The Steelers Made A Crushing Mistake In 1983 And Dan Marino Doesn't Want Fans To Ever Forget It

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most storied franchises in all of professional sports. They have been at the top of the NFL in multiple decades, and have been great at drafting new talent. They have the third most Hall of Famers out of any team in the NFL, behind only the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. Despite their history of success, the Steelers have made plenty of mistakes. The biggest one might be passing on Dan Marino in the 1983 NFL Draft, which he still hasn't forgotten. 

Steelers Passed On Dan Marino And Paid The Price

Going into the 1983 NFL Draft, the Steelers were quarterbacked by Terry Bradshaw, who had undergone elbow surgery in the offseason and was entering his 14th NFL season at the age of 35. The Steelers certainly should have been in the market for a quarterback, but Head Coach Chuck Noll wanted to use the draft to rebuild his defense rather than focusing on the quarterback position. 

The Steelers had the 21st overall pick in the draft, and Marino was still available. The Steelers passed, and Marino fell to the Miami Dolphins with the 27th pick. During a recent one-on-one interview with CBS Sports, Marino was asked about the many older Steelers fans who have still never gotten past the idea that the organization passed on the Hall of Fame quarterback. 

"Tell him not to let it go."

It's one of the largest mistakes the Steelers organization has ever made. Marino grew up in Pittsburgh, and similar to current quarterback Kenny Pickett, he played his college football at Pitt where he has his number 13 retired. Instead of drafting Marino with the 21st overall pick, the Steelers chose Gabriel Rivera, who was a defensive tackle out of Texas Tech. Rivera wasn't able to finish his rookie season, and was unfortunately paralyzed in a car wreck.

The Steelers decided to stick with Bradshaw during the 1983 season, and he failed to appear in the team's first 14 games before suffering a career ending elbow injury while throwing a touchdown pass against the New York Jets. In the 1984 season, the Steelers would start both Mark Malone and David Woodley at times at quarterback. The 1984 Steelers made it to the AFC Championship Game, where they met up with Marino and the Dolphins. 

Marino grew up as a fan of the Steelers, so being able to face off against his childhood team who also passed on him in the draft in just his second season as a pro was certainly special for Marino. It only got better for him, as the Dolphins beat the Steelers 45-28 to advance to the Super Bowl where they lost to the San Francisco 49ers. Marino spoke about how special playing against his childhood heroes in that game was.

"Well, that's a pretty cool one because we were playing Pittsburgh, and I grew up there. It was pretty special to play them. Donnie Shell was still playing, who is a Hall of Famer. Jack Lambert's a Hall of Famer. They were in that game. As a kid, I grew up watching them. To be able to beat them in the Orange Bowl and then go on to the Super Bowl was, for me as a 22-year-old kid, it was really cool."

Marino torched the Steelers in the game. He finished with with 421 yards through the air while throwing for four touchdowns. He played with a chip on his shoulder against the team that passed up on him, and it showed in the box score. Passing on Marino set the Steelers back, as they weren't able to make it back to the AFC Championship until 10 years later in 1994.

The Steelers struggled to find stability at the quarterback position, and were unable to find their next consistent and quality starter until they selected Ben Roethlisberger in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Roethlisberger would lead the Steelers to three Super Bowl appearances, winning two of them. This shows how much of a disaster it was passing on Marino, as the Steelers couldn't get back on top until 2005 when they beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. 

It's hard to look back on the history of the Steelers and not think about what could have been had they drafted Marino. It's likely they would have a couple more Super Bowls under their belt. What do you think of the Steelers passing on Marino?