Gale Sayers vs. The Steelers (and Fun Facts About the 1970 NFL Draft)

The Absent Friends post that I wrote on here two days ago in tribute to Gale Sayers prompted me to wonder how Sayers did in his career against the Pittsburgh Steelers.  As you know, the Internet allows us to research just about anything, so here it is for all you Steelers fans out there.

Turns out, Sayers' Bears played against the Steelers only twice, in 1967 and in 1969.

The 1967 game was alluded to in the previous post, but to restate:

The Steelers won that game, 41-13, and in it, Sayers was, astonishingly, held to two (2) rushing yards on only seven carries, and he did not catch a pass in that game, either.  He did, however, return two kicks for 147 yards, which included a 103 yard return for a touchdown.

In 1969, both Sayers and the Bears got their revenge.  Chicago routed the Steelers that day, 38-7.  Sayers had 28 rushing attempts for 112 yards and two touchdowns.  He also caught one pass for 25 yards and had one kick return for 9 yards.  He totaled 149 yards, the same number of yards he totaled in the 1967 game.   In his two game career against Pittsburgh, the Steelers held Sayers to 114 rushing yards on 35 attempts, an average of 3.26 yds/carry, well below his career average of 5.00 yds/carry.

That 1969 win against the Steelers was the only game that the Bears won that year, and allowed them to tie the Steelers for the worst record in the NFL that year, 1-13.  In an era before the NFL invented their elaborate system of tie-breakers, this meant that the Bears and Steelers would flip a coin to see who would get the overall Number One Draft Pick.  As Steelers fans know, Dan Rooney won the toss, the Steelers selected Terry Bradshaw with that pick, and the rest, as they say, is history.

And here are some Fun Facts you can learn when you go down the Internet Rabbit Hole....

What did the Bears do with the Number Two overall pick?  Well, they traded that  pick to Green Bay, and the Packers used it to select defensive lineman Mike McCoy of Notre Dame.  Chicago, in fact, didn't have selection until the third round that year.  

Only one other quarterback was selected in the first round, Purdue's Mike Phipps by the Browns.  Ten other quarterbacks were drafted that year, and the only one that stirred even the remotest interest in me was USC's Mike Holmgren.  He was taken by the Cardinals in the eighth round, the 201st player selected.  He would go on to a rather significant coaching career, taking both Seattle and Green Bay to Super Bowls, and winning one with the Packers.

With the fifth pick in the first round, the Bills selected USC linebacker Al Cowlings, he of OJ's White Bronco Fame.

A total of 442 players were drafted by NFL teams in that 1970 Draft, and only two of them, thus far, have made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Bradshaw and another Steeler, defensive back Mel Blount, selected with the first pick of the third round, the fifty-third player taken in the draft.