1978 Steelers 24 at 49ers 7 MNF

[mcmillenandwife]

> 1978 Steelers 24 at 49ers 7 MNF - w/Gifford, Cosell, Meredith
> 1978 Steelers 24 at 49ers 7 MNF - w/Fleming & Cope

Bradshaw and Swann star as the Steelers beat the living crap out of the Niners on Monday Night Football. The Steelers amass 212 rushing yards and Bradshaw, after an early interception, bounces back to carve up San Fran's secondary with relative ease, connecting on a trio of TD passes. NFL receiving leader Lynn Swann is particularly devastating, hauling in 8 catches for 134 yds and 2 TDs.

The Steel Curtain relentlessly torments Niner QB Scott Bull, intercepting his very first pass (en route to a 5 INT night) while delivering some truly terrifying shots, sacking him 4 times for 39 yds. The Niners are clearly outclassed, but the refs seem to be trying to even things out, penalizing Pittsburgh 13 times for 102 yds while San Fran is flagged just 1 time for 5 yds.

Trailing 17-0, the Niners finally catch a break when Rocky Bleier fumbles away a handoff inside the Steeler 5, setting up a 2-yd TD run for San Fran. On Pittsburgh's ensuing drive, Bleier -- who is not known as a fumbler -- shockingly coughs it up again near midfield. But Ham soon restores order with his second interception of the night, Bradshaw promptly hits Stallworth for a TD, and the 49ers never threaten again.

While this game is supposedly recorded from the source tape, the original broadcast was very blurry (the guy who taped it had some definite antenna problems), so the quality isn't fantastic. At halftime, ABC news provides updates on the shocking murder earlier that day of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone by a disgruntled former staffer.

Note: There are two different versions of this game. The first is the ABC Monday Night Football broadcast with Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith calling the game. The second is the same ABC broadcast with the amazing WTAE radio call from Jack Fleming and Myron Cope dubbed in.

[spokan steeler]

INT on 1st defensive play...

[mcmillenandwife]

INT on 1st defensive play...

You've gotta wonder... who in the hell scheduled THIS mismatch on on MNF??? Seriously, the Niners were perennial basement dwellers during this era. 1-11 vs 10-2. 

[Guest]

The best and worst teams of 1978. This game was pretty much what you'd think would happen when the NFL's king and peasant of that time faced off.

There were other teams with lousy records in 1978, but San Francisco was SO much worse than them:

Cincinnati was 4-12, but they beat 3 playoff teams (HOU/ATL/Rams)

Kansas City was 4-12, but they were stuck in a brutally competitive AFC West and had a decent showing against Pittsburgh

Baltimore was 5-11, but they had a lot of injuries and they did pull off a pair of MNF upsets vs. Washington/New England

Buffalo was 5-11, but they were starting over with Chuck Knox and had nowhere to go but up after a ghastly 1977

San Francisco was poorly run in ways that went deeper than these other teams- bad front office (the OJ trade), bad ownership (this was pre-DeBartolo), adrift of talent, and the rest of the NFC West was superior in comparison to them.

Not to mention 63 turnovers that season, the most by an NFL team since the AFL merger (5 of those 63 coming in this game)

[mcmillenandwife]

The best and worst teams of 1978. This game was pretty much what you'd think would happen when the NFL's king and peasant of that time faced off.

There were other teams with lousy records in 1978, but San Francisco was SO much worse than them:

Cincinnati was 4-12, but they beat 3 playoff teams (HOU/ATL/Rams)

Kansas City was 4-12, but they were stuck in a brutally competitive AFC West and had a decent showing against Pittsburgh

Baltimore was 5-11, but they had a lot of injuries and they did pull off a pair of MNF upsets vs. Washington/New England

Buffalo was 5-11, but they were starting over with Chuck Knox and had nowhere to go but up after a ghastly 1977

San Francisco was poorly run in ways that went deeper than these other teams- bad front office (the OJ trade), bad ownership (this was pre-DeBartolo), adrift of talent, and the rest of the NFC West was superior in comparison to them.

Not to mention 63 turnovers that season, the most by an NFL team since the AFL merger (5 of those 63 coming in this game)

 Great analysis.

[Garrett Garlits]

This game was played despite the fact that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone had been murdered by a disgruntled former staffer that day, which only added to the depressing atmosphere at Candlestick Park that night. I'm not sure if this copy of the game has it, but instead of highlights, they went to ABC News for an update on the tragedy at halftime. Cosell made his opinion known late in the game that it shouldn't have been played that night, and he was probably right.

[mcmillenandwife]

This game was played despite the fact that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone had been murdered by a disgruntled former staffer that day, which only added to the depressing atmosphere at Candlestick Park that night. I'm not sure if this copy of the game has it, but instead of highlights, they went to ABC News for an update on the tragedy at halftime. Cosell made his opinion known late in the game that it shouldn't have been played that night, and he was probably right.

Yes, this version has the halftime news update. Is the version you have any clearer than this one?

[Garrett Garlits]

No, Tim, this is about as clear as I remember mine being. I wonder who actually taped these back in the day and where they lived, because there are some really fuzzy games out there from about this time. I know most of the copies originate from WTAE and WIIC (now WPXI), so it was someone who could get those stations over-the-air.

[danderson400]

This game was played despite the fact that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone had been murdered by a disgruntled former staffer that day, which only added to the depressing atmosphere at Candlestick Park that night. I'm not sure if this copy of the game has it, but instead of highlights, they went to ABC News for an update on the tragedy at halftime. Cosell made his opinion known late in the game that it shouldn't have been played that night, and he was probably right.

How many times did ABC not do the highlights at halftime? I think in this case, because of what was going on, they were correct to  go to ABC News, since Mayor George Moscone had been murdered by a disgruntled former staffer that day.

[danderson400]

I do find Howard to be a bit of an idiot sometimes, but he was right-this game should have been canceled.

[mcmillenandwife]

> 1978 Steelers 24 at 49ers 7 MNF - w/Fleming & Cope

We painstakingly synced this recording of the ABC TV broadcast with the iconic WTAE radio call of the late, great Jack Fleming and Myron Cope.

Enjoy!