Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers
Founded in 1933 playing in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania
league
National Football League (1933-present) American Football Conference (1970-present) AFC Central (1970-2001) AFC North (2002-present)
Current uniforms
Team colors	Black and gold
mascot	Steely McBeam
staff
owner	Rooney family
General manager	Kevin Colbert
Head coach	Mike Tomlin
Team history
Pittsburgh Pirates (1933-1939) Pittsburgh Steelers (1940-1942) Philadelphia-Pittsburgh " Steagles " (1943) Card-Pitt (1944) Pittsburgh Steelers (1945-present)
successes
NFL Champion (6) Super Bowl winner (6) 1974 ( IX ), 1975 ( X ), 1978 ( XIII ), 1979 ( XIV ), 2005 ( XL ), 2008 ( XLIII )
Conference winner (8) AFC: 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1995 , 2005, 2008, 2010
Division Winner (23) AFC Central: 1972 , 1974, 1975, 1976 , 1977 , 1978, 1979, 1983 , 1984 , 1992 , 1994 , 1995, 1996 , 1997 , 2001 AFC North: 2002 , 2004 , 2007 , 2008, 2010, 2014 , 2016 , 2017
Play-off appearances (31)
NFL: 1947 , 1972, 1973 , 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982 , 1983, 1984, 1989 , 1992, 1993 , 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 , 2014, 2015 , 2016, 2017
Stages
Forbes Field (1933-1963) Pitt Stadium (1963-1969; 1958) Three Rivers Stadium (1970-2000) Heinz Field (since 2001)

The Pittsburgh Steelers are an American football team of the National Football League (NFL) based in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . They belong together with the Baltimore Ravens , the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns of the Northern Division within the American Football Conference (AFC).

The Steelers have reached the Super Bowl eight times so far and have left the place as winners six times. The Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa on 1. February 2009 won the Steelers against the Arizona Cardinals at 27:23, making them the most successful team of 1967 discharged Super Bowls, along with the New England Patriots that the title at the Super Bowl LIII also for the sixth time.

history

The Steelers are among the seven oldest surviving teams in the NFL. They were founded in 1933 under the name Pittsburgh Pirates by Arthur Joseph Rooney and integrated into the Eastern Division of the then ten-team NFL. However, the Steelers were only allowed to celebrate their first division title almost 40 years later. It wasn't until 1940 that it was renamed Steelers to reflect the importance of the steel industry in and around Pittsburgh. In 1943, the Pittsburgh Steelers merged with the Philadelphia Eagles due to World War II and joined forces under the name Philadelphia-Pittsburgh " Steagles " . A year later, the team became independent again.

The Steelers were one of the weakest teams in the early post-war period, which changed rather coincidentally with the merger of the NFL and the rival league AFL . The Steelers were put into the new, less attractive American Football Conference , and in compensation they received $ 3 million, which was worth a lot to the chronically clammy Steelers. On this basis, Head Coach Chuck Noll built a strong team, so that between 1975 and 1980 they won the Super Bowl four times in six NFL seasons. Noll was a progressive coach who gave the players a lot of freedom both on the field and in private, which they thanked him with many successes. The heart of the Steelers was the defensive line , which was given the honorary name "The Steel Curtain", as the linemen around "Mean" Joe Greene , LC Greenwood , Ernie Holmes and Dwight White both the opposing running as well as the passing game hardly developed. Excellent attacking players were quarterback Terry Bradshaw and running back Franco Harris , who began their NFL careers with the Steelers in 1970 and 1972, respectively. On 23 December 1972, the Steelers scored in a home game against their rival Oakland Raiders in the last thirty seconds a touchdown victory by a pass that as Immaculate Reception (pun, German about Immaculate Conception ) in the history of the NFL has been received and to Today is considered one of the most famous and notorious game decisions in American football . In 1974 Noll achieved a historic coup in the NFL Draft when he drew four future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the two wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth as well as linebacker Jack Lambert and center Mike Webster , which is unique to this day.

In the 1980s the Steelers sank into mediocrity, but in the 1990s Head Coach Bill Cowher built a new team with a strong offensive line . After the Super Bowl XXX was lost to the favored Dallas Cowboys at 17:27, the big hit came ten years later when they defeated the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL (including the first Super Bowl touchdown throw from a wide receiver , Antwaan Randle El ) with 21:10. The centerpiece of this team was a balanced team that had multiple Pro Bowl players on the defensive in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and running back Jerome Bettis as well as Strong Safety Troy Polamalu . Under the new head coach Mike Tomlin (only the third head coach of the Steelers since 1969), the Steelers won the sixth final in Super Bowl XLIII when they beat the Arizona Cardinals by 27:23. Seconds before the end of the first half, they benefited from a 100-yard interception touchdown from linebacker James Harrison . Two years later they reached the Super Bowl XLV , but lost to the Green Bay Packers at 25:31. Since then, the Steelers have reached the play-offs several times, supported by the new Pro Bowl players Antonio Brown (wide receiver), Le'Veon Bell (running back), Lawrence Timmons (linebacker), David DeCastro ( guard ) and Maurkice Pouncey ( Center).

Fan culture

The "Terrible Towel" can often be found among Steelers fans.

Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle pilots display their Terrible Towels in the air over Afghanistan

Terrible towel

The Steelers fans organize themselves in the "Steeler Nation", and for games they often use one of the NFL's most famous merchandise items, the so-called "Terrible Towel" (German: terrible towel ). The Steelers radio presenter Myron Cope invented the black and gold towel, which was supposed to serve as an advertising campaign at the time, and its name in 1975 in order to bind the fans closer to the team. Cope said he wanted to invent something that everyone has and that doesn't endanger the person in front or next to them in the stadium. The name shows mysterious associations for what imagination would be needed. The towel that was used during the winter games in Pennsylvania & America. a. Can be used for sitting, protection, warming and swiveling, is considered a cult fan object and has been sold millions of times to date. In 1996, Cope licensed the Terrible Towel to Allegheny Valley School , a facility for the disabled in Coraopolis, west of Pittsburgh, where his autistic son had lived for over 20 years. It became a tradition for fans to take their towel with them on vacation to take photos of them at well-known tourist attractions or unusual locations. With the Terrible Towel even superstition is connected: On 18 December 2016, the tried running back of the Cincinnati Bengals , Jeremy Hill, one for a touchdown Terrible Towel to tear. His team then lost despite the lead, and Hill later had to leave the field with an injury. Pittsburgh player Ramon Foster said: "I hate to say the towel is cursed, but you just can't do that."

Commenting on Cope's retirement in 2005, team chairman Dan Rooney said, "You really were part of the team. The Terrible Towel got us over the finish line many times."

Commercial

In 1979, "Mean" Joe Greene shot Coca-Cola, one of the most famous commercials of the 1970s, in which he limped off the field injured and a little fan who gave him a bottle of Coke for consolation wore his jersey with the words "Hey Kid, Catch! “(Eng: Hey, boy, catch! ) Throws. This award-winning and often parodied clip was voted one of the 10 best commercials ever by Business Insider in 2011 .

Fan rivalries

Arch-rivals of the Steelers fans are the Baltimore Ravens and, to a lesser extent, the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals . Historical rivalries dating back to the 1970s exist with the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys .

Celebrity fans

Prominent Steelers fans include a. author John Grisham , golfer Arnold Palmer , actor Michael Keaton , rappers Snoop Dogg , Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, and comedian Adam Sandler , who released the single Lonesome Kicker in 1997. Several Steelers players appear in the video, including Jerome Bettis and Kordell Stewart .

Colors, logo and clothing

The Steelers logo was introduced in 1962 and is based on an old United States Steel Corporation logo . It includes the word "Steelers" flanked by three astroids (a special form of the hypocycloid ). The yellow hypocycloid stands for coal , the red for iron ore and the blue for scrap steel . The team colors are black and gold, while the helmets are black and have a central gold stripe. The Steelers are the only NFL team to wear their logo on one side of their helmets - the right side. In the beginning, they wanted to test how the logo affects the overall impression of the helmet. From then on this solution became more and more popular and it was decided to stick with it. Since the 1960s, the Steelers' clothing has consisted of gold pants and black jerseys for home games or white jerseys for away games.

Actor prices

NFL Coach of the Year Award (1)

• 1992 Bill Cowher
• 2004 Bill Cowher
• 2008 Mike Tomlin

Defensive Rookie of the Year : (3)

• 1969 Joe Greene
• 1974 Jack Lambert
• 2001 Kendrell Bell

Offensive Rookie of the Year : (4)

• 1958 Jimmy Orr
• 1972 Franco Harris
• 1984 Louis Lipps
• 2004 Ben Roethlisberger

Defensive Player of the Year : (7)

• 1972 Joe Greene
• 1974 Joe Greene
• 1975 Mel Blount
• 1976 Jack Lambert
• 1993 Rod Woodson
• 2008 James Harrison
• 2010 Troy Polamalu

NFL Most Valuable Player : (2)

• 1946 Bill Dudley
• 1978 Terry Bradshaw

Super Bowl Most Valuable Player : (6)

• IX Franco Harris (1975)
• X Lynn Swann (1976)
• XIII Terry Bradshaw (1979)
• XIV Terry Bradshaw (1980)
• XL Hines Ward (2006)
• XLIII Santonio Holmes (2009)

Jersey numbers that are no longer awarded

• # 70 - Ernie Stautner

Stautner was born on April 20, 1925 in Prienzing in the Bavarian Forest and emigrated with his family to North America when he was three years old. In Germany, Stautner became known to a larger audience when he coached the Frankfurt Galaxy professional team from 1995 to 1997 and won the World Bowl with the team in 1995 . He died on February 16, 2006.

• # 75 - Charles Edward Greene

Charles Edward "Mean Joe" Greene was born on September 24, 1946 in Elgin, Texas . He started playing football in high school and was noticed early on because of his height of 190 cm. During his time in the NFL, which he spent exclusively with the Steelers from 1969 to 1981, he was the head of the so-called "Steel Curtain", the legendary defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers who won four championships in the 1970s. In his rookie year he still wore the # 72 before he got the # 75 the following year. He was voted "Defensive Player of the Year" in 1972 and 1974 and in 1987 was inducted into the Hall of Fame. After his active career, he worked as an assistant coach from 1987 to 2004, again with the Pittsburgh Steelers, then with the Miami Dolphins and most recently with the Arizona Cardinals . He worked in the administration of the Steelers until his retirement in 2013. Although the Pittsburgh Steelers are known for reassigning the numbers of deserving players after their active careers, the # 75 was never reassigned after Joe Greene's retirement and was officially against on November 2, 2014 before the game in the regular season the Baltimore Ravens withdrew. Joe Greene is married with 3 children and lives in Flower Mound, Texas.

Steelers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Jersey number	Surname	position	Active for Pittsburgh	Year of admission
-	Bert Bell	Co-owner Head Coach	1941-1946 1941	1963
36	Cal Hubbard	T	1936	1963
24	John "Blood" McNally	FB	1934, 1937-38	1963
-	Kind Rooney	Founder, owner	1933-1988	1964
35	Bill Dudley	RB , DB	1942, 1945-46	1966
35	Walt Kiesling	G Head Coach	1936-1938 1939-44, 1954-56	1966
22nd	Bobby Layne	QB	1958–1962	1967
36	Marion Motley	FB	1955	1968
70	Ernie Stautner	DT	1950-1963	1969
16	Len Dawson	QB	1957-1959	1987
75	"Mean" Joe Greene	DT	1969-1981	1987
35	John Henry Johnson	RB	1960-1965	1987
59	Jack Ham	LB	1971-1982	1988
47	Mel Blount	CB	1970-1983	1989
12	Terry Bradshaw	QB	1970-1983	1989
32	Franco Harris	RB	1972-1983	1990
58	Jack Lambert	LB	1974-1984	1990
-	Chuck Noll	Head coach	1969-1991	1993
7th	Jim Finks	QB	1949-1955	1995
52	Mike Webster	C.	1974-1988	1997
-	Dan Rooney	Owner, president	1975-2017	2000
-	Mike Munchak	Assistant coach	2014-2018	2001
88	Lynn Swann	WR	1974-1982	2001
82	John Stallworth	WR	1974-1987	2002
26th	Rod Woodson	DB	1987-1996	2009
-	Russ Grimm	Assistant coach	2001-2006	2010
-	Dick LeBeau	Assistant coach	1992–1996 2004–2014	2010
80	Jack Butler	CB	1951-1959	2012
63	Dermontti Dawson	C.	1988-2000	2012
36	Jerome Bettis	RB	1996-2005	2015
21st	Tony Dungy	S assistant coach	1977-1988 1981-1988	2016
91	Kevin Greene	LB	1993-1995	2016

Current squad

Pittsburgh Steelers squad
Quarterbacks  6 Devlin Hodges  5 Paxton Lynch Running backs 30 James Conner 33 Trey Edmunds 38 Jaylen Samuels 24 Benny Snell 40 Kerrith Whyte KR Wide receiver 17 Deon Cain 82 Amara Darboh 80 Johnny Holton KR 18 Diontae Johnson PR 19 JuJu Smith-Schuster KR 13 James Washington Tight ends 81 Zach Gentry 89 Vance McDonald 88 Nick Vannett	Offensive linemen 72 Zach Banner T 66 David DeCastro G 71 Matt Feiler T. 67 BJ Finney C 73 Ramon Foster G 60 JC Hassenauer C 76 Chukwuma Okorafor T 53 Maurkice Pouncey C 78 Alejandro Villanueva T Defensive linemen 94 Tyson Alualu DE 96 Isaiah Buggs DT 79 Javon Hargrave NT 97 Cameron Heyward DT 93 Dan McCuller's NT	Linebacker 92 Olasunkanmi Adeniyi OLB 26 Mark Barron ILB 55 Devin Bush ILB 56 Anthony Chickillo OLB 48 Bud Dupree OLB 44 Tyler Matakevich ILB 51 Tuzar Skipper OLB 41 Robert Spillane ILB 90 TJ Watt OLB 98 Vince Williams ILB Defensive backs 27 Marcus Allen FS 25 Artie Burns CB / KR 37 Jordan Dangerfield SS 34 Terrell Edmunds SS 39 Minkah Fitzpatrick FS 23 Joe Haden CB 28 Mike Hilton CB 31 Justin Layne CB 22 Steven Nelson CB 20 Cameron Sutton CB / PR Special teams  4 Jordan Berry P  9 Chris Boswell K 57 Kameron Canaday LS	Reserve List 21 Sean Davis FS (IR) 54 Ulysees Gilbert ILB (IR)  7 Ben Roethlisberger QB (IR)  2 Mason Rudolph QB (IR) 91 Stephon Tuitt DE (IR) 95 LT Walton DE (IR) 45 Roosevelt Nix FB (IR (Designated for Return)) 10 Ryan Switzer WR (IR (Designated for Return)) 50 Ryan Shazier ILB (PUP) Practice Squad 16 JT Barrett QB 14 Jamal Custis WR 74 Christian DiLauro T 77 Derwin Gray G 15 Quadree Henderson WR 46 Tray Matthews S 99 Henry Mondeaux DE 35 Alexander Myres CB 87 Kevin Rader TE 49 Christian Scotland-Williamson TE 42 Ralph Webb RB
			Rookies in italics Roster as of December 29, 2019 Depth Chart • Transactions 53 active, 9 inactive, 11 practice squad

Head coaches

#	Order of trainers
Games	Play as a coach
S.	Victories
N	Defeats
UE	draw
Won%	Win rate
*	Exclusively active as head coach for the Pirates / Steagles / Card-Pitt / Steelers

Status: end of season 2019

#	Surname	Period	Regular season					Play-offs			Achievements / Awards	reference
			Games	S.	N	UE	Won%	Games	S.	N
Pittsburgh Pirates
1	Forrest Douds *	1933	11	3	6th	2	.333	-	-	-
2	Luby DiMeolo *	1934	12	2	10	0	.167	-	-	-
3	Joe Bach *	1935-1936	24	10	14th	0	.416	-	-	-
4th	John McNally *	1937-1939	25th	6th	19th	0	.240	-	-	-
5	Walt Kiesling *	1939	8th	1	6th	1	.143	-	-	-
Pittsburgh Steelers
-	Walt Kiesling *	1940-1942	26th	10	13	3	.435	-	-	-
6th	Bert Bell	1941	2	0	2	0	.000	-	-	-
7th	Aldo Donelli	1941	5	0	5	0	.000	-	-	-
Steagles
-	Walt Kiesling *	1943 1	10	5	4th	1	.556	-	-	-
8th	Greasy Neale
Card Pitt
-	Walt Kiesling *	1944 2nd	10	0	10	0	.000	-	-	-
9	Phil Handler
Pittsburgh Steelers
10	Jim Leonard *	1945	10	2	8th	0	.200	-	-	-
11	Jock Sutherland	1946-1947	23	13	9	1	.591	1	0	1
12	John Michelosen *	1948-1951	48	20th	26th	2	.435	-	-	-
-	Joe Bach *	1952-1953	24	11	13	0	.485	-	-	-
-	Walt Kiesling * 3	1954-1956	36	14th	22nd	0	.388	-	-	-
13	Buddy Parker	1957-1964	104	51	47	6th	.520	-	-	-
14th	Mike Nixon	1965	14th	2	12	0	.143	-	-	-
15th	Bill Austin	1966-1968	42	11	28	3	.282	-	-	-
16	Chuck Noll *	1969-1991	342	193	148	1	.566	24	16	8th	UPI AFC Coach of the Year (1972) Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year (1989) Super Bowl IX , X , XIII , XIV
17th	Bill Cowher *	1992-2006	240	149	90	1	.623	21st	12	9	AP NFL Coach of the Year (1992) Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (1992) Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (2004) Super Bowl XL
18th	Mike Tomlin *	2007–	208	133	74	1	.642	15th	8th	7th	Motorola NFL Coach of the Year (2008) Super Bowl XLIII

¹ In 1943 the Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles competed as a united team under the name Steagles. Walt Kiesling and the Eagles coach Greasy Neale shared the tasks.

² In 1944, the Steelers and the Chicago Cardinals came under the name Card-Pitt as a united team. Walt Kiesling and the Cardinals coach Phil Handler shared the tasks.

³ Kiesling coached the Pirates / Steelers in a total of 90 games in the regular season and achieved a coaching balance of 30–55–5 (S – N – UE) and a win rate of 0.353.

Balance sheets and records

Pittsburgh Steelers / Numbers and Records presents important records for the Steelers, the direct comparisons with the other American football teams and the season balance sheets since 1933.

literature

• Chad Millman & Shawn Coyne: The Ones Who Hit the Hardest: The Steelers, the Cowboys, the '70s, and the Fight for America's Soul. Gotham Books, 2010. 978-1-592-40665-4.

Web links

Commons : Pittsburgh Steelers  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Pittsburgh Steelers official website (English)
• Detailed information on the Pittsburgh Steelers in German
• Sports E-Cyclopedia.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Steelers fans stockpile Terrible Towels for Super Bowl. In: ESPN.com. Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press, January 31, 2006, accessed November 21, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Joshua Axelrod: Navy pilot shows Pittsburgh pride with Terrible Towel pic over Downtown. In: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. PG Publishing Company, May 23, 2017, accessed November 21, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Jeremy Fowler: Steelers to Bengals' Jeremy Hill: Careful with the curse of the Terrible Towel. In: ESPN.com. Copyright by The Associated Press, December 19, 2016, accessed November 21, 2017 . 
4. ^ Former Steelers broadcaster, Terrible Towel creator Cope dies. In: ESPN.com. Copyright by The Associated Press, February 28, 2008, accessed November 21, 2017 . 
5. ↑ The 10 Best Award-Winning TV Ads Everyone Must See , Business Insider
6. ↑ statistics Forrest Douds . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
7. ↑ statistics Luby DiMeolo . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
8. ^ ^{A b} Statistics by Joe Bach . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
9. ^ Statistics from John McNally . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
10. ^ ^{A b c d e} statistics from Walt Kiesling . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
11. ^ Statistics from Bert Bell . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
12. ^ Statistics from Aldo Donelli . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
13. ^ Statistics from Greasy Neale . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
14. ↑ Statistics by Phil Handler . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
15. ↑ Statistics by Jim Leonard . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
16. ^ Statistics from Jock Sutherland . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
17. ↑ statistics John Michelosen . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
18. ↑ Buddy Parker's statistics . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
19. ^ Statistics from Mike Nixon . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
20. ^ Statistics from Bill Austin . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
21. ↑ ^{a b} NFL Coach of the Year Award . HickokSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
22. ↑ Statistics by Chuck Noll . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
23. ^ Statistics from Bill Cowher . Retrieved January 23, 2016.
24. ↑ Fans pick Tomlin as NFL coach of the year , Pittsburgh Tribune Review . January 29, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2009. 
25. ^ Statistics from Mike Tomlin . Retrieved January 11, 2020.