The Steelers were the defending Super Bowl XIII champions, and finished the 1979 regular season with a 12–4 record, and posted playoff victories over the Miami Dolphins and the Houston Oilers.

The Rams led 13–10 at halftime before Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw connected with wide receiver Lynn Swann on a 47-yard touchdown pass.

Los Angeles regained the lead on a halfback option play with running back Lawrence McCutcheon's 24-yard touchdown pass to Ron Smith.

Early favorite[10] Houston (Rice Stadium) reportedly fell out of favor with owners when it was revealed that birds were found in the showers of the Vikings training facility during Super Bowl VIII.

Prior to Carroll Rosenbloom's death, the Rams had already announced their intentions to leave the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and move to Anaheim Stadium in Orange County for the 1980 season.

The offensive line, led by tackles Doug France and Jackie Slater, guard Dennis Harrah, and Pro Bowl center Rich Saul, paved the Rams' running attack to 4th in the NFC during the season despite injuries.

Steelers starting tight end Bennie Cunningham, who missed most of the previous season due to injuries, was also a big contributor with 36 receptions for 512 yards.

Halfback Rocky Bleier also had another superb season, providing Harris with excellent blocking while also contributing 711 combined rushing and receiving yards.

[15][16] During those two playoff games, the Pittsburgh defense limited running backs Larry Csonka and Earl Campbell, respectively, to a combined total of only 35 rushing yards.

One sports writer sarcastically suggested that Bradshaw throw left-handed and the Rams should be allowed to play with 12 men on the field to make the Super Bowl more competitive.

Joe Montana became the third to start four Super Bowls, but all were passed by John Elway and Tom Brady, and also matched by Jim Kelly, Peyton Manning, and Patrick Mahomes.

Filing remote reports from bars in the respect team's home markets were Paul Hornung in The Ginger Man in Beverly Hills (briefly joined by Jayne Kennedy's NFL Today predecessor Phyllis George and her then-husband, newly inaugurated Kentucky Governor John Y.

[17] On local radio, Bob Starr and Al Wisk called the game for the Rams over KMPC in Los Angeles, while WTAE-AM in Pittsburgh featured the Steelers' play-by-play team of Jack Fleming and Myron Cope.

Then on the Steelers' seventh play of their first possession, quarterback Terry Bradshaw completed a 32-yard pass to running back Franco Harris to reach the Los Angeles 26-yard line.

But a deep third down pass intended for wide receiver Lynn Swann fell incomplete, forcing Pittsburgh to settle for a 41-yard field goal by kicker Matt Bahr, giving them an early 3–0 lead.

Wide receiver John Stallworth was then stopped at the 1-yard line, but then Harris ran to the right untouched and scored a touchdown on the next play, putting the Steelers back in front with a 10–7 lead.

On the first play of the Steelers' next drive, Los Angeles safety Dave Elmendorf intercepted a pass from Bradshaw and returned it 10 yards to the Pittsburgh 39.

"[21] Anderson once again gave the Steelers great starting field position, returning the opening kickoff of the second half 37 yards to the Pittsburgh 39-yard line.

The Steelers lulled the Rams defense by running the ball on three consecutive plays of the drive, and then Bradshaw burned them with a 47-yard touchdown completion to Swann, who made a leaping catch at the Los Angeles 2 and tumbled into the end zone to give Pittsburgh a 17–13 lead.

Then after forcing Los Angeles to punt, the Steelers drove all the way to the Rams 16-yard line on a 19-yard reception by Harris and a 23-yard reception by wide receiver Sidney Thornton, but then after two running plays ended with no gain, Elmendorf deflected a pass intended for Stallworth that was intercepted by cornerback Rod Perry, giving the ball back to the Rams at their own 4-yard line.

On the first play of the drive, Los Angeles managed to escape a game-tying safety with a 12-yard run by Tyler to end the third quarter with the Rams still in the lead, 19–17, seemingly in control of the game.

To make matters worse for the Steelers, prior to Brown's interception, Pittsburgh lost Swann to injury, when he was knocked out of the game by Thomas.

Then faced with 3rd-and-8, Steelers head coach Chuck Noll called for "60 prevent slot hook and go", a play that the team had practiced all week and couldn't complete it.

Stallworth caught the ball barely beyond the outstretched hand of Perry and took it all the way to the end zone for a 73-yard touchdown to make the score 24–19 in favor of the Steelers.

When being interviewed for the documentary series America's Game, Stallworth said that Bradshaw had overthrown him and departed his planned route and simply ran towards the goal line.

Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth became the fourth, fifth and sixth players to score touchdowns in back-to-back Super Bowls, respectively.

He set an NFL record by playing 20 seasons with one team, yet Super Bowl XIV remained his lone trip to the Big Game.

The Steelers' first-round selection of 1983, Texas Tech defensive tackle Gabriel Rivera, was paralyzed in an automobile accident after seven weeks of his rookie season.

His final game was against the New York Jets which he started and led two touchdown drives before being forced out due to another elbow injury following a 10-yard TD pass to Calvin Sweeney.

Stallworth, Webster, and Shell would play well into the 1980s and helped lead Pittsburgh to the 1984 AFC Championship game, where they lost to Marino's Miami Dolphins.