Two NFL rivals who have battled each other over the decades, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns, face off on the week 12 schedule, and our featured Throwback Thursday contest, played between these clubs on September 10, 1989, was an anomaly as far as the way most games went when these AFC rivals met. It was opening day of the ’89 season and Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium was rocking, expecting coach Chuck Noll’s forces to start the year with a big win over the Browns. The game marked the head coaching debut for Cleveland of Noll’s former defensive coordinator, Bud Carson, who had been part of 2 Steeler Super Bowl wins under Noll in the 1970s.
One thing about this late ’80s version of the Steelers – they were not the Mean Joe Greene Steel Curtain, Terry Bradshaw-led club of the previous decade. The quarterback to begin this season was one Bubby Brister, who would never be mistaken for the Blonde Bomber. The Browns’ defense feasted on Pittsburgh miscues all day long. They began the game jumping out to a 17-0 first quarter lead, with a Matt Bahr field goal sandwiched between 2 defensive touchdowns scored on fumble returns by linebackers Clay Matthews and David Grayson. The onslaught continued in the second quarter as Bahr added a pair of field goals and Tim Manoa scored on a 3 yard TD run, giving Cleveland a commanding 30-0 lead at the break.
There was no letup in the second half, either. Manoa scored again on a short run, Grayson scored his second defensive touchdown of the day with a 14 yard interception return, and Mike Oliphant rambled 21 yards for the final tally. When the dust settled, the Browns had garnered a shocking 51-0 victory. The statistics didn’t lie as far as how one-sided the contest was. The Steelers turned the ball over 8 times. Brister threw 3 interceptions and was sacked 6 times. First round draft pick Tim Worley contributed 3 fumbles in his rookie debut. In all the Pittsburgh offense could only muster 53 total yards, while the Browns gained 357. No single Cleveland player collected big numbers on the day, but there were plenty of contributors, as the Browns also possessed the ball for almost 41 of the game’s 60 minutes. That’s pretty easy to do when your opponent hands you the ball 8 extra times in a game. The game was not only the worst loss in Noll’s tenure, but at that point was the worst defeat in the franchise’s 57 year history, which is saying a lot since the team didn’t have much success until Noll arrived in the ’70s.
Pittsburgh head coach Chuck Noll