The 1990s
The Bubby Brister experiment was still not over at the start of the decade, but when the Steelers turned to Neil O’Donnell and Kordell Stewart, they saw success again. There was also a stopgap year that Mike Tomczak started a season for Pittsburgh before giving the reigns over to Stewart to take over the offense.
The 1990s was one of disappointment for Steelers fans again, but not like the decade before. It was disappointing losing big games and not just missing the playoffs like in the 1980s. The two signal-callers of Stewart and O’Donnell created a good offense that could take the Steelers places that they haven’t been thinking realistically about since the days of the Steel Curtain. Pittsburgh made it to the Super Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys with Neil O’Donnell starting but it was a very poor night of play by him and Dallas won the Super Bowl that year.
O’Donnell would leave and playoff births would continue for Pittsburgh lead by Tomczak and Stewart in different years. There were many good seasons of play between O’Donnell and Stewart during this decade but the best season goes to Stewart in 1997. Stewart would put up stats at astronomical numbers that included 3,020 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, 17 interceptions, 476 yards rushing, and 11 rushing touchdowns.