NFL team season
The 1981 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 49th in the National Football League. After enduring an injury plagued 9–7 season the previous year and missing the playoffs for the first time since 1971, the Steelers had hoped that the 1980 season was just a small hiatus from contending for championships. However, while the Steelers had flashes of their former glory years after starting the season with 2 unimpressive losses, the 1981 season would end in an 8–8 record and eventually prove the end of the Steelers great dynasty of the 1970s. The Steelers had a chance to make the playoffs with an 8–5 start to the year but lost all of their last three games to miss the playoffs.
Offseason
NFL draft
Staff
Roster
Preseason
Schedule
Regular season
Schedule
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Game time: 1:00 pm EDT
- Game weather: 67 °F or 19.4 °C, wind 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h; 4.3 kn)
- Game attendance: 53,305
- Referee: Jim Tunney
- TV announcers: (NBC) Bob Costas (play by play), Bob Trumpy (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
- Pittsburgh – Swann 18 pass from Bradshaw (kick failed)
- Kansas City – Marshall 48 pass from Kenney (Lowery kick)
- Kansas City – FG Lowery 35
- Pittsburgh – Harris 7 run (kick failed)
- Pittsburgh – Harris 1 run (Trout kick)
- Kansas City – FG Lowery 40
- Kansas City – Carson 53 pass from Kenney (Lowery kick)
- Pittsburgh – Hawthorne 1 run (Trout kick)
- Kansas City – FG Lowery 42
- Kansas City – McKnight 3 run (Lowery kick)
- Pittsburgh – Smith 41 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
- Kansas City – Howard 65 fumble return (Lowery kick)
at Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida
Scoring drives:
- Pittsburgh – FG Trout 23
- Miami – Woodley 1 run (kick failed)
- Miami – Franklin 1 run (von Schamann kick)
- Pittsburgh – Smith 32 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
- Miami – Nathan 13 pass from Woodley (von Schamann kick)
- Miami – Vigorito 87 punt return (von Schamann kick)
- Miami – FG von Schamann 32
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Game time: 1:00 pm EDT
- Game weather: 59 °F or 15 °C, wind 17 miles per hour (27 km/h; 15 kn)
- Game attendance: 52,973
- Referee: Gordon McCarter
- TV announcers: (NBC) Don Criqui (play by play), John Brodie (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
- Pittsburgh – Davis 9 run (Trout kick)
- Pittsburgh – FG Trout 25
- Pittsburgh – Pollard 23 run (Trout kick)
- New York Jets – FG Leahy 47
- Pittsburgh – Bradshaw 1 run (Trout kick)
- Pittsburgh – Pollard 1 run (Trout kick)
- Pittsburgh – Thornton 1 run (Trout kick)
- New York Jets – McNeil 17 pass from Ryan (Leahy kick)
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Game time: 1:00 pm EDT
- Game weather: 68 °F or 20 °C, wind 17 miles per hour (27 km/h; 15 kn)
- Game attendance: 53,344
- Referee: Gene Barth
- TV announcers: (NBC) Bob Costas (play by play), Bob Trumpy (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
- Pittsburgh – Harris 1 run (Trout kick)
- Pittsburgh – Cunningham 1 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
- New England – Cavanaugh 1 run (Smith kick)
- Pittsburgh – Harris 1 run (Trout kick)
- New England – Collins 10 run (Smith kick)
- New England – Morgan 12 pass from Cavanaugh (Smith kick)
- Pittsburgh – Swann 24 pass from Bradshaw
at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Scoring drives:
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Game time: 1:00 pm EDT
- Game weather: 51 °F or 10.6 °C, wind 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h; 5.2 kn)
- Game attendance: 53,255
- Referee: Ben Dreith
- TV announcers: (NBC) Don Criqui (play by play), John Brodie (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
at Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Game time: 1:00 pm EDT
- Game weather: 57 °F or 13.9 °C, wind 20 miles per hour (32 km/h; 17 kn)
- Game attendance: 57,090
- Referee: Jerry Markbreit
- TV announcers: (NBC) Don Criqui (play by play), John Brodie (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
- Cincinnati – FG Breech 27
- Cincinnati – Johnson 3 run (Breech kick)
- Cincinnati – FG Breech 23
- Cincinnati – Verser 73 pass from Ken Anderson (Breech kick)
- Cincinnati – Alexander 3 run (Breech kick)
- Cincinnati – Johnson 5 pass from Ken Anderson (Breech kick)
- Pittsburgh – Smith 17 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Scoring drives:
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Game time: 1:00 pm EST
- Game weather: 50 °F or 10 °C, wind 8 miles per hour (13 km/h; 7.0 kn)
- Game attendance: 52,878
- Referee: Bob Frederic
- TV announcers: (CBS) Vin Scully (play by play), Hank Stram (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
- San Francisco – Young 5 pass from Montana (Wersching kick)
- San Francisco – FG Wersching 45
- Pittsburgh – Blount 50 interception return (Trout kick)
- Pittsburgh – Smith 22 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
- San Francisco – Easley 1 run (Wersching kick)
at The Kingdome, Seattle, Washington
Scoring drives:
- Pittsburgh – Harris 6 run (Trout kick)
- Seattle – FG Herrera 37
- Pittsburgh – Malone 90 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
- Pittsburgh – Thornton 4 run (Trout kick)
- Seattle – Doornink 44 pass from Zorn (Herrera kick)
- Seattle – T. Brown 1 run (Herrera kick)
- Seattle – T. Brown 1 run (Herrera kick)
at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
- Game time: 1:00 pm EST
- Game weather: 53 °F or 11.7 °C, wind 11 miles per hour (18 km/h; 9.6 kn)
- Game attendance: 57,485
- Referee: Pat Haggerty
- TV announcers: (NBC) Bob Costas (play by play), Bob Trumpy (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio
- Game time: 1:00 pm EST
- Game weather: 30 °F or −1.1 °C, wind 15 miles per hour (24 km/h; 13 kn)
- Game attendance: 77,958
- Referee: Gene Barth
- TV announcers: (NBC) Don Criqui (play by play), John Brodie (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
- Cleveland – FG Bahr 33
- Pittsburgh – Hawthorne 1 run (kick failed)
- Pittsburgh – Thornton 3 run (kick failed)
- Cleveland – Logan 13 pass from Sipe (Bahr kick)
- Pittsburgh – Harris 2 run (kick failed)
- Pittsburgh – Pinney 1 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
- Pittsburgh – Moser 5 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Game time: 1:00 pm EST
- Game weather: 33 °F or 0.6 °C, wind 12 miles per hour (19 km/h; 10 kn)
- Game attendance: 51,854
- Referee: Tom Dooley
- TV announcers: (CBS) Vin Scully (play by play), Hank Stram (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California
Scoring drives:
- Pittsburgh – Cunningham 5 pass from Bradshaw (Trout kick)
- Oakland – Ramsey 25 pass from Wilson (Bahr kick)
- Pittsburgh – Smith 19 pass from Malone (Trout kick)
- Oakland – Whittington 17 pass from Wilson (Bahr kick)
- Pittsburgh – Malone 11 run (kick failed)
- Oakland – Chandler 36 pass from Wilson (kick failed)
- Oakland – Watts 53 punt return (Bahr kick)
- Oakland – FG Bahr 29
- Pittsburgh – Smith 17 pass from Malone (Trout kick)
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Game time: 1:00 pm EST
- Game weather: 27 °F or −2.8 °C, wind 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h; 4.3 kn)
- Game attendance: 50,623
- Referee: Red Cashion
- TV announcers: (NBC) Don Criqui (play by play), John Brodie (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
at Astrodome, Houston, Texas
- Game time: 4:00 pm EST
- Game weather: Dome
- Game attendance: 41,056
- Referee: Bob McElwee
- TV announcers: (NBC) Phil Stone (play by play), Gene Washington (color commentator)
Scoring drives:
Standings
References
1. Pittsburgh Steelers Media Guide 1982
- ^ a b 1981 Pittsburgh Steelers Media Guide.
- ^ 1982 Pittsburgh Steelers Media Guide.
- ^ "1981 Pittsburgh Steelers". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
External links
- 1981 Pittsburgh Steelers season at Profootballreference.com
- 1981 Pittsburgh Steelers season statistics at jt-sw.com
