1981 Season
8-8 Regular Season • 2nd in AFC Central
Season Summary: The 1981 Steelers were still talented but clearly in transition. The defense was aging and inconsistent. Mean Joe and L.C. were at the end of their Hall of Fame careers, and for the first time in years, the Steelers gave up more yards than they gained.
They hovered at .500 most of the year but got hot late, winning 3 straight to get back in the hunt with a blowout win over Cleveland and a shutout of the Rams. Then disaster struck.
Bradshaw broke his right wrist on Monday night in Oakland. With Mark Malone at QB, they lost the final 3 games and the season slipped away.
Poor placekicking haunted them all season. David Trout missed multiple extra points, including 3 in one game. His badly hooked miss of a short, game-tying FG in Seattle still stands as the worst kick I've ever seen. His misses didn't just cost points; they changed outcomes and drained momentum.
For Pittsburgh, 8-8 wasn’t just disappointing... it was proof the dynasty was done.
TERRY BRADSHAW: 1981 Game-by-Game Stats
Regular Season
| Game | Week | Date | Result | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Lng | Rate | Sk | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Lng | ||||
| WATCHvs Chiefs | 1* | 09/06 | L 33-37 | 21 | 36 | 58.3 | 319 | 8.9 | 2 | 2 | 41t | 83.0 | 0 | 2 | -7 | -3.5 | 0 | 0 |
| WATCHat Dolphins | 2* | 09/14 | L 10-30 | 15 | 33 | 45.5 | 222 | 6.7 | 1 | 2 | 32t | 52.8 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 | 11 |
| WATCHvs Jets | 3* | 09/20 | W 38-10 | 14 | 28 | 50.0 | 225 | 8.0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 77.2 | 2 | 7 | 41 | 5.9 | 1 | 11 |
| WATCHvs Patriots | 4* | 09/27 | W 27-21 | 15 | 30 | 50.0 | 247 | 8.2 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 100.3 | 0 | 5 | 49 | 9.8 | 0 | 16 |
| WATCHat Saints | 5* | 10/04 | W 20-6 | 19 | 28 | 67.9 | 276 | 9.9 | 2 | 0 | 47t | 123.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| WATCHvs Browns | 6* | 10/11 | W 13-7 | 19 | 33 | 57.6 | 199 | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 72.7 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 6.7 | 0 | 11 |
| WATCHat Bengals | 7* | 10/18 | L 7-34 | 14 | 27 | 51.9 | 145 | 5.4 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 80.0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | 5 |
| WATCHvs Oilers | 8* | 10/26 | W 26-13 | 14 | 28 | 50.0 | 208 | 7.4 | 2 | 1 | 46t | 83.6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 0 | 8 |
| WATCHvs 49ers | 9* | 11/01 | L 14-17 | 12 | 23 | 52.2 | 125 | 5.4 | 1 | 3 | 26 | 43.1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2.3 | 0 | 8 |
| WATCHat Seahawks | 10* | 11/08 | L 21-24 | 13 | 22 | 59.1 | 212 | 9.6 | 1 | 2 | 90t | 68.8 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 0 | 4 |
| WATCHat Falcons | 11* | 11/16 | W 34-20 | 14 | 22 | 63.6 | 253 | 11.5 | 5 | 1 | 53 | 123.7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 |
| WATCHat Browns | 12* | 11/22 | W 32-10 | 17 | 32 | 53.1 | 223 | 7.0 | 2 | 2 | 37 | 70.2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 0 | 5 |
| WATCHvs Rams | 13* | 11/29 | W 24-0 | 10 | 19 | 52.6 | 204 | 10.7 | 1 | 0 | 55 | 108.2 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 3.2 | 1 | 6 |
| WATCHat Raiders | 14* | 12/07 | L 27-30 | 4 | 9 | 44.4 | 29 | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 89.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — |
| WATCHvs Bengals | 15 | 12/13 | L 10-17 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| WATCHat Oilers | 16 | 12/20 | L 20-21 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1981 TOTAL | 16 | — | 8-8 | 201 | 370 | 54.3 | 2,887 | 7.8 | 22 | 14 | 90t | 83.9 | 17 | 38 | 162 | 4.3 | 2 | 16 |