PITTSBURGH — It is a series that dates a half-century, back to when there was a different city and a different nickname. There were coaches who were challenged to step outside and others who threatened to kick in the door but never could. There were players who took over a game and those who dove WWE-style over the line of scrimmage, kickers who won games in overtime and others who received a mulligan instead of an Emmy for an acting job.
There were moments of inspiration and periods of heartache, games in which players hydroplaned on sleet like kids on a February morning and others that forced a dramatic change in the way the game was governed.
The Steelers and Tennessee Titans go back a long way, back to when the Titans were the Oilers and played in Houston's Astrodome. It was a franchise that morphed from Luv Ya Blue to the run-and-shoot to Air McNair, each with a modicum of success.
But when they meet at 1 p.m. Sunday, a matchup of two of the NFL's three unbeaten teams, it will be something of a historic moment for both franchises.
The Steelers (5-0) are off to their best start since 1978, when they won their first seven games, but they have never been involved in a battle of unbeaten teams this far into the regular season in franchise history. Coincidentally, the team that ended their seven-game unbeaten streak in '78 was the Oilers.
The Titans (5-0) are off to their best start since 2008, when they won their first 10 games, but even then they never faced another unbeaten team during their streak. Even when they were in Houston, the Titans/Oilers never started 5-0 in any other season.
This is only the sixth time in the Super Bowl era that two undefeated teams will face each other this late in the season (Week 7 or later). In the previous five matchups, the team that won the game made it to the Super Bowl, according to CBS Sports HQ.
The Steelers have played other games later in the season that carried at least as much significance. In 2004, they were 5-1 when they defeated the unbeaten New England Patriots (6-0) and Philadelphia Eagles (7-0) on back-to-back weekends at Heinz Field.
And they have had other marquee matchups against Tennessee, in particular in December 2008, when they were 11-3 and lost to the 12-2 Titans, 31-14. But this is the first time in each team's history they are unbeaten this far into the regular season and facing each other.
"It's always so tough (playing in Tennessee)," said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is 5-3 with a career 99.8 passer rating against the Titans. "I've never really played well there. I'm not sure how many fans they're allowing in. I know there's some there, but that was always a big part of playing there. It always felt like it was cold. It always felt like the fans were really rowdy."
This is the 78th meeting between the teams since the 1970 merger, which was 27 years before the Oilers franchise moved to Tennessee. The series has produced any number of memorable moments in its 50-year history. Here are some of the best:
