At least the Pittsburgh Steelers are consistent. Although the offense is getting off to better starts this season, the team hasn’t broken through the first-quarter glass ceiling. As has been mentioned by NFL broadcasts parodically throughout the season, Pittsburgh is on a historic streak of failing to score more than seven points in the opening frame.
As shown by CBS during Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, the Steelers have gone 61 straight regular-season games without eclipsing the touchdown mark in the opening quarter. That puts Pittsburgh right behind their franchise record. They’re touching the horizon line of the NFL’s all-time worst mark.
Pittsburgh’s record dates back to World War II. Before it, really. It began in 1940, the first year the team was called the Steelers (they went by the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1933-1939, a common tactic to feed off of MLB’s popularity), and ran through November 1947. It does exclude the war-merger years with the Chicago Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles.
It ended in the regular season finale, scoring 10 first-quarter points in a 17-7 victory over the Boston Yanks. The next week, the franchise played its first-ever playoff game, the only one until 1972.
That streak went 63 games. Pittsburgh’s now two behind.
What is the all-time record? The Brooklyn Dodgers own it for an 86-game streak spanning from 1930-1937.
Here’s the current “leaderboard.”
Longest Streaks With No More Than Seven 1st Quarter Points
1. Brooklyn Dodgers – 86 games (1930-1937)
2. New York Giants – 80 games (2020-2025)
3. Detroit Lions – 66 games (1938-144)
4. Pittsburgh Steelers – 63 games (1940-1947)
5. Pittsburgh Steelers – 61 games (2022-Present)
Incredibly, the Giants just ended their own historic streak earlier this year by putting up 14 points against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5.
Pittsburgh’s current streak began in Week 2 of the 2022 season after notching 10 points in the opener against Cincinnati. The Steelers’ offense didn’t find the end zone. Instead, Minkah Fitzpatrick had a 31-yard pick-six on the defense’s second snap of the game, while K Chris Boswell’s short field goal put Pittsburgh ahead 10-3.
Even with the Steelers’ offense finding the end zone on the first drive four times this season, a respectable number, Pittsburgh can’t get past seven. Here’s the team’s season output.
Pittsburgh’s First Quarter Points (2025)
Seven – Jets, Patriots, Vikings, Bengals (first and second meetings), Bears
Six – Seahawks
Three – Browns, Packers, Chargers
Zero – Colts
That’s not bad. Seven points in six of 11 games and points in all but one. But it makes the team’s inability to get past seven all the harder to believe.
In 2025, a whopping 24 teams have scored eight or more first-quarter points at least once. Thirty teams have done so since 2024, and all have since 2023. The Carolina Panthers hold the second-longest streak of 40 games, notable in its own right.
Still, Pittsburgh has the longest active one. They sit alongside a handful of defunct teams whose streaks ended only when the franchise folded. The 1922-1926 Milwaukee Badgers went 49 games, the Dayton Triangles 47-straight from 1923 to 1929, and who could forget the Minneapolis Marines going 42 games across nearly the entire 1920s.
Does the streak matter? It matters less now that Pittsburgh is competitive in the first quarter. It would sting more if the Steelers were still floundering early on like the heart of the Matt Canada era, as Mike Tomlin downplayed the struggles every chance he got. But this is one of the oddest streaks in Steelers’ history. If not broken by Week 14 against the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh will tie its franchise mark. The following week, against Miami under Monday night primetime lights, would break it. If still going by late in 2026, Pittsburgh will break New York’s modern-day 80-game mark.
And if this dubious stat remains alive by Week 3 of the 2027 season, whoever that may be against, Pittsburgh will hold the official all-time record. Mark those calendars.
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