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1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season
Head Coach Chuck Noll
Home Field Three Rivers Stadium
Results
Record 11–3
Place 1st AFC Central
Playoff Finish Lost to the undefeated Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship game
Pro Bowlers
Team MVP Franco Harris
Timeline
Previous season Next season
1971 1973

The 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the 40th in franchise history. The team went 11–3 that season, and won their first-ever AFC Central Division title.

Offseason[]

NFL Draft[]

rd.1.Franco Harris RB.Penn State

Roster[]

Depth chart[]

Defensive Starters
[1]




CB
John Rowser


CB
Mel Blount
Offensive Starters
[2]
WR
Frank Lewis
LT LG C RG RT
Jon Kolb Sam Davis Ray Mansfield Bruce Van Dyke Gerry Mullins
TE
John McMakin
WR
Ron Shanklin
Dave L. Smith
QB
Terry Bradshaw
RB
Franco Harris
FB
John Fuqua
Special Teams
PK Roy Gerela
P Bobby Walden
KR Preston Pearson
PR Glen Edwards



Staff[]

Preseason[]

Schedule[]

Game summaries[]

Regular season[]

Schedule[]

Week Date Opponent Result
1 September 17, 1972 Oakland Raiders W 34–28
2 September 24, 1972 at Cincinnati Bengals L 15–10
3 October 1, 1972 at St. Louis Cardinals W 25–19
4 October 8, 1972 at Dallas Cowboys L 17–13
5 October 15, 1972 Houston Oilers W 24–7
6 October 22, 1972 New England Patriots W 33–3
7 October 29, 1972 at Buffalo Bills W 38–21
8 November 5, 1972 Cincinnati Bengals W 40–17
9 November 12, 1972 Kansas City Chiefs W 16–7
10 November 19, 1972 at Cleveland Browns L 26–24
11 November 26, 1972 Minnesota Vikings W 23–10
12 December 3, 1972 Cleveland Browns W 30–0
13 December 10, 1972 at Houston Oilers W 9–3
14 December 17, 1972 at San Diego Chargers W 24–2

Game summaries[]

Week 1 (Sunday September 17, 1972): Oakland Raiders[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Raiders 0 7 0 21 28
Steelers 14 3 10 7 34



at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 51,141
  • Referee: Pat Haggerty
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 2 (Sunday September 24, 1972): Cincinnati Bengals[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Steelers 0 10 0 0 10
Bengals 3 0 6 6 15



at Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 54,292
  • Referee: Dick Jorgensen
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 3 (Sunday October 1, 1972): St. Louis Cardinals[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Steelers 3 12 0 10 25
Cardinals 0 6 6 7 19



at Busch Memorial Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 49,140
  • Referee: Fred Wyant
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 17 3–0
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 20 6–0
  • St. Louis – FG Bakken 19 6–3
  • Pittsburgh – Bradshaw 1 run (Gerela kick)13–3
  • Pittsburgh – Safety, Anderson tackled Anderson in end zone 15–3
  • St. Louis – FG Bakken 44 15–6
  • St. Louis – Anderson 8 run (kick failed)15–12
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 15 18–12
  • St. Louis – Thompson 8 blocked punt return (Bakken kick)19–18
  • Pittsburgh – Lewis 38 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick)25–19

Week 4 (Sunday October 8, 1972): Dallas Cowboys[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Steelers 6 7 0 0 13
Cowboys 3 7 7 0 17



at Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 65,682
  • Referee: Ben Dreith
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 5 (Sunday October 15, 1972): Houston Oilers[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Oilers 7 0 0 0 7
Steelers 0 10 7 7 24



at the Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 42,929
  • Referee: Bernie Ulman
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 6 (Sunday October 22, 1972): New England Patriots[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Patriots 0 3 0 0 3
Steelers 10 7 13 3 33



at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 46,081
  • Referee: Norm Schachter
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 7 (Sunday October 29, 1972): Buffalo Bills[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Steelers 0 17 7 14 38
Bills 0 0 7 14 21



at War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 45,882
  • Referee: Tommy Bell
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 8 (Sunday November 5, 1972): Cincinnati Bengals[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Bengals 0 0 14 3 17
Steelers 10 16 7 7 40



at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 50,350
  • Referee: Fred Silva
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 9 (Sunday November 12, 1972): Kansas City Chiefs[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Chiefs 0 7 0 0 7
Steelers 0 0 3 13 16



at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 54,476
  • Referee: Jim Tunney
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 10 (Sunday November 19, 1972): Cleveland Browns[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Steelers 3 7 7 7 24
Browns 10 10 3 3 26



at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 83,009
  • Referee: Dick Jorgensen
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 11 (Sunday November 26, 1972): Minnesota Vikings[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Vikings 3 0 0 7 10
Steelers 7 0 3 13 23



at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 50,348
  • Referee: Fred Swearingen
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 12 (Sunday December 3, 1972): Cleveland Browns[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Browns 0 0 0 0 0
Steelers 3 7 7 13 30



at the Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 50,350
  • Referee: Tommy Bell
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Franco Harris breaks Jim Brown's record for consecutive 100 yd games.

Week 13 (Sunday December 10, 1972): Houston Oilers[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Steelers 3 0 6 0 9
Oilers 0 3 0 0 3



at the Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 36,528
  • Referee: John McDonough
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 24 3–0
  • Houston – FG Butler 34 3–3
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 39 6–3
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 13 9–3

Week 14 (Sunday December 17, 1972): San Diego Chargers[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Steelers 7 7 3 7 24
Chargers 2 0 0 0 2



at San Diego Stadium, San Diego, California

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance:
  • Referee: Pat Haggerty
  • TV announcers:

the pittsburgh steelers clinched their first afc central division title (the day before the game Frank Sinatra is inducted into Franco's Italian Army).

Scoring Drives:

Standings[]

AFC Central
W L T PCT PF PA STK
Pittsburgh Steelers 11 3 0 .786 343 175 W-4
Cleveland Browns 10 4 0 .714 268 249 W-2
Cincinnati Bengals 8 6 0 .571 299 229 W-1
Houston Oilers 1 13 0 .071 164 380 L-11

Postseason[]

Game summaries[]

Week 15 (Saturday December 23, 1972): Oakland Raiders[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Raiders 0 0 0 7 7
Steelers 0 0 3 10 13



at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 50,350
  • Referee: Fred Swearingen
  • TV announcers: NBC Curt Gowdy

Scoring Drives:

Week 16 (Sunday December 31, 1972): Miami Dolphins[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Dolphins 0 7 7 7 21
Steelers 7 0 3 7 17



at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Scoring Drives:

References[]

AFC East Central West East Central West NFC
Baltimore Cincinnati Denver Dallas Chicago Atlanta
Buffalo Cleveland Kansas City NY Giants Detroit Los Angeles
Miami Houston Oakland Philadelphia Green Bay New Orleans
New England Pittsburgh San Diego St. Louis Minnesota San Francisco
NY Jets Washington
1972 NFL DraftNFL PlayoffsPro BowlSuper Bowl VII
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