Posted: Wed December 24, 1997
The Pittsburgh Steelers' dreams of a Super Bowl run were
crumbling, and Denver Broncos defensive end Alfred Williams was
making sure that the Men in Black and Gold knew it. The Broncos
had jumped to a 21-7 lead in the second quarter of a Dec. 7 game
at Three Rivers Stadium, a matchup that would go a long way
toward determining which of these elite teams would earn a
first-round bye in the AFC playoffs. For two decades it has been
nearly impossible for a team that played in the wild-card round
to reach the Super Bowl—much less win it—and Williams's
badgering reflected the magnitude of the moment. He talked smack
to Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher and yapped nonstop at the
Steelers' Jerome (the Bus) Bettis, telling the Pro Bowl
halfback, "The Bus is grounded today, baby. The wheels are
coming off."
By the fourth quarter it was Denver's bandwagon that was
grounded. Pittsburgh fought back for a 35-24 victory, with the
243-pound Bettis gaining 74 of his 125 yards after halftime. The
defeat dropped the Broncos behind the Kansas City Chiefs in the
AFC West race, dooming them to the wild-card round and a
postseason of probable futility. By the regular season's end
Denver was in the same position as last year's San Francisco
49ers, who, despite a 12-4 record, finished second in the NFC
West behind the Carolina Panthers and were eliminated by the
Green Bay Packers in a second-round playoff game at Lambeau Field.
The Steelers, meanwhile, rode the Denver victory to an AFC
Central title and a first-round bye. Whether the Bus and his
friends will make the journey to San Diego for Super Bowl XXXII
on Jan. 25 remains to be seen, but they have a heck of a head
start. Since 1978, when the NFL added a second wild card in each
conference, 100 teams have been forced to play an extra game to
reach the second round. Only one, the '80 Oakland Raiders, won
the Super Bowl, and just two others, the '85 New England
Patriots and '92 Buffalo Bills, made it to the title game.
If the Broncos can't buck history, they'll undoubtedly look back
to that chilly afternoon in Pittsburgh as the day their dream
began to slip away. Williams certainly won't forget the way
Bettis rubbed it in during the game's latter stages, yelling,
"Alfred, where you at? I can't hear you. What were you saying
back in the first quarter? Could you repeat it for me, Alfred?
Please?" Predictably Williams didn't have much to say in the way
of a comeback. "That's typical," Steelers fullback Tim Lester
says. "When we run all day on a team, people shut up. It's a
sign we've worn them down and destroyed their will."
It's a mental game Pittsburgh plays as well as any team, and one
that could be the deciding factor in these playoffs. The
Steelers boast the league's No. 1 rushing offense, while the
other three teams that received byes—the Chiefs (fifth), 49ers
(eighth) and Packers (12th)—all rank in the top half. Along
with the playoff-bound New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and the 8-8 Tennessee Oilers, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and San
Francisco are the only teams that ran the ball more than they
passed in '97. In a year when marquee runners have enjoyed a
revival, it's logical to expect a back such as Bettis, who
finished third in the league with 1,665 rushing yards, to claim
center stage come playoff time.
There are two basic tenets about offense in the playoffs: One,
it takes a great quarterback to elevate a team to the
championship; and, two, a team can't succeed in the postseason
if it can't run the ball. Nine of the past 10 Super Bowl winners
have outgained their opponents on the ground, though that may be
a function of the one-sided nature of most of those matchups. A
more telling statistic is that in each of the last 10 NFC
Championship Games, the winner—and eventual Super Bowl
champion—outrushed the loser.
"Over the years I've seen so many AFC teams abandon the run when
they get to the big game," Bettis says, alluding to his
conference's 13-game Super Bowl losing streak. "That's not going
to happen this year."
While the Steelers place their rushing fate in Bettis's hands,
the Chiefs run by committee. Kansas City coach Marty
Schottenheimer won't tip his hand, but it is widely believed
that in crucial playoff moments he will turn to 37-year-old
Marcus Allen, a future Hall of Famer who has scored more
touchdowns (145) than any NFL player except Jerry Rice. Even the
Niners and Packers, both practitioners of the pass-happy West
Coast offense, have leaned heavily on the run this season.
Garrison Hearst, San Francisco's key off-season acquisition,
became the first Niner to break the 1,000-yard barrier since
Ricky Watters in 1992. Green Bay's Dorsey Levens, in his first
year as a starting halfback, got a Pro Bowl berth by running for
1,435 yards.
Partly because of their productivity, and partly because of
their upbeat personalities, Bettis, Allen, Hearst and Levens are
more popular in their locker rooms than Oakley shades. But each
player has seen his share of dark days, and if there's one thing
these four backs have in common, it's an ability to charge past
adversity.
Next: Jerome Bettis
Also: Marcus Allen | Garrison Hearst | Dorsey Levens
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