In 1979, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round of the 1979 NFL Draft. His brother Chris Bahr followed a similar career path. Over his career, which spanned from 1979 to 1995, he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Francisco 49ers, the Cleveland Browns, the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. As a rookie, he won a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers in Super Bowl XIV. In 1981, Bahr signed with the 49ers, but was traded to the Cleveland Browns midway through the season, thus missing out on a second Super Bowl ring (the 49ers went on the win the Super Bowl that year). After discovering he had been traded, Bahr left a note on his San Francisco locker stating "See you in the Super Bowl." While this did not happen (The Browns went 5-11 in 1981), Bahr did get some retribution against his former team when he kicked a game winning field goal to give the Browns a 15-12 victory over San Francisco in week 11.