Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers have not only been a long-storied franchise in the National Football League but also a really good one. The Steelers have had a ton of success, including numerous trips to the Super Bowl. The Steel City loves their football, and as soon as training camp starts in Latrobe, the region is really for the black and gold. The Steelers have been in the National Football League since 1933.

Many people around the National Football League still look to it as Heinz Field, but as of 2022 – the Steelers play in Acrisure Stadium. The stadium opened in 2021, and was part of a funding project with PNC Park, the home of the Pirates. Acrisure Stadium seats more than 68,000 fans, and nearly every game is sold out—the streak for sold-out game dates all the way back to 1972.

The stadium has been a host for a ton of great events, including a pair of outdoor hockey games. The University of Pittsburgh Football team also plays here as well. The stadium is also known to have become the first NFL stadium to host a title game for any women’s football league. The Women’s Football Alliance was played there.

Finally, one of the strangest scoring plays in the history of the NFL was played at this stadium. In September of 2013, Pittsburgh scored a safety three seconds into the game, as the kickoff was taken a step backwards and ruled a safety, and not a touchback. The Steelers would still lose this game 16-9.

Arthur Rooney founded the franchise back in 1933, and the first 7 years of existence the team was known as the Pirates. Wanting a fresh look, and start, Rooney had a promotion from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to have a name the team contents. Different names were presented, but Rooney went with the Steelers, mostly due to it’s connection with the city of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is quite known well for their heritage and the steel meels, which emplyed a great portion of their fan base. The winner of the contest was rewarded with a pair of season tickets, in which he would renew every year until he passed.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a ton of historical records in the history of the National Football League. A few of the team records include most rushing touchdowns in a single season, with 33 from the 1976 team. Not a single fair catch during the entire season, back in 1977. Tied for many touchdowns following a fumble recovery, and most road wins in a season, which includes the postseason. That’s 9, during the 2005 season.

Ben Roethlisberger has a ton of his own individual records, including most career 500-yard passing games, with 4. Most completions in a regular season game with 74, and most touchdowns in a two-game span, with 12. Those are just a few of his records.

Franco Harris has the record for most career playoff touchdowns, with 451, and also has 400 career playoff rushing attempts. Finally, the 1975 season was a dominant one for the Steelers. They set the record for the largest point differential in a season, at 211.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have played in eight Super Bowls, and won six of them. The Steelers are also known for winning four titles during a six-season stretch.

The first Super Bowl title for the Steelers came back in 1975, where they held the Vikings to just 6 points, and won by 10 in New Orleans. Running back Franco Harris was named the MVP of this one. Then, the very next season for Super Bowl X – the Steelers beat the Cowboys. This one was in Miami, where they came away with a 21-17 win. Lynn Swann won the award for Most Valuable Player in this one.

After not winning back-to-back seasons, the Steelers came back during the winter of 1979, and won a slugfest against the Cowboys. This one came in Miami again, with nearly 80,000 fans in attendance. This was the first of back-to-back Super Bowl MVP awards for quarterback Terry Bradshaw. Just a year later, the Steelers and Rams played at the Rose Bowl, this time with 103,000 in attendance. It was all Pittsburgh, as they came away with a 31-19 win over the Rams.

That’s when the “drought” came for the Steelers. The team went 26 seasons before winning another. In February of 2006, in front of 68,206 fans at Ford Field in Detroit. The Steelers beat the Seahawks 21-10. This was the Hines Ward game, as he won the MVP award.

Finally, Super Bowl XLIII saw the Steelers play a tight one in Tampa. This time, they beat the Arizona Cardinals at Raymond James Stadium 27-23. Santonio Holmes won the award for MVP in this one.

One thing the Pittsburgh Steelers have done well – produce solid quarterbacks. The Steelers have won a ton of games, with some really solid signal callers. Terry Bradshaw had started the most games in Steelers franchise, and won 67.7% of those games until Ben Roethlisberger came along. The signal caller from Miami Ohio is the all time winningest quarterback for Pittsburgh. The quarterback from 2004-2021 ended up with 165 wins and 81 losses during regular season play. Roethlisberger finished his career for 418 passing touchdowns, all with the Steelers.

Kordell Stewart, Neil O’Donnell, and Bubby Brister are other names that made their names as quarterbacks for the Steelers. Stewart completed 1,190 of his passes, while O’Donnell is second to Roethlisberger, completing more than 57%.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have the third most members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as any team in the league. The Steelers have 21 players as par of the Hall of Fame, and 6 more coaches and contributors.

The most recent ones inducted into the Hall of Fame was Alan Faneca, the team’s guard from 1998-2007, who was named to the list in 2021. In 2020, head coach Bill Cowher, and former safeties Troy Polamalu and Donnie Shell got on.

Jerome Bettis, the team’s star running back from 1996-2005, was inducted in 2015, and joined Bill Dudley, Frano Harris, and John Henry Johnson as running back’s from the Steelers.

Some other big names in the Hall of Fame include Rod Woodson, Joe Greene, Chuck Noll, along with Art and Dan Rooney.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are well known for their “Steel Curtain” defense, with the teams that were so successful in the 1970’s. The Steelers have had four stadiums known as their home, starting with Forbes Field, moving to Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, and now Acisure Stadium. The Rooney family has owned and been team president during the entire tenure of Pittsburgh Steelers football. Also, the Steelers are the only team in the National Football League that puts its logo on only one side of the helmet, which is the right side. Finally, the Steelers and Giants are the only two teams in the league with players uniform numbers on both the front and back of the uniforms.