The Steelers were 11-3, the Dolphins 14-0.
So why was the 1972 AFC Championship game played at Three Rivers Stadium rather than the Orange Bowl? Were there different rules then about the team with the better record getting homefield advantage?
Back then, the home teams in the playoffs were decided based on a yearly divisional rotation. The only exception was for wild card teams, who would always play on the road. Within each conference, the three division winners and one wild card team qualified for the postseason. There was no playoff seeding at that time, something that wouldn’t be implemented until 1975. That’s why the Dolphins, the first team to go unblemished during the regular season, had to face the up-and-coming Steelers (who went 11-3 during the regular season) in Three Rivers Stadium on Dec. 31, 1972.
Huh. How odd. Glad they changed that.
Thanks for the answer. 
I remember there was a Los Angeles writer…Mel Durslag I think…who used to complain about Los Angeles Rams vs Minnesota Vikings playoff games being in the frozen tundra of Minnesota. Bad place he claimed, they should be in…guess where…sunny California. So in 1977 the Vikings final play the Rams in Los Angeles and their regular quarterback Fran Tarkenton was injured. But a lot rain turned the Memorial Coliseum into a mudfield and Minnesota won 14-7.
Durslag didn’t like the lifting of the local blackout rule Congress passed in 1973. Said it increased no-shows…a figure the NFL had started tabulating the year before. He said fans who bought a ticket but didn’t show up should pay a fine equivalent to the parking and concessions they would have bought. Yeah, you miss a game because you car breaks or your kid gets sick and Durslag thinks you should be fined. Friend of the fans…not!
Durslag was a complete hack and an Al Davis bootlicker. His columns when the Raiders played in L.A. were propaganda. A shill for sleezebag Al Davis.