowl record to this day. Pittsburgh took the lead four times, while Los Angeles took it three times. Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth became the fourth, fifth and sixth players to score touchdowns in back-to-back Super Bowls, respectively.  They had to celebrate when Swann returned from the hospital after being injured.

Ferragamo finished the game with 15 out of 25 completions for 212 yards, with 1 interception. Tyler was the top rusher of the game with 60 yards, and caught 2 passes for 20 yards. Waddy was the Rams leading receiver with 3 catches for 75 yards. Harris led the Steelers in rushing with 44 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also catching 3 passes for 66 yards. Stallworth was the top receiver of the game with 3 receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown, an average of 40.3 yards per catch. Swann had 5 catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. Larry Anderson set a Super Bowl record with 162 yards from his 5 kickoff returns.

The Rams would remain competitive in the 1980s but wouldn't reach another Super Bowl until their victory in [[Super Bowl XXXIV]] in January 2000, after the team had moved to St. Louis before the [[1995 NFL season|1995 season]]. The closest the Los Angeles Rams would get to getting back to another Super Bowl in the 1980s, was in [[1985 Los Angeles Rams season|1985]], when they advanced to the NFC title game before falling to the eventual Super Bowl champion [[1985 Chicago Bears season|Chicago Bears]], and in [[1989 Los Angeles Rams season|1989]]; reaching the NFC Championship before losing to division rival and defending [[Super Bowl]] champion [[1989 San Francisco 49ers season|San Francisco]]. Following the loss in the 1989 NFC championship game, the Rams suffered through nine consecutive losing seasons and had the NFL's worst record of the 1990s until the 1999 championship season. They would make 2 Super Bowl appearances with the first being 2 years following their return to Los Angeles in 2016 in [[Super Bowl LIII]], but fell to the New England Patriots by a score of 13–3, and their second being in [[Super Bowl LVI]] (which was also played in the [[Greater Los Angeles|Los Angeles area]], albeit at their actual home stadium [[SoFi Stadium]]) where they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 23–20.

Wendell Tyler eventually won a Super Bowl as a featured back for the San Francisco 49ers in [[1984 San Francisco 49ers season|1984]]. 1984 was also Jack Youngblood's 14th and final season in the NFL. The last link of the 1979 team was Jackie Slater, who remained on the team until 1995, the club's first season in St. Louis. He set an NFL record by playing 20 seasons with one team, yet Super Bowl XIV remained his lone trip to the Big Game. Slater was the last Ram to have been a teammate of legendary defensive tackle [[Merlin Olsen]], who anchored the Rams' [[Fearsome Foursome (American football)|Fearsome Foursome]] for 15 seasons (1962–76).

Pittsburgh would go 9–7 the [[1980 Pittsburgh Steelers season|following season]] and miss the playoffs. They would go 8–8 in [[1981 Pittsburgh Steelers season|1981]] before making the playoffs the next three seasons. Many of the links that powered the Steelers to their Super Bowl wins began to retire shortly after Super Bowl XIV, starting with Rocky Bleier in 1980 and Joe Greene in 1981. Ham spent all of 1982 on injured reserve before retiring. Bradshaw sat out all but one half of the 1983 season before retiring due to recurring elbow injuries, and Blount retired after that season as well. The Steelers were also haunted by their decision to pass on [[Dan Marino]], the standout quarterback for the [[Pittsburgh Panthers football|University of Pittsburgh]], in the [[1983 NFL draft]]. The Steelers' first-round selection of [[1983 NFL season|1983]], [[Texas Tech Red Raiders football|Texas Tech]] defensive tackle [[Gabriel Rivera]], was paralyzed in an automobile accident after seven weeks of his rookie season.  Terry Bradshaw would miss the first 14 games of the 1983 season due to an elbow injury.  His final game was against the New York Jets which he started and led two touchdown drives before being forced out due to another elbow injury following a 10-yard TD pass to [[Calvin Sweeney]].

Lambert was slowed throughout 1984 by a painful [[turf toe]], retiring after that campaign. Stallworth, Webster, and Shell would play well into the 1980s and helped lead Pittsburgh to the 1984 AFC Championship game, where they lost to Marino's [[1984 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins]]. But they would not reach a Super Bowl until the 1995 season, losing to the Dallas Cowboys 27–17 in Super Bowl XXX. Kicker Matt Bahr would win another Super Bowl with the New York Giants during the [[1990 New York Giants season|1990 season]]. He kicked the game-winning field goal in [[Super Bowl XXV]], and a week earlier booted the game-winning field goal against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, thus denying the 49ers a chance at three straight Super Bowl victories and surpassing the Steelers' total of four Super Bowl titles. Chuck Noll, the last link to Pittsburgh's dynasty, retired from coaching following the [[1991 Pittsburgh Steelers season|1991 season]]. Only [[Bill Belichick]] matched (and later surpassed) Noll's four Vince Lombardi Trophies as a head coach. The Steelers' record of four Super Bowls in six seasons has yet to be matched.

===Box score===
{{Americanfootballbox | bg=#eee
|titlestyle=text-align:center; {{NFLPrimaryStyle|NFL|border=2}};
|title=Super Bowl XIV: Pittsburgh Steelers 31, Los Angeles Rams 19
| Road = Rams (NFC)
| R1 = 7
| R2 = 6
| R3 = 6
| R4 = 0
| Home = '''Steelers (AFC)'''
| H1 = 3
| H2 = 7
| H3 = 7
| H4 = 14
| stadium = [[Rose Bowl (stadium)|Rose Bowl]], [[Pasadena, California]]
| date = January 20, 1980
| time = 3:15 p.m. [[Pacific Time Zone|PST]]
| weather = 67 °F (19 °C), sunny
| state = uncollapsed
}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryStart |VisitorName=LA |HomeName=PIT |state=expanded}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=1 |Time=7:31 |Team=PIT |DrivePlays=11 |DriveLength=55 |DriveTime=5:05 |Type=FG |yards=41 |Kicker=[[Matt Bahr]] |Visitor=0 |Home=3}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=1 |Time=2:44 |Team=LA |DrivePlays=8 |DriveLength=59 |DriveTime=4:41 |Type=RushTD |yards=1 |Runner=[[Cullen Bryant]] |kickresult=good |Kicker=[[Frank Corral]] |Visitor=7 |Home=3}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=2 |Time=12:52 |Team=PIT |DrivePlays=9 |DriveLength=53 |DriveTime=4:40 |Type=RushTD |yards=1 |Runner=[[Franco Harris]] |kickresult=good |Kicker=Bahr |Visitor=7 |Home=10}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=2 |Time=7:21 |Team=LA |DrivePlays=11 |DriveLength=67 |DriveTime=5:23 |Type=FG |yards=31 |Kicker=Corral |Visitor=10 |Home=10}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=2 |Time=0:14 |Team=LA |DrivePlays=9 |DriveLength=12 |DriveTime=2:49 |Type=FG |yards=45 |Kicker=Corral |Visitor=13 |Home=10}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=3 |Time=12:12 |Team=PIT |DrivePlays=5 |DriveLength=61 |DriveTime=2:48 |Type=RecTD |yards=47 |Receiver=[[Lynn Swann]] |QB=[[Terry Bradshaw]] |kickresult=good |Kicker=Bahr |Visitor=13 |Home=17}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=3 |Time=10:15 |Team=LA |DrivePlays=4 |DriveLength=77 |DriveTime=1:49 |Type=RecTD |yards=24 |Receiver=[[Ron Smith (wide receiver)|Ron Smith]] |QB=[[Lawrence McCutcheon]] |kickresult=no good (wide left) |Kicker=Corral |Visitor=19 |Home=17}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=4 |Time=12:04 |Team=PIT |DrivePlays=3 |DriveLength=75 |DriveTime=0:55 |Type=RecTD |yards=73 |Receiver=[[John Stallworth]] |QB=Bradshaw |kickresult=good |Kicker=Bahr |Visitor=19 |Home=24}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry |Quarter=4 |Time=1:49 |Team=PIT |DrivePlays=7 |DriveLength=70 |DriveTime=3:35 |Type=RushTD |yards=1 |Runner=Harris |kickresult=good |Kicker=Bahr |Visitor=19 |Home=31}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEnd |Visitor=19 |Home=31}}