Steelers, Cowboys Catch Big One : Colts’ Prayer Is Not Answered

It was the perfect Hail Mary, Pittsburgh cornerback Carnell Lake said, “a real rainmaker,” and where it landed would determine who went to the Super Bowl.

With five seconds to go, a four-point Steeler lead and the Colts’ ball on Pittsburgh’s 29-yard line, Indianapolis quarterback Jim Harbaugh heaves a pass to the end zone.

“Maybe it was poetic justice, having been there again with the ball in the air and an opportunity to win a championship,” Pittsburgh Coach Bill Cowher said after the Steelers reversed last year’s misery with a 20-16 victory over the Colts in the AFC championship game Sunday before 61,062.

A crowd of players, some wearing white, some wearing black, leaps into the air. Steeler cornerback Willie Williams touches the ball, and Steeler defensive back Randy Fuller gets two hands on it, Colt wide receiver Aaron Bailey has the ball, and Three Rivers Stadium goes silent.

“All I saw was Bailey on the ground cradling the football,” Lake said. “It was terrible. I said, ‘Dang, we lost another one.’ ”

Bailey jumps to his feet signaling a touchdown, and all the guys in white are holding up their hands in celebration, but an official is pounding the turf and waving the pass incomplete. Pittsburgh cornerback Chris Oldham falls on his back at the 30-yard line, his hands high to the sky and the noise foretells whose prayer has been answered.

“I had it for a split second,” Bailey said, and that is all Indianapolis can hold onto as it reflects on how close it came to playing in the Super Bowl. “Somehow, I don’t know, it got loose.”

It hit the turf, bounced into Bailey’s arms, but it hit the turf, knocking the Colts out of the playoffs.

“When the crowd went quiet my heart probably jumped out of my body,” said Steeler running back Erric Pegram, who learned at halftime his wife had just given birth to a daughter. “Then there was this big roar and I knew he had missed the ball and the ref made the signal and I think I went berserk.”

A year ago near the same end zone the ball hit the turf incomplete on fourth and goal from the three-yard line, and the Steelers were 17-13 losers. Charger linebacker Dennis Gibson had knocked down Neil O’Donnell’s intended pass for running back Barry Foster, and the city of Pittsburgh was left crying in its terrible towels.

“Last year was running through a lot of people’s minds,” said Bam Morris, whose one-yard touchdown run with 1:34 remaining overcame the Colts’ 16-13 advantage. “But we weren’t going to let that happen.”

Neither were the officials, who apparently closed their eyes and allowed Pittsburgh to establish a 13-9 lead after three quarters of play. Field judge John Robinson, jolly on the spot when Pittsburgh quarterback/wide receiver Kordell Stewart stepped out of the back of the end zone before stepping in again to catch a five-yard touchdown pass from O’Donnell in the second quarter, said later he never saw Stewart step out.

The tainted touchdown, coupled with Norm Johnson field goals of 31 and 36 yards, were still not enough. The Steelers were going to need luck, great athleticism and more luck to win the franchise’s fifth AFC title.

The Colts, stubbornly persistent in trying to get Cinderella to the big dance, as the players call it, struck back for underdogs everywhere and went ahead, 16-13, with 8:46 to play. Harbaugh, brilliant to the end, caught the Steelers in a zone blitz and threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Floyd Turner.

The Steelers punted the next time they got the ball, the clock was running, and the Colts had the chance to make their mark in NFL history. With a little more than three minutes to play and Pittsburgh down to two timeouts remaining, the Colts were on their 31-yard line with third and one.

The Colts broke the huddle and went into a formation unfamiliar to the Steelers. Pittsburgh safety Myron Bell moved to the wrong side of the field, so cornerback Willie Williams took it upon himself to blitz the quarterback.

“We were all doing something different--just miscommunication,” said Pittsburgh linebacker Chad Brown. “But Willie took it upon himself to make just a great, great athletic play.”

Williams saw Harbaugh hand the ball to Warren, and as Warren ran left, Williams dived from behind at his feet, catching his shoes and tripping him for no gain. The Colts punted and the Steelers were given an opportunity to retake the lead.

With less than three minutes to play, O’Donnell tried to squeeze a pass into the hands of Ernie Mills, but instead it landed in the midsection of Indianapolis linebacker Quentin Coryatt. Simply good luck, but at the same time Mills jostled Coryatt and the ball fell incomplete out of Coryatt’s hands.

Two plays later, the Steelers were confronted by fourth and three--the same gut-wrenching situation a year ago--but instead of putting Pittsburgh into a deep depression, O’Donnell found Andre Hastings for nine yards and a first down.

The very next play--following the two-minute warning--O’Donnell went back to Mills, and this time there was a connection with Mills catching a 37-yard pass and falling out of bounds at the one-yard line. Two plays later, Morris scored and it would still come down to a bouncing football in the end zone with time running out.

“I don’t know how we would have responded for two years in a row to have failed on one last play,” said Cowher, who was crying at game’s end. “We were fortunate to win, but we’re not going to be satisfied until we finish this thing off the right way. Then you won’t have to talk about the 1994 Steelers. The 1995 Steelers are going to seize the moment.”