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Patriots 41, Steelers 27 AFC Championship Game
The Patriots beat the Steelers in the AFC Championship in Jerome Bettis' (supposed) last season. He was crushed because he thought it was his last game. His teammates wanted him to end his career on a high note, so they tried to convince him to come back for one last season, one last try at the Super Bowl. He decided he would come back for the 2005-2006 season because he saw that they all felt very strongly about him coming back. -
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Jerome Bettis' Last Season
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Injured Against The Redskins
In a preseason game against the Washington Redskins, Bettis injured his calf after sustaining a big hit. His injury would put him out of the action until Game 4 of the regular season. -
Out Of The Action
Jerome Bettis missed these games:
-Steelers 34, Titans 7 September 11
-Steelers 27, Texans 7 September 18
-Patriots 23, Steelers 20 September 25
This brings their record so far to 2-1. He was upset because he knew he could have made a difference in the frustrating loss to the Patriots. -
Bettis Returns; Steelers 24, Chargers 22
Bettis returned to the action in Game 4 against the Chargers. He was much more satisfied now that he was able to get some key yards towards the end of the game to help the Steelers to a win. the Steelers' record now totals 3-1. -
Jaguars 23, Steelers 17
Bettis called it a huge disapointment. He was livid. He was furious because in a crucial third down, when he would usually get put in, he didn't, and the Steelers fumbled the football. The Jaguars took full advantage of the situation and scored on their next drive, which turned out to be the winning score. -
Steelers 27, Bengals 13
Going into the game, the Steelers were in need of a win to contend with Cincinnati, whose record before th game was 5-1, while the Steelers were 3-2. They had to be at least 2nd in the division to be in the playoffs at the end of the season or 1st to get in for sure. -
Steelers 20, Ravens 19
After beating the Bengals the previous week and improving to 4-2, the Steelers faced the Ravens, and if they won this they would tie for the division lead. The Ravens were and have always been rivals of the Steelers, and always bring a tough challenge. Luckily, though, the Steelers managed to win by one point to bump their record up to 5-2. -
Steelers 20, Packers 10
Though Bettis was sidelined because of a quadricep injury, the Steelers managed to make do without him. Great plays included Troy Polamalu returning an interception off of Packers quarterback Brett Favre 77 yards for a touchdown. Later Duce Staley (the running back put in to replace Jerome Bettis) scored a touchdown to put the steelers up by 10 insteadof 3, sealing the win. -
Steelers 34, Browns 21
With Ben Roethlisberger out with a knee injury, the Steelers put in Charlie Batch to carry the load, though he would get hurt later and need to be removed from the game. The Steelers managed to hold their own and then score several times to take a 13-point lead before the end of the game to raise themselves to 7-2. -
Ravens 16, Steelers 13 OT
With the third-string quarterback, Tommy Maddox, leading the Steelers into Game 10 at Baltimore, the Ravens decided to expose his weaknesses. They sacked him several times but the Steelers stayed in the game by containing the Ravens offense. Though the Ravens were always leading, the Steelers tied it up just before the end of the game to send them to overtime. Unfortunately, they came up short in OT and dropped to 7-3 when the Ravens scored a field goal to win the game. -
Colts 26, Steelers 7
On the first play of the game, Colts receiver Marvin Harrison caught an 80-yard touchdown pass to put the Colts up by 7 less than a minute into the game. The Steelers couldn't recover from that and only got into the end zone once to send them to a 26-7 loss. -
Bengals 38, Steelers 31
In a loss to the division leader, the Steelers put themselves two games behind the Bengals and lost a chance to win their division who knows how many years. The Bus scored the first touchdown in the second quarter and the offense looked better than against the Colts, but they couldn't score tthe tying touchdown on their final drive and lost the game. -
Steelers 21, Bears 9
Stuck in a positon in which they couldn't lose for the rest of the season if they wanted to be in the playoffs, the Steelers defeated the Bears to improve to 8-5. The Bus specializes in bad weather conditions (it was snowing) and was able to score a 2nd touchdown to contribute to 2/3 of the Steelers' points. -
Steelers 18, Vikings 3
Going into the game, the Steelers were the underdogs and facing the Vikings, who had a 6-game winning streak. In yet another must-win situation, the Steelers defense did a phenomenal job and limited the Vikings offense to only a field goal the whole game, thus boosting the Steelers to 9-5. -
Steelers 41, Browns 0
In an unexpected blowout, the Steelers crushed the Browns 41-0 on Christmas Eve. Nobody on the Steelers had the slightest inkling that the Browns would win and keep the Steelers from the playoffs. The Steelers went up against another good defense, but needed the win more, and everything that could go well did. -
Steelers 35, Lions 21
In their final regular season game, the Steelers beat Detroit to improve to 11-5 and secure a playoff spot. The Bus himself had an amazing game in his last home game ever, scoring 3 touchdowns (21 points) and outscoring the rest of the team, which scored only 14 without him. -
Steelers 31, Bengals 17 AFC Wild Card
In the first game of the postseason, the Steelers went up against the Bengals in the AFC Wild Card Game. Though the Bengals defeated the Steelers twice in the regular season, the Steelers wanted to prove that they were the better football team, and they went out there and did just that. -
Steelers 21, Colts 18 AFC Divisional Playoff Game
Going into the game, the Steelers' motivation was not that they were the underdog, but that the Colts were the best team in the NFL and that they beat the Steelers and the Steelers were going to have revenge. Late in the game, all they had to do was score to ice the victory, but they fumbled inside the 5-yard line and a Colts player almost returned it for a touchdown. Luckily, he was stopped just short and the Colts missed the tying field goal to send the Steelers to the AFC Championship. -
Steelers 34, Broncos 17 AFC Championship Game
In Mile High Stadium, the Steelers managed to deal with the thin air and defeat the Broncos to go to the Super Bowl. Even harder for the Bus was his asthma condition. He was struggling for breath even when he was just standing there, so he knew it would be tough. He got through it, though, and was able to score a touchdown in the second quarter. -
Steelers 21, Seahawks 10 Super Bowl XL
Jerome Bettis returned to his hometown for the last game of his career, Super Bowl XL (Super Bowl 40). The Steelers came out flat in the first half, but were still leading 7-3 at halftime. Bettis said that it was good that they had played the worst half they could play and were still leading. The Seahawks tried to score at the end but the defense stopped them to preserve the victory. For Bettis it was a dream come true; to end his career with a Super Bowl win in his very own hometown.
