Pittsburgh Steelers History

Art Rooney

THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS

A few years ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl. It was their sixth Super Bowl championship. Last year, they were just one win away from their seventh. But the Steelers weren’t always the great team they are today. Let’s go back in time and follow the Pittsburgh Steelers’ history from the beginning.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have the fifth oldest franchise in the NFL (National Football League). They were founded in 1933 by Art Rooney.

Rooney made and won a horse racing bet for $2,500. That was a lot of money back then. Over time, inflation has occurred. Back then $2,500 was equivalent to well over $30,000 today. He used that money to buy an NFL team in Pittsburgh. He called them the Pittsburgh Pirates after his favorite baseball team. For their first eight seasons they never won more than half of their games. In 1941, hoping to change the team’s luck, Rooney changed the team’s name to the Pittsburgh Steelers because of all the steel mills in Pittsburgh. The next year they had a winning record. But over the next 30 years, the Steelers would only have seven other winning seasons. That’s how the Steelers got their name as the "Losers of the NFL". In the 1950’s they cut future Super Bowl quarterbacks John Unitas, Len Dawson, and Earl Morrall.

Chuck Noll

The Steelers were a losing team until Chuck Noll became their coach in 1969. One day a reporter said to Noll, “Coach, this is historically a city of losers.” Then Chuck Noll said “Then we’ll change history.” Chuck Noll’s first two draft picks in 1969 were defensive linemen. The first player was Joe Green and the second one was L.C. Greenwood. Up till this point in time, Joe Green was the best player to step foot on a professional football field as a Steeler or a Pirate. The Steelers went 1- 13 that year (there were only 14 games back then.) The next year the Steelers got first draft choice. They picked Q.B. Terry Bradshaw. In 1972 their first draft choice was Franco Harris. That year the Steelers made the playoffs and then won the first round by the “The Immaculate Reception” by Franco Harris with 22 seconds left in the game. “The Immaculate Reception” was the best play according to NFL films in history. In 1974 Noll drafted 4 future Hall of Famers. In that same year the Steelers won their first Super Bowl. After that game Art Rooney said “Today’s win made all of the other years worth it.” Out of the next five years the Steelers won three additional Super Bowls. Those victories earned the Steelers the title of “The team of the 70’s.”Their defense after those years was known as “The Steel Curtain.”

Art Rooney died just before the 1989 season. Chuck Noll retired and Bill Cowher replaced him in 1992. Bill Cowher’s first three years coaching the Steelers were all playoff years. They reached the Super Bowl again in 1994 but they lost against the Dallas Cowboys.

In 2004, the Steelers drafted a new quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. In that 2004-2005 season, the Steelers went 15-1. They lost against the New England Patriots in the second round of the playoffs. After the Steelers lost to the Patriots, Jerome Bettis was thinking of retiring until Ben Roethlisberger said to him “Give me one more year, and I promise you I will get you to the Super Bowl.”

After Super Bowl XL

The next year the Steelers started off 7-5 after their first 12 games of the season. They then won their last four regular season games to become the last seed in the playoffs. Then they became the first team to win three straight away games in a row to make the Super Bowl. They beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL to win their fifth Super Bowl; Hines Ward was the MVP of the game. 

In 2009, Steelers WR Santonio Holmes brought home another Super Bowl title to Pittsburgh. With time expiring Holmes arguably made the most clutch play in NFL history to win the game. Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl titles and three Super Bowl appearances. The question today is "Is he a Hall of Famer???"

This leaves us here today with the 2011-2012 Pittsburgh Steelers. What is your take on what will happen to them this season?