So EVERYTIME I post a photo of a Bear defender on Facebook, Steeler fans are talking about 4 Super Bowls…these posts have NOTHING to do with the Super Bowls…they just compliment a player and they start.
Why?
Can any of you SHOW ME besides winning 4 Super Bowls (which the defense didn’t win…the Steelers also had an epic offense!) how have the Steelers been better defensively?
Let’s talk only DEFENSE, not team! He doesn’t win the Super Bowl. Statistics versus statistics. Facts versus facts.
Now the Bears offense was very average… without Jim McMahon they were almost useless… The Bears offense in those years couldn’t erase the Steelers offense! This is a fact!
I mean…..DT William Perry had as many TD receptions as their #1 WR Willie Gault had. 1 in 1985 with 1! I’m just talking defence.
1) When has Pittsburgh ever broken a QB Sack record?
The Bears still own him with 72 QB sacks in 1984. ANY team’s high by Steeler was 52…in 1974. Oh I hear Steeler fans say.. « Well…they weren’t made for that!! » Well… when has Pittsburgh ever held the record for fewest points allowed in a season? The Bears did it in 1986! I guess the Steelers defense wasn’t built to stop TDs either?
2) The Steelers defense has never been in first place for three consecutive years.
From 1984-86 (3 seasons) the Bears defense ranked #1. Again… I’m a huge Steelers fan. The Bears, Raiders & Steelers are my favorite, but I’m also a realist. If the 1976 Steelers were their best team as many Steeler fans say…then the 1976 Raiders are better than any other Steelers team because they led the Steelers 2-0 in 1976!
3) Those Steelers played during the era where DBs could bring down WRs on the field.
In 1978 the NFL also put an end to that… they even called it « The Mel Blount Rule »! Yeah…in 1978 and ’79 they went to the Super Bowls, but that defense wasn’t breaking records…then after…in 1980 they were DONE because of these rule changes!
If that Bears defense had played by the same rules, they would have been even better!…being “even better” would have made them unreal! Nobody would score!
They had 72 (1984), 64 (1985), 62 (1986, while allowing the fewest points in NFL history in a 16-game season that only the 2000 Ravens have batted since), and 70 sacks (1987 in only 15 matches) with that 5 year bump rule! If those Bear CBs were allowed to hold receivers longer for that front 7 to get to QB like the Steelers might… I would be blocked by Facebook for posting so much violence!
4) The 1976 Steelers lost to Brian Sipes and Steve Grogan.
One of their shutouts was against the Buccaneers who all shut out! Steeler fans also talked about how the Bears would lose to the 49ers in the playoffs. WELL!
When Jim McMahon was healthy, the Bears were 3-0 against those 49ers. In that 1988-’89 playoff game, Mike Ditka decided to play him after missing over a month, and still injured…he couldn’t even finish the game! However….in 1981 a healthy Steelers team lost to a young 49ers team….why? Oh maybe because the rule changes exposed a weakness? I don’t know.
5) So again… SHOW ME how a team that played 14 seasons of play, with prehistoric rules, is better than the most copied defense ever… You have to use the 1978 or 1979 Steelers to do that… In 1978 Steelers defense ranked 3rd and had 44 QB sacks….in 1979 Steelers defense ranked 2nd with 49 QB sacks. 1980 The Pittsburgh Steelers ranked 12th on defense…. In 1984 the Bears defense tied for first place with a record 72 sacks by QBs. In 1985 they ranked No. 1 with 64 QB sacks. In 1986, they ranked No. 1 with 62 QB sacks…
The following are not opinions. These are facts.
In 1988 Bears DT asked Terry Bradshaw how many games did he miss during 4 Super Bowl seasons? 0! The Bears have won a record 52 games in 4 seasons without their starting QB 54% of that time!
In 1988 the Bears lost Walter Payton (retired), Willie Gault (Raiders), Wilber Marshall (Redskins), Otis Wilson (IR), Gary Fencik (retired). Mike Ditka had a heart attack and Jim McMahon was injured 46% of the season… STILL they went 12-4 and played in the NFC championship!
Why? That defense! I’m a fan of the Steelers too. I get fed up with their fans trolling my posts. It is funny. Oh yeah! Another thank you! Historically the Bears lead that series 19-7-1! The Bears have even more Hall Of Famers, so that’s it!
Below is a graph showing how the Bears defense dominated throughout the 1980s. 16 out of 23 categories took first place!
