The Steelers have had a few impressive quarterbacks in their storied history. Here are Pittsburgh’s top five greatest passers of all-time.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most recognizable and fabled franchises in NFL history. With any history of sports franchise comes the greatest players to ever play their positions. The Steelers have had some very notable names wear that black and yellow jersey and sling the rock down the field across their 87 years of existence.
The position of the modern-day quarterback was not always as important to the NFL as it is now. Teams draft new signal-callers every year hoping that they just landed an amazing franchise-altering player for the next 15 years, but the majority of the time it doesn’t turn out like that.
It took till the 1950s for the quarterback position and passing the football to become more and more popular. Before that, running the football was the high majority of offensive attack and the NFL was a league of whoever was able to stop the run and run the ball better won the game.
The Steelers have had franchise players and other amazing players grace the fields of Pittsburgh for the Steelers and those players have helped this franchise become one of the most successful in NFL history.
This list may surprise some with certain names and where they are located on the list, these players listed are all great players in their own right but some were better than others. Number games are tough to diffuse so players were judged by personal accolades, stats, and the teams that surrounded them. Here are the five greatest quarterbacks in Steelers history:
Bobby Layne
Layne was already an extremely talented player before joining the Steelers. He had amazing numbers while playing for the Detroit Lions. It saw Layne lead the Lions to three NFL championships, while also adding four Pro Bowl nods and elected twice as First-team All-pro. Layne also added 15,710 yards passing, 118 passing touchdowns, 1,793 yards rushing, and 13 rushing touchdowns while being a Lion.
Layne then went to Pittsburgh to play for the circus known as the Steelers. Before Layne joined the Steelers, the franchise was a laughing stock that never won anything. That did change when Layne joined the team.
The aging veteran was now out to prove that he could still play and help this franchise excel past mediocrity. Layne would not be able to move the team out of this phase and into relevance but he did make the team more competitive and out of losing seasons.
During his time with the Steelers Layne played five seasons with Pittsburgh and had a record of 27-19-2 as their starter. That was one of the most successful spans of seasons the team had ever put together. Layne also added onto this Hall of Fame stats by adding 9,030 passing yards, 66 passing touchdowns, 382 rushing yards, and eight rushing touchdowns.
Kordell Stewart
Kordell Stewart, otherwise known as ‘Slash’, broke onto the scene as a gadget player. He would be lined up all over the offense, and since he was such a talented athlete, he was a great weapon. Eventually, Stewart would become the starting quarterback for the Steelers and would still be explosive will running and throwing the ball at the position.
It was somewhat unusual for quarterbacks to have a dual-threat ability, but Stewart was one of the first mainstream players to do it.
During his seasons as the ‘Slash’ persona, this uniquely deployed player totaled 257 yards rushing off 54 rushing attempts, six rushing touchdowns, 528 yards receiving off 31 receptions, and four receiving touchdowns. After his first two seasons as ‘Slash,’ Stewart would now head onto be the starting quarterback for the Steelers. He would put up some phenomenal numbers starting for Pittsburgh during the regular season, only to throw a touchdown-interception rate of 2-8.
Stewart had a great career in Pittsburgh as he finished with a record of 46-29-0 as the team’s starter. He also put up phenomenal numbers through the air and on the ground as he continued to show his dual-threat ability. He totaled 13,328 yards passing, 70 passing touchdowns, 2,561 yards rushing, 35 rushing touchdowns, five receiving touchdowns, one Pro Bowl, one AFC Offensive Player of the Year, and One Steelers team MVP.
Neil O’Donnell
O’Donnell joined the team after Pittsburgh selected him 70th overall in the 1990 NFL draft. The team had high hopes that O’Donnell or some other quarterback on their team could propel them out of the 80s slump and back into contention in the 90s, O’Donnell did just that.
Now, O’Donnell was not the most amazing quarterback, nor was he highly respected during his career but he put up decent numbers for Pittsburgh. He helped Pittsburgh achieve their goals of being contenders again and getting back to the Super Bowl – even though he played very poorly in that Super Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys.
O’Donnell played with great teams and defenses that helped keep his team afloat throughout his Steelers career, but the offense was no slouch either while O’Donnell held the reigns. Much like Stewart, big games were not O’Donnell’s strong suit as many of those games came as losses to the team during this time.
Part of that blame was put on O’Donnell and for good reason as his playoff record was 3-4 and his touchdown-interception ratio was 9-8. His career record while playing with Pittsburgh was 39-22-0.
O’Donnell did have a nice career with Pittsburgh and was able to bring the team back to actual contention, even if the team did not win any rings with him starting. His stat line with the Steelers included 12,867 passing yards, 68 passing touchdowns, and one Pro Bowl nomination.
Terry Bradshaw
This pick may surprise some people (it might also make the number one pick obvious) but Terry Bradshaw was the most clutch, big-game quarterback the Steelers ever had in franchise history. With that said, the number one quarterback has also had some big-time moments and even better stats. People will argue stats do not matter because they played in different eras, and that might be true but Bradshaw also took a little while to get going as the Hall of Fame quarterback that he would become.
Bradshaw had one of the most talented rosters ever assembled on a football field with one of, if not the best, defense of all-time to back him up and a deadly offense to boot. Hall of Famers like Jack Lambert, Mean Joe Greene, Mel Blount, John Stallworth, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, and many others played alongside Bradshaw.
Bradshaw would accumulate a Hall of Fame nomination with the amazing numbers that he put up with the Steelers – numbers like a 107-51-0 record, 27,989 passing yards, 212 passing touchdowns, a 14-5 playoff record, four Super Bowl Championships, two Super Bowl MVP’s, three Pro Bowl nominations, one First-Team All-pro nomination, and NFL MVP.
Ben Roethlisberger
The argument for the best quarterback for the Steelers of all time always comes down to Ben Roethlisberger and Bradshaw. Well, Bradshaw has deemed Roethlisberger the best quarterback the Steelers have ever had, so take it from the man himself.
When it comes to Roethlisberger, he has not won as many Super Bowls as Bradshaw, but he has put up amazing numbers throughout his career while also living up to big moments during games.
No one will ever forget that last drive during Super Bowl 43 against the Arizona Cardinals and that brilliant throw to the back corner of the end zone to Santonio Holmes. That pass right there was a Hall of Fame pass. The future Hall of Famer still has not wrapped a bow on his career yet, so his story is still incomplete. The greatest starting quarterback in franchise history could still win more rings and add many more yards and accolades to his name.
Roethlisberger has a starting record of 144-71-1 during his career and a playoff record of 13-8. His career numbers and accolades currently include 56,545 passing yards, 363 passing touchdowns, 1,357 rushing yards, 19 rushing touchdowns, two Super Bowl Championships, six Pro Bowl nominations, and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had great players at the quarterback position throughout their storied history. Let’s hope others will be in contention for this list in the future.