It’s been well-documented to this point that Terry Bradshaw and Chuck Noll had a very…interesting relationship.
It hardened into flat-out icy once Bradshaw retired and seemingly cut all ties with his former head coach, one that he won four Super Bowls with, no less.
Bradshaw did not attend Noll’s funeral. A move that he doesn’t regret, telling The Fan Morning Show earlier in Monday’s interview that he “was never going to attend” his funeral .
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So, what happened? How did things end so poorly between the two Hall of Famers?
“The first 10-15 years after (Bradshaw’s playing days) I was pissed, I’m not going to lie to you,” said Bradshaw. “He is no longer with us on this earth and there are so many wonderful things that Chuck did for me. But he did not know how to handle me.
When I really sat down and had a conversation with myself, I said, ‘He probably saw in me this naïve momma’s boy, aw shucks, doesn’t study enough, for him anyway. He’s gotta toughen me up. He’s gonna break me down and get me hard so I can handle the NFL.’ I’m going to go with that because that’s the only thing that makes sense. Or else why would he have treated me that way?”
So, what exactly does that mean? In what way does Terry feel he was treated by Noll?
“I don’t think he was socially comfortable with people, especially strangers. Whenever he would walk into the coffee room and I was sitting there with coffee I would, and this is not true but, I would break out into a sweat and say, ‘I’ve got to get the hell out of here.’ It was just uncomfortable.
Always uncomfortable.
The way he talked to me, just God nobody talks to their starting quarterback like that. Nobody knows about it, nobody will ever know about it. But I had a hard time with that and I was angry with him.”
Bradshaw had elbow surgery after the 1982 season and felt that he needed to come back and play the next year because Noll, whether it was stated or not, was going to replace him with someone else if he didn’t. He felt he would never get his job back.
He then gave the other half of what he deemed his “strange relationship” with Noll by talking about the good times and the good things Noll did for him.
“I’m not going to sit here on your talk show and not mention the fact that when my hands were freezing, he took them and put them in his pants,” Bradshaw said with a laugh. “And some of the conversations we had. ‘We’re not going to win this game unless you do what you do best and throw the ball deep.’ ‘You’re in charge of this, if you’re having a hard time with it let me know.’
I learned from Chuck toughness. I had to create in me this nasty guy to survive. I didn’t like that person and it still carries over today. It’s just not me. But I did and I survived and went on.
So while I had a hard time with him, that’s OK. He was a great coach, man.”
It was more confirmation that while they came together and made Super Bowl-winning magic, their personalities couldn’t have differed more and it ultimately led to an irreparable point of no return in their relationship.
It seems it will always be a mix of dislike and respect, a clashing of styles yet what Bradshaw now calls “water under the bridge.”