When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins met for the first time in the NFL playoffs in 1972, the Steelers were just starting to realize their potential as an NFL powerhouse. The Dolphins, however, were closing in on perhaps the greatest season of all time.
Their meeting to decide the AFC champion on Dec. 31, 1972, at Three Rivers Stadium ended with a battered and bruised Terry Bradshaw, and a 21-17 win for the Dolphins.
Miami would go on to defeat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII to put an exclamation mark on the one and only perfect season in NFL history.
Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who says he had lost seven or eight pounds in his bout with the flu, looks at the scales in the locker room on Dec. 30, 1972, between visits to the hospital. He was admitted to Divine Providence Hospital twice for precautionary measures. The Steelers were to play the Miami Dolphins in the AFC title game the next day. (Harry Cabluck/Associated Press)Steelers Owner Art Rooney, left, bites on an unlighted cigar as he listens to Miami Dolphins Head Coach Don Shula in Three Rivers Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 31, 1972. The Steelers and the Dolphins later battled for the American Football Conference championship. (AP Photo)Larry Csonka, the bruising Miami Dolphins back, picks up yardage while Mel Blount attempts to bring him down. (AP Photo)Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw (12) is down and injured while his fumble lands in the hands of teammate Gerry Mullins (72) for a first-quarter touchdown. (AP Photo)Bradshaw grimaces and presses shut his eyes in pain as he is helped from the field after being hit at the goal line before the Steelers’ first touchdown. He would eventually return to the game. (AP Photo)Csonka (39) crosses the goal line to score for the Dolphins in the second quarter to tie it up. Pursuing him is the Steelers’ Andy Russell (34). (AP Photo)Dolphins running back Jim Kiick goes headfirst over the Steelers’ Glen Edwards for a touchdown in the third quarter. (AP Photo)Three Miami Dolphins players team up to dump Bradshaw in the fourth quarter. Bradshaw’s two late interceptions sealed a 21-17 win for Miami. Bradshaw had been hit earlier in the game but returned in the final quarter. (AP Photo)Shula, left, shakes hands with Steelers head coach Chuck Noll, after the Dolphins defeated the Steelers, 21-17, for the American Football conference championship. (AP Photo)
By 
