# Why did the Steelers HOST the undefeated Dolphins in the 1972 AFC title game? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703 "2001-06-05T17:45:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/1 "2001-06-05T17:45:28Z")
Shouldn’t the 14-0 Dolphins have hosted the Steelers? The game was played on New Year’s Eve 1972, and the Dolphins played their home games in the Orange Bowl. Still, wasn’t the Orange Bowl game the next day–or no? Was there actually a time conflict between the NFL game and the college bowl game? ---
**Author:** ![funguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@funguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funguy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/2 "2001-06-06T07:01:05Z")
got your years mixed up and also teams miami played the clevland browns that christmas eve ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/3 "2001-06-06T13:37:57Z")
[http://fos.www.50megs.com/nfl/nfl72.htm](http://fos.www.50megs.com/nfl/nfl72.htm) The game I’m talking about was played one week later than the Cleveland-Miami game you’re talking about. December 31, 1972 - the Dolphins went to Pittsburgh to play the AFC title game. You know … the undefeated 1972 Dolphins? I have the year correct. Look again - my post doesn’t mention Christmas Eve. It says New Year’s Eve. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/4 "2001-06-06T14:02:43Z")
For the record, and easily looked up (though why I’d expect someone to do so around here anymore before posting I don’t know), the game between Miami and Pittsburgh occurred 12/31/92, the Dolphins winning their 16th game of the season 21-17. The game was played at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium. The game agains the Browns on 12/24/72 was in Miami. What I can’t locate is why Pittsburgh. I have a faint recollection that the NFL used to pre-determine the site of playoff games, the same as MLB did, so that your record during the season did not translate to a home field advantage. I know that was true in the 60’s for the NFL, when the championship game went back and forth yearly between the Western and Eastern conferences, and the AFL, which did the same thing. I simply have trouble remembering when they gave that scheme up and resorted to using the seasonal results to determine home fields. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/5 "2001-06-06T15:39:39Z")
[hijack] Wasn’t it only the week before that Franco Harris made the “immaculate reception” (on fourth down, in the final minute) to beat Oakland. The most exciting playoff game ever, IMO. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/6 "2001-06-06T16:51:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DSYoungEsq \* > … > > What I can’t locate is why Pittsburgh. I have a faint recollection that the NFL used to pre-determine the site of playoff games, the same as MLB did, so that your record during the season did not translate to a home field advantage. I know that was true in the 60’s for the NFL, when the championship game went back and forth yearly between the Western and Eastern conferences, and the AFL, which did the same thing. I simply have trouble remembering when they gave that scheme up and resorted to using the seasonal results to determine home fields. \*\* That’s my belief, too - it was in Pittsburgh because it was the AFC Central’s turn to host. However, I have not found any cites as to when the NFL adopted the current policy of determining home field advantage by record. To confirm, you might dig up the locations of all the playoff games of that era, and see if there are other instances where the team with the worse record is hosting the playoff. If you can dig up successive years, you can also see if the location rotates through the divisions. Yes, that was the year of the “immaculate reception” in the earlier round game between Oakland and Pittsburgh. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/7 "2001-06-06T17:59:41Z")
Since this question is stumping the heck out of all of us, I have advanced it to Edwin Pope, the _Miami Herald’s_ sports editor. Pope has been with the Herald for 40+ years, so if he doesn’t know, no one does. Further insightful replies from the SDMB are, of course, encouraged. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/8 "2001-12-05T15:16:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > **Since this question is stumping the heck out of all of us, I have advanced it to Edwin Pope, the _Miami Herald’s_ sports editor.** No reply in 6 months from this fellow. Oh well. Bringing it back up since we’re in football season. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/9 "2001-12-05T15:48:31Z")
Geez, that was a pain. I found our answer, though, at: [http://www.nfl.com/randf/chron80.html](http://www.nfl.com/randf/chron80.html) Listed in the rules changes for 1975: “The divisional winners with the highest won-loss percentage were made the home team for the divisional playoffs, and the surviving winners with the highest percentage made home teams for the championship games, June 26.” So, in 1972, the playoff locations were not determined by the record of the teams. How they were determined, I don’t yet know … ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/10 "2001-12-05T16:16:57Z")
Thanks, **SCSimmons**. **DSYoungESQ’s** conjecture about a predetermimed division (out of the East, Central, & West) hosting that conference’s title game now seems to make some sense. But it seems that DS’s post is still incomplete. The next question would be this: let’s say the AFC Central was predetermined to host the 1972 AFC title game. Let’s also suppose that Oakland had won the “Immaculate Reception” game over Pittsburgh. Who would host then, with no AFC Central team in the title game? Would Miami have gone to Oakland, or vice versa? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/11 "2001-12-05T19:15:39Z")
Short of digging up the newspaper accounts of the playoffs, it would be likely that each round of the playoffs (there were only two) were set up so that in the first round, two division champs would play home games and one division champ and the wild card would be on the road. In the second round, I would think that the division champ that was on the road for the first round would have received priority. If that team lost, then it should have been the division champ that hadn’t been the home team for the conference champ for the longest time. The wild card team always had to be on the road. I’m just guessing, but this is what seems to be the most logical way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/12 "2001-12-05T19:42:04Z")
I’m trying to reverse engineer this answer. In 1971, the Dolphins and Chiefs tied for the best record in the AFC at 10-3-1. They faced each other in the first round of the playoffs at Kansas City. The Dolphins hosted the championship game, but they were playing the wild card, Baltimore. In 1973, the Dolphins hosted both the first round and the AFC championship game In 1974, the AFC West champ, Oakland was the home team for two games. Although Oakland had the best record, it was Pittsburgh with the 3rd best record who hosted the wild card team, Buffalo. So, to sum up 1971: AFC East at AFC West, Wildcard at AFC Central; AFC East hosts championship 1972: Wildcard at AFC East; AFC West at AFC Central; Central hosts championship 1973: Wildcard at AFC West; AFC Central at AFC East; East hosts championship 1974: AFC East at AFC West; Wildcard at AFC Central; West hosts championship The first round definitely had a rotation. The second round was slapped together depending upon the situation. If I could only harness this energy for good! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/13 "2001-12-05T21:20:30Z")
Fighting ignorance, regardless of how arcane, jejune, or specialized the topic, is by definition good. ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/14 "2001-12-06T19:16:18Z")
Come on, now! NFL football is not jejune! I think “jejune” is one of Frazier Crane’s favorite words… ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-steelers-host-the-undefeated-dolphins-in-the-1972-afc-title-game/67703/15 "2001-12-07T01:29:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m trying to reverse engineer this answer. > In 1971, the Dolphins and Chiefs tied for the best record in the AFC at 10-3-1. They faced each other in the first round of the playoffs at Kansas City. > The Dolphins hosted the championship game, but they were playing the wild card, Baltimore. > In 1973, the Dolphins hosted both the first round and the AFC championship game > In 1974, the AFC West champ, Oakland was the home team for two games. Although Oakland had the best record, it was Pittsburgh with the 3rd best record who hosted the wild card team, Buffalo. > > So, to sum up > 1971: AFC East at AFC West, Wildcard at AFC Central; AFC East hosts championship > 1972: Wildcard at AFC East; AFC West at AFC Central; Central hosts championship > 1973: Wildcard at AFC West; AFC Central at AFC East; East hosts championship > 1974: AFC East at AFC West; Wildcard at AFC Central; West hosts championship > > The first round definitely had a rotation. The second round was slapped together depending upon the situation. > > If I could only harness this energy for good! The pattern I can see is that the winner of the two division champions recieved home field for the championship agianst the team that won the game with the wild card and the other division champion.