Pittsburgh Steelers

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The Heart and Soul of Pittsburgh

From chumps to champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers have come to symbolize excellence and perhaps one of the premire examples of Took a Level in Badass

Founded by Art Rooney Sr. (Aka the Chief) in the early 1930s as the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team's first game was a 24-2 loss to the New York Giants. This was the beginning of years of futility for the Pittsburgh team that would last until the beginning of the 70s.

In early 1940, the management decided to rename their name to the current name that millions love and cheer for today. Due to WWII the team would be combined with the the Philadelphia Eagles in what was informally known as the Steagles. When that stopped, the Steelers would merge with the Chicago Cardinals in what was known as Card-Pitt. Still the name change did little in giving the team success. (They only played one playoff game and it was a divisional tie breaker)

Then something happened, The Seventies came and due to the crafty draft picks the Steelers got themselves some players that would create a dynasty. First, they hired Chuck Noll as their head coach in 1969 who drafted "Mean" Joe Greene and because they lost to another 1-13 team, they gained the draft rights for Terry Bradshaw and drafted Mel Blout in 1970. In 1971, they drafted Jack Ham, then in 72 they drafted Franco Harris, and to top it all off in 1974 they drafted Mike Webster, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Jack Lambert. (Still considered the best draft class of all time)

Soon the Steelers started to finally win and a symbol of this turnaround was a playoff game against the Oakland Raiders in old Three Rivers Stadium. On 4th down from the Pittsburgh 40-yard line with 22 seconds left and trailing 7–6, Bradshaw threw a pass intended for John "Frenchy" Fuqua. Raiders defensive back Jack Tatum knocked it away, but it was scooped up at ankle-height before hitting the turf by Franco Harris, who took it into the end zone for the winning touchdown and a 13–7 victory. This would forever go down in Pittsburgh Sport's fans lore as the "Immaculate Reception"

The team was famed for it's brutal defense that would set the standard for the team to this day. During this "Steel Curtain" era, the team became the first team to win 4 Superbowls in 6 years. The 1976 team in particular was the epitome of this.

After the Steelers started 1-4 and lost their quarterback, Terry Bradshaw, the Steelers' defense took over for the remaining nine games. The Steelers recorded five shutouts, including three in a row, during this stretch. During this nine-game stretch the Steelers allowed a total of two touchdowns (in the same game) and five field goals. The defense allowed an average 3.1 points per game and the team had an average margin of victory of 22 points. Eight of the Steelers' starting eleven defensive players were selected for the Pro Bowl that year. Four would be selected to the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, losing their two 1,000 yard running backs Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier led to the team losing to Oakland Raiders AFC Championship game.

During the 80s, the team's stars began to retire due to injuries and age, so unsurprisingly, the team kind of sucked when they couldn't same stars until the late 80s when the Steelers drafted Rod Woodson and Merrill Hoge. It was in 1992 when Chuck Noll finally stepped down and in came KC Defense Coordinator and Pittsburgh native Bill Cowher.

Now led by this new coach and the defensive genius of Dick Le Beau in which the defense was now dubbed, "Blitzburgh". The team would make it to the Superbowl in 1996, but lost to the Dallas Cowboys. He would continue pursue the "One for the thumb", along with players like Kordell Stewart, Hines Ward, Jerome "The Bus" Bettis, Tommy Maddox (aka that guy from the XFL) and finally the current QB Ben Roethlisberger. In the early, 2000s the Steelers would get so close only to get defeated by the Patriots in the AFC Championship twice.

Then the 2005-2006 Postseason came and the Steelers were in the Wildcard (up until then, no 6th seed team had reached, let alone won the Super Bowl) and had to beat all their games on the road. Superbowl XL in Detroit will forever be known as probably one of the worst Superbowls mostly due to questionable calls by the refs and that Big Ben had a horrible game. Either way, Bill Cowher finally got the "One for the Thumb" and Bettis was able to retire after winning a Superbowl in his hometown.

After a subsequent disappointing season, Bill Cowher left and in came young Mike Tomlin who was able to turn the team to a winning season, but lost in the opening round of the playoffs. The 2008-2009 season would become one of the best seasons in team history, despite playing in one of the hardest schedules in 30 years. The defense was dominant and which would lead to linebacker James Harrison being named the defensive player of the year. The offense was not too bad either and this lead them to a chance to win a record 6th Superbowl.

Superbowl XLIII is considered one of the greatest Superbowls ever played, which included a back and forth first half that was mainly dominated by the Steelers, capped off in the final seconds of the half with James Harrison's record setting 100 yard interception return for a touchdown. The Second half on the other hand was dominated by the Cardinals who mounted an incredible 16 pt comeback in the 4th quarter to take the lead. The Steelers had to mount an incredible drive in the dwindling mins of the game that ended with an incredible catch by Superbowl MVP Santonio Holmes with less than 40 seconds remaining. With a strip sack fumble recovery in the final seconds, the Steelers were 6 time Champs.

They had a chance for a 7th, but ultimately lost to the Green Bay Packers in Superbowl XLV.

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The Steelers provide examples for:

• Badass Grandpa: Longtime defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is going on 75, but remains one of the best defensive minds in football and virtually invented the Zone Blitz technique still widely used today. Though he has Hall of Fame credentials as a defensive coach, he has already been inducted on the basis of a stellar playing career with the Detroit Lions... which he began over fifty years ago.
• Boring but Practical: Former coach Bill Cowher was famous for playing 'turtleball', that is, building a sufficient lead and then using mostly running plays to eat up the clock while the defense maintained the lead. While not the most exciting thing in the world to watch, Cowher was a virtuoso at the technique; in the 110 times his team held a lead of at least 11 points at any point in the game, the Steelers ended up winning 108 of those games.
• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Seeing Jerome able to win the big one in his hometown after years of hard work and determination.
  • Seeing Art Rooney's glasses fogging up from tears as he was given his first Championship after 40 long years of futility certainly has to count.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Mean" Joe Greene
  • "The Bus" for Jerome Bettis
  • Jack Lambert was often known as "Dracula on Clets" for missing his two front teeth and being extremely vicious on the gridiron.
  • "Big" Ben Roethlisberger, due to his imposing size.
  • James Harrison is known as "Silverback" to his teammates for his aggressive style of play, or alternatively, "The Harrissassin" because of his expressed desire to cause pain to his opponents.
  • "The Beard" and "The Diesel" for current D-Liner Brett Kiesel
    • The Clowns, or more affectionately, the Shitstains for the Cleveland Browns
    • The Bungles for the Cincinnati Bengals
    • The Ratbirds for the Baltimore Ravens
  • Stillers is the official Pittsburghese name for the team.
• Skippy Rules- two actually:
  • The Mel Blount rule- named after cornerback Mel Blount who physically overpowered pass receivers. The NFL made harassing receivers like this illegal. Didn't stop him being awesome and in fact was better after the rule was changed.
  • The Hines Ward rule- Hines was a receiver who liked to block... a lot. Then he broke Keith River's jaw with his signature blindside blocking. Thus the NFL made this illegal.
• That One Boss: New England quarterback Tom Brady has haunted the nightmares of many a Steelers fan for the last decade.