Chuck Noll

[BOSS429Mustang]

Sorry to hear of Chuck Noll's passing. Truly one of the best coaches of all time and IMHO highly under-rated. In my mind he will always have the distinction of coaching one of, the most dominant/greatest teams in NFL history, the 70's Steelers.

 

[Retroram52]

I still remember the first superbowl where the Rams took the Steelers to the brink and if it wasn't for a couple of big plays by Terry Bradshaw and a couple of mistakes we made, we would have had our first bowl ring much earlier than at the turn of the century.

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

Yeah, I remember that too Retro. Rams had an excellent chance to win that game. I take a lot of satisfaction in the fact that the Rams always played the Steelers tough through the 70s. If I had a vote though, I would say the 1978 Steelers were the greatest team in NFL history. That would make an interesting poll---who was the greatest. I suspect it would come down to the 85 Bears or one of the Steelers teams.

 

[Retroram52]

 

[mutigers1fan]

Interestingly enough the '78 and '79 Steelers were in a way an inverse of each other. In '78 they ranked #1 in scoring defense and #5 in scoring offense. In '79 they were #1 in scoring offense and #5 in scoring defense. Another astounding fact, those team had 9 starters go into the Hall of Fame, all of which were drafted by Noll. Bradshaw, Swann, Stallworth, Harris and Webster on offense. Blount, Lambert, Ham and Greene on defense. Swan, Stallworth, Webster and Lambert were all drafted in '74 and were rookies on their 1st SB team. What Noll was able to assemble us truly unrivaled in my mind.

For greatest team of all time I have to go '72 Dolphins because they didn't lose, although Noll's Steelers came darn close to beating them in the AFC Championship Game. Perfection stands alone for a single season, 70's Steelers get my nod for best dynasty however because of the unmatched 4 rings, they simply did not lose the big game.

 

[Caynine29]

I know it's blasphemous on a Rams page, Lol... but, for my money, the greatest team of all time was another that we just couldn't get around... the 1989 San Francisco 49ers.

While the Bears and Steelers were defensive powerhouses and the 'Niners were absolutely dominant in all 3 phases of the game. Honestly never seen another team like 'em.

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

The 89 SF team would definitely be up there. There are a lot of great teams, and undoubtedly any of them could beat any of the other great ones on any given day, but I remember Pittsburgh when I was growing up, and that team was just absolutely nasty. They not only beat you, they beat you up as well. Not a weakness on their teams. Possibly the best starting LBs in NFL history. Possibly the best defensive line in history. The list goes on. I'm not a Steeler fan, but I do appreciate the way they played the game back then. With no horse in the race, objectively speaking I think they would beat any team, even a Joe Montana led one.

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

Mutigers, I know Miami was the only team ever to go undefeated, and you can make the argument that you can only play who you are scheduled, but they had some pretty weak competition they played, and won some games in pretty unimpressive fashion. I think if they played the Steelers Super Bowl teams of the 70s they'd almost certainly get crushed.

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

Check this site link out. Here is a great website to simulate any game in any sport from any year. I just played the 78 Steelers against the 72 Dolphins 10 times. Pittsburg won 7, Miami won 3.


WhatIfSports: Free Online Simulation Games, Sim Leagues, Sim Games

 

[mutigers1fan]

Mutigers, I know Miami was the only team ever to go undefeated, and you can make the argument that you can only play who you are scheduled, but they had some pretty weak competition they played, and won some games in pretty unimpressive fashion. I think if they played the Steelers Super Bowl teams of the 70s they'd almost certainly get crushed.

A very fair point, the '72 Steelers came dangerously close to beating them and that team wasn't nearly as good as the SuperBowl teams became.

 

[mutigers1fan]

While the Bears and Steelers were defensive powerhouses and the 'Niners were absolutely dominant in all 3 phases of the game. Honestly never seen another team like 'em.

I can't speak to the ST but I'd find it tough to argue the Steelers of the late 70's (post implementation of illegal contact in 1978) were a dominant passing team.