1954 Pittsburgh Steelers season

1954 Pittsburgh Steelers season
Head coach	Walt Kiesling
Home field	Forbes Field
Results
Record	5–7
Division place	4th NFL Eastern
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
←  1953 Steelers seasons 1955  →

The 1954 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 22nd in the National Football League.

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record
1	September 26	at Green Bay Packers	W 21–20	1–0
2	October 2	Washington Redskins	W 37–7	2–0
3	October 9	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 22–24	2–1
4	October 17	Cleveland Browns	W 55–27	3–1
5	October 23	Philadelphia Eagles	W 17–7	4–1
6	October 31	at Chicago Cardinals	L 14–17	4–2
7	November 7	New York Giants	L 6–30	4–3
8	November 14	at Washington Redskins	L 14–17	4–4
9	November 20	San Francisco 49ers	L 3–31	4–5
10	November 28	Chicago Cardinals	W 20–17	5–5
11	December 5	at New York Giants	L 3–24	5–6
12	December 12	at Cleveland Browns	L 7–42	5–7

Game summaries

Week 1 (Sunday September 26, 1954): Green Bay Packers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	7	7	0	7	21
Packers	7	10	3	0	20

at City Stadium, Green Bay, Wisconsin

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 20,675
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Green Bay – Reid 69 run (Cone kick)
• Pittsburgh – Lattner 14 pass from Finks (Kissell kick)
• Green Bay – Howton 44 pass from Rote (Cone kick)
• Green Bay – FG Cone 45
• Pittsburgh – Nickel 2 pass from Finks (Kissell kick)
• Green Bay – FG Cone 32
• Pittsburgh – Mathews 37 pass from Finks (Held kick)

Week 2 (Saturday October 2, 1954): Washington Redskins

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redskins	0	0	0	7	7
Steelers	13	14	7	3	37

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 22,492
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – Nickel 25 pass from Held (Held kick)
• Pittsburgh – Lattner 1 run (kick blocked)
• Pittsburgh – Rogel 1 run (Held kick)
• Pittsburgh – Sulima 5 pass from Finks (Held kick)
• Pittsburgh – Brandt 9 run (Held kick)
• Washington – Dorow 1 run (Felton kick)
• Pittsburgh – FG Held 15

Week 3 (Saturday October 9, 1954): Philadelphia Eagles

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	3	9	7	3	22
Eagles	14	3	0	7	24

at Connie Mack Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 37,322
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – FG Held 31
• Philadelphia – Walston 24 pass from Thomason (Walston kick)
• Philadelphia – Williams 11 run (Walston kick)
• Philadelphia – FG Walston 14
• Pittsburgh – Butler 23 interception (Held kick)
• Pittsburgh – Safety, Thomason tackled in end zone by McPeak
• Pittsburgh – Lattner 7 run (Held kick)
• Pittsburgh – FG Held 17
• Philadelphia – Pihos 13 pass from Burk (Walston kick)

Week 4 (Sunday October 17, 1954): Cleveland Browns

	1	2	3	4	Total
Browns	14	6	0	7	27
Steelers	7	27	14	7	55

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 31,256
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Cleveland – Reynolds 5 run (Groza kick)
• Pittsburgh – Mathews 7 pass from Finks (Held kick)
• Cleveland – Jones 37 pass from Graham (Groza kick)
• Pittsburgh – Rogel 14 pass from Finks (kick failed)
• Pittsburgh – Butler 41 interception (Held kick)
• Pittsburgh – Lattner 12 run (Held kick)
• Cleveland – Lavelli 29 pass from Graham (kick blocked)
• Pittsburgh – Mathews 78 pass from Finks (Held kick)
• Pittsburgh – Mathews 8 pass from Finks (Held kick)
• Pittsburgh – Mathews 3 run (Held kick)
• Cleveland – Lavelli 24 pass from Graham (Groza kick)
• Pittsburgh – Craft 81 interception (Held kick)

Week 5 (Saturday October 23, 1954): Philadelphia Eagles

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	0	0	7	7
Steelers	0	3	7	7	17

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 39,075
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – FG Kissell 24
• Pittsburgh – Nickel 52 pass from Burk (Walston kick)
• Philadelphia – Pihos 24 pass from Burk (Walston kick)
• Pittsburgh – Chandnois 5 run (Kissell kick)

Week 6 (Sunday October 31, 1954): Chicago Cardinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	7	0	0	7	14
Cardinals	7	0	3	7	17

at Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 18,765
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – Nickel 15 pass from Finks (Kissell kick)
• Chicago Cardinals – Matson 91 kick return (Summerall kick)
• Chicago Cardinals – FG Summerall 24
• Chicago Cardinals – Matson 18 pass from McHan (Summerall kick)
• Pittsburgh – Lattner 1 run (Kissell kick)

Week 7 (Sunday November 7, 1954): New York Giants

	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	9	14	7	0	30
Steelers	0	6	0	0	6

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 25,158
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• New York Giants – Safety, Chandnois recovered blocked punt in own end zone, tackled by Nolan
• New York Giants – MacAfee 21 pass from Conerly (Agajanian kick)
• Pittsburgh – Lattner 5 run (kick blocked)
• New York Giants – Rote 23 pass from Conerly (Agajanian kick)
• New York Giants – Price 2 run (Agajanian kick)
• New York Giants – Topp 14 pass from Conerly (Agajanian kick)

Week 8 (Sunday November 14, 1954): Washington Redskins

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	7	0	7	14
Redskins	0	7	3	7	17

at Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 19,388
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Washington – Wells 9 run (Janowicz kick)
• Pittsburgh – Lattner 24 pass from Finks (Kissell kick)
• Washington – FG Janowicz 32
• Washington – Taylor 42 pass from Scarbath (Janowicz kick)
• Pittsburgh – Nickel 4 pass from Finks (Kissell kick)

Week 9 (Saturday November 20, 1954): San Francisco 49ers

	1	2	3	4	Total
49ers	3	21	0	7	31
Steelers	0	3	0	0	3

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 37,001
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• San Francisco – FG Soltau 24
• San Francisco – Jessup 44 pass from Tittle (Soltau kick)
• Pittsburgh – FG Kissell 31
• San Francisco – Perry 2 run (Soltau kick)
• San Francisco – Johnson 24 run (Soltau kick)
• San Francisco – Jessup 24 pass from Tittle (Soltau kick)

Week 10 (Sunday November 28, 1954): Chicago Cardinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	0	14	3	0	17
Steelers	0	10	0	10	20

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 17,460
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – FG Bolkovac 21
• Pittsburgh – Mathews 29 pass from Finks (Bolkovac kick)
• Chicago Cardinals – Stonesifer 39 pass from McHan (Summerall kick)
• Chicago Cardinals – Matson 60 pass from McHan (Summerall kick)
• Chicago Cardinals – FG Summerall 34
• Pittsburgh – Mathews 3 run (Bolkovac kick)
• Pittsburgh – FG Bolkovac 26

Week 11 (Sunday November 5, 1954): New York Giants

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	3	0	0	0	3
Giants	7	7	7	3	24

at Polo Grounds, New York, New York

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 16,856
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• New York Giants – Price 7 run (Agajanian kick)
• Pittsburgh – FG Bolkovac 15
• New York Giants – MacAfee 42 pass from Clatterbuck (Agajanian kick)
• New York Giants – Rote 42 pass from Clatterbuck (Agajanian kick)
• New York Giants – FG Agajanian 20

Week 12 (Sunday December 12, 1954): Cleveland Browns

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	0	7	0	7
Browns	7	21	0	14	42

at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 28,064
• Referee:
• TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

• Cleveland – Hanulak 13 run (Groza kick)
• Cleveland – Konz 54 interception (Groza kick)
• Cleveland – Hanulak 3 run (Groza kick)
• Cleveland – Hanulak 8 run (Groza kick)
• Pittsburgh – Mathews 47 pass from Finks (Bolkovac kick)
• Cleveland – Morrison 2 run (Groza kick)
• Cleveland – Reynolds 3 run (Groza kick)

Standings

NFL Eastern Conference
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Cleveland Browns	9	3	0	.750	8–2	336	162	L1
Philadelphia Eagles	7	4	1	.636	7–3	284	230	W1
New York Giants	7	5	0	.583	7–3	293	184	L1
Pittsburgh Steelers	5	7	0	.417	4–6	219	263	L2
Washington Redskins	3	9	0	.250	2–8	207	432	W1
Chicago Cardinals	2	10	0	.167	2–8	183	347	L3

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.