1995 AFC Championship Game
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Date | January 14, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Stadium | Dan Rooney (owner), Rod Woodson (injured) | ||||||||||||||||||
TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Dick Enberg, Phil Simms, and Paul Maguire |
The 1995 AFC Championship Game was the championship game for the American Football Conference (AFC) for the 1995 season.[1][2][3] The game was played on January 14, 1996, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who hosted the Indianapolis Colts for the chance to play the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC) in Super Bowl XXX in Tempe, Arizona.
While it was considered a mismatch between an expected Super Bowl contender (Pittsburgh) and a
The game would mark a turning point for both franchises. For Steelers head coach
The game has been ranked among the best Conference Championship games in the history of the National Football League by several publications, including Sports Illustrated,[4] ESPN,[5] AOL,[6] and several local publications throughout the United States.[7] NFL Films would go on to feature the game in both its ongoing NFL Films Game of the Week and NFL's Greatest Games series.
Background
Entering the 1995 NFL season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were expected[by whom?] to compete for the AFC Central title and a trip to the Super Bowl following a 12–4 regular season the year before behind its "Blitzburgh" defense that saw the team upset by the San Diego Chargers 17–13 in the 1994 AFC Championship Game. However, the team got off to a slow start, starting the 1995 season at 3–4 before ripping through the NFL on an eight-game winning streak. The team's last regular season loss was in Week 17 against the Green Bay Packers, 24–19 at Lambeau Field, a game that had no playoff implications since both teams had already clinched their respective playoff seedings entering the game. The Steelers' 11–5 record was good enough for the AFC Central Division championship (four games ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Oilers) and the conference's number 2 seed, earning a first-round bye in the playoffs.
The Colts were coming off an 8–8 season in 1994 that was the team's best record since 1987, when the team won the AFC East with a 9–6 record during the strike-shortened season. Aside from the 1987 season, the Colts had not appeared in the playoffs since 1977 when the team was in Baltimore. Behind veteran quarterback Jim Harbaugh, the 1995 season would change that, as several come-from-behind victories propelled the team to a 9–7 record and the number 5 seed in the AFC playoffs.
When the playoffs started, the Steelers defeated the
The Colts were the first number 5 seed to advance to a conference championship game since the 1990 playoff expansion. It would mark the first time since the 1970 merger that no team that was a member of the American Football League at any point in its history participated in the AFC Championship Game, as both the Colts and Steelers were with the "old" NFL before moving to the newly formed AFC in 1970 to even out the two conferences. (Since then, only the 2008 AFC Championship Game between the Steelers and their archrivals, the Baltimore Ravens, has the AFC title been played for between two non-AFL teams.) The game was a rematch of the Week 3 contest between the two teams from the previous season, which the Steelers won at home, 31–21. The 1995 AFC Championship Game would be the second of four consecutive seasons in which the two teams met in Pittsburgh, an uncommon sight for non-division rivals.
Game summary
On the Steelers opening drive, Neil O'Donnell's first pass of the game was tipped by defensive tackle Tony Siragusa and intercepted by Jeff Herrod, who returned it to the Pittsburgh 24-yard line. But the Colts drive was halted when Ray Seals tackled running back Lamont Warren for a loss on third down and one. On the next play, Cary Blanchard hit the right upright on his 34-yard field goal, but it still bounced in and the Colts took a 3–0 lead. After each team punted, Pittsburgh's Norm Johnson kicked a field goal to even the game with under two minutes remaining in the first quarter. The field goal occurred after Kordell Stewart dropped a pass in the end zone. Replays showed Colts safety Jason Belser made contact with Stewart just before the ball arrived, but no penalty flag was thrown.
In the second quarter, a 30-yard reception by Colts receiver
On Indianapolis' first drive of the second half, they drove 61 yards in nine plays, featuring a 29-yard completion from Jim Harbaugh to tight end Ken Dilger. Blanchard finished the drive with his third field goal to cut their deficit to 10–9. Then after forcing a three and punt, Indy drove 35 yards in nine plays to set up another field goal try, which would have put the Colts up 12–10. But this time Blanchard's 47-yard attempt sailed wide right. Taking over on their own 37, Pittsburgh mounted a drive in Colts territory where Johnson's 37-yard field goal put them back up by four points, at 13–9.
Early in the fourth quarter, a long punt return by Steelers receiver
Pittsburgh then marched 67 yards to score the winning touchdown. Running back Byron Bam Morris scored the game-winning 1-yard touchdown run with 1:34 remaining in the game to pull Pittsburgh ahead for good. The drive was aided by O'Donnell's 9-yard completion to Hastings on fourth down and 3 from the 47-yard line, as well as an earlier dropped potential interception that went in and out of the arms of linebacker Quentin Coryatt. On the next play after Hastings' fourth down conversion catch, O'Donnell completed a 37-yard pass to Ernie Mills on the Indianapolis 1-yard line, setting up Morris' 1-yard scoring run. The Colts got the ball back and advanced to the Steelers' 29 with 5 seconds left, narrowly avoiding a turnover when defensive back Chris Oldham dropped a wide open interception. On the game's final play, Harbaugh attempted a hail mary pass which he lofted high and came down into a crowd of players in the end zone, the ball momentarily was against Colts' Aaron Bailey's chest but it hit the turf before he could haul it in.
Harbaugh completed 21 of 33 passes for 267 yards and a touchdown.
Aftermath
The missed call on
The game would mark the only home
The game would be the last game for Ted Marchibroda in his second stint as the Colts head coach, having coached the Colts from 1975 to 1979 when the team was in Baltimore. Following the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, the newly christened Baltimore Ravens hired Marchibroda to be their inaugural head coach. Following him to Baltimore would be ex-Colts Floyd Turner (whose number 88 in Indianapolis would be immediately picked up by Marvin Harrison, who would spend the next 13 years with the Colts) and former University of Pittsburgh standout Tony Siragusa; Siragusa would later pick up a Super Bowl ring when the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV. Marchibroda would be fired after the 1998 season and returned to the Colts as a color commentator for their radio network until retiring following the Colts victory in Super Bowl XLI at the end of the 2006 NFL season, after which he became a pre-game commentator for the Colts for a time before Marchibroda's death in January 2016. A native of Franklin, Pennsylvania north of Pittsburgh, Marchibroda's last game as Colts head coach actually came in his hometown, with Marchibroda having played quarterback for the Steelers in the 1950s. Coincidentally, the Steelers infamously kept Marchibroda over future Colts star Johnny Unitas one year during training camp.
The Steelers would play the Dallas Cowboys two weeks later in Super Bowl XXX, renewing the rivalry the two teams had in the 1970s, when the two teams were among the most dominant teams in the NFL. The heavily favored Cowboys would defeat the Steelers 27–17 to give the latter team their first Super Bowl defeat.
The Colts and Steelers would both make the playoffs in 1996, with the Steelers defeating the Colts 42–14 in the wild-card round. The following year, the two teams met for the fourth consecutive year in Pittsburgh in Week 7, in which the Steelers defeated the struggling Colts 24–22, dropping the Colts to 0–6 en route to a
Jim Harbaugh, who after retiring worked his way up to being an NFL head coach himself with the San Francisco 49ers, has stated that the 1995 AFC Championship Game continues to haunt him: "Coming that close to your dream of participating in the Super Bowl, and then seeing it brush by your face in an instant, and you walk off the field and you go 'there will be other days'. And then you realize it was the only day."[10] Harbaugh would eventually reach the Super Bowl with the 49ers, only to lose Super Bowl XLVII to the Baltimore Ravens, coached by his brother John Harbaugh.
The game itself wasn't viewable to many residents in the Pittsburgh suburb of
Officials
- Referee: Bernie Kukar (#86)
- Umpire: Hendi Ancich (#115)
- Head Linesman: Earnie Frantz (#111)
- Line Judge: Ron Baynes (#56)
- Back Judge: Tim Millis (#80)
- Side Judge: Doug Toole (#4)
- Field Judge: John Robison (#46)
See also
- 2005 AFC Divisional playoff game (Pittsburgh–Indianapolis)
- List of Hail Mary passes in American football
References
- ^ "AFC Championship - Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers - January 14th, 1996". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
- ^ Top 5 Hail Mary Plays: 1995 Colts vs. Steelers - NFL Videos. NFL.com. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
- ^ Doyle, Gregg (January 5, 2015). "Colts saw the great Harbaugh, not the grating one". IndyStar.com. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
There was the 1995 AFC championship game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, when the Colts trailed 20–16 in the final minutes
- ^ "Most Popular". CNN.
- ^ "NFL's Greatest Games - 1995 AFC Championship: Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 - mReplay Livedash TV Transcript - Livedash - Search what is being mentioned across national TV". www.livedash.com. Archived from the original on September 11, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
- ^ "Cowher's Greatest Games: No. 2, 1995 Season Steelers-Colts AFC Championship". www.aolnews.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
- ^ "Steelers' best/Worst moments in AFC title games - AltoonaMirror.com - Altoona, PA | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information - the Altoona Mirror". Archived from the original on January 24, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
- ^ Pierson, Don (January 21, 1996). "Replay Reinstatement Not In The Cards". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
- ^ "Steelers continue streak over Colts with 24-17 win". November 29, 2022.
- ^ "1995 AFC Championship game still haunts Harbaugh". Profootballtalk.com. May 12, 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
- ^ YouTube Video [dead link]