This will be the first in what will be a series of articles until the beginning of the 2011 NFL season. Let’s hope there will not be too many in this series.
What I’m going to do is pick one thing, one category, and figure out the top three Steelers or Steelers-related things in that category.
This week, I’m going to start with the Steelers’ top three seasons. I’m not just looking at wins and losses. I’m looking at the significance of season. Was it a memorable season, even if they didn’t necessarily win a Super Bowl that year? That is what I’m hoping to rate.
Number 3 – 2004
In the 2003 season, the Steelers did not play well. By finishing 6-10, the Steelers had tied their worst performance in a season since 1988.
That poor finished allowed the Mighty Black and Gold to pick 11th overall in the 2004 draft.
With that pick, the Steelers took one Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger, who would go on to be the Offensive Rookie of the Year in the NFL that year.
The Steelers would send nine players to the Pro Bowl that year (three as alternates), including Troy Polamalu, James Farrior, Joey Porter, and Hines Ward.
As for the season itself, Big Ben didn’t start at quarterback. He came into the second game of the year against the Baltimore Ravens when Tommy Maddox was injured. It would be the only game the Steelers would lose that regular season. Ben would start in week three and not lose in his first 15 regular season starts (extending into the next season) including 13 wins in his rookie campaign. Those are both NFL records.
Along the way, the Steelers ended the Patriots NFL record 21-game winning streak and beat the Eagles, who had started the season 7-0.
The Steelers won their division by six games and were the number one seed in the playoffs, and their 15 wins represented the first time an AFC team had ever won 15 games in a single NFL season.
However, in the playoffs, things did not go as planed. They managed to squeak by the Jets in the divisional round on a Jeff Reed 33-yard field goal after Jets’ kicker Doug Brien had chances to win the game at the end of regulation and in overtime.
The season came to a somewhat less than fulfilling end when the Steelers hosted the New England Patriots. The game was never close and the Steelers were sent on an early vacation when the Pats won convincingly, 42-27.
The very next season, the Steelers became the first team ever to win a Super Bowl as a six seed, as well as being the first team to ever play against and beat the top three seeds in the conference and the number one seed from the opposing conference in the playoffs and Super Bowl respectively.
But for sheer domination of a season, no season has been better for the Steelers than 2004.
Number 2 – 1978
It could be argued very convincingly that this was the single best team in the history of the NFL. The 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers had nine future Hall of Famers and 10 Pro Bowlers. Their coach, the legendary Chuck Noll, would also be immortalized in Canton.
They won all but two games during the regular season. Those losses were by a combined 10 points. Four of their fourteen wins were by more than 20 points.
Indeed, the Steel Curtain, ver. 1.3, was in rare form that year. They allowed no touchdowns in the first quarter of any regular season game and had the lowest points against in the league. In 16 regular season games, opponents scored 195 points, or a meager 12.2 points per game.
On the other side of the ball, Terry Bradshaw had a career season. He led the league in touchdown passes en route to winning the NFL MVP award for the year.
They won their division by four games and were the number one seed in the AFC.
In the Super Bowl, they allowed the Dallas Cowboys to score 31 points, or more than 2.5 times what they allowed during the regular season, but the offense took up the slack and tied their highest output of points for the entire season with 35.
Bradshaw took home MVP of the Super Bowl for the first time (he would add another the next season), while the Steelers became the first team to ever win three Super Bowls. They would go on to be the first team to win four and six Super Bowls, as well as the third team to win five. They have played in many Super Bowls more Super Bowls than all but one other team (Dallas).
The Steelers’ win percentage of .875 was the second best in franchise history (2004), and the best win percentage of any season in which the Steelers played in the Super Bowl.
In the Super Bowl era, no team has had the success the Steelers have had, and 1978 was the pinnacle of that success. It was an utterly dominating year for the Mighty Black and Gold.
Number 1 – 1933
Everything has a beginning and the humble beginnings of our beloved team lie in Depression Era Pittsburgh, in the fertile mind of Art “Chief” Rooney.
Originally known as the Pirates, the Steelers did not have an auspicious start. Like modern expansion teams, the Steelers were not very competitive. They finished the season 3-6-2, fifth in their division.
In 11 games, the Pirates scored fewer than 10 points eight times, including three times being shutout. The most humiliating of those losses was a 47-0 drubbing at the hands of the Green Bay Packers. In no game did the Pirates score more than 17 points.
The next forty years would be marked with an incredible amount of futility and a remarkable number poor decisions (Johnny Unitas), but over those years, they were building their reputation as a hard-nosed, defensive-minded team that would play you very tough even if they didn’t beat you. This legacy has carried over to modern times. Even now, the Steelers are one of those teams that other teams do not want to play if they have to have a win, or have a game scheduled the next week.
In the Super Bowl era, the Steelers have been remarkably consistent. They have only 13 losing seasons since the inception of the Super Bowl. By way of comparison, the Detroit Lions have current streak of 10 straight losing seasons.
Without a first season, however, there would be no reputation for Steelers football. There would be no six Super Bowl titles and none of the 24 Steelers’ members of the NFL Hall of Fame.
On top of all that, without the 1933 season, there would be no Nation of devoted and proud fans of the best team in all of sports.
What do you think, my fellow Citizens of The Nation? What was the best season in Steelers history in your opinion?