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Rick Gosselin / The Dallas Morning News
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their way in their first 37 years in the NFL.
The Steelers never won a championship. They never even played for a championship. Pittsburgh was almost 100 games below .500 in those first four decades of football (157-253-19).
So inconsequential were the Steelers that the NFL sent Pittsburgh packing to the AFC when the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. The NFC certainly wasn't going to miss the brand of bad football being played in Pittsburgh.
But the change of scenery suited the Steelers. They won their first division title in 1972, then won the first playoff game in franchise history on what has been dubbed an "immaculate reception" by Franco Harris.
Two years later, the Steelers won their first AFC Championship. Two weeks later, Pittsburgh hoisted its first Lombardi Trophy.
The formula the Steelers utilized in winning that first title is still in place 36 years later as Pittsburgh pursues a record seventh Lombardi Trophy.
It's now officially the Steeler Way {ellipsis} whatever way that is.
"It's hard to define," Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert admitted. "It's really just trying to do the right thing in all situations. It's not a complicated formula."
Not complicated at all. Hire good people and let them do their jobs.
The Steelers have employed only three head coaches since the AFL-NFL merger— Chuck Noll , Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin . All have won Super Bowls. The Steelers have employed only three personnel directors since the merger — Dick Haley, Tom Donahoe and Colbert. The Steelers have had only two owners and both came from the same family — Art and Dan Rooney . Both are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"If there's a consistency, it's the Rooney family and the way they want their team run," Colbert said. "It gets back to doing the right thing in all situations — be it draft picks, coaching decisions, how we carry ourselves in the building, off the field.
"There's no sign that says, ‘This is how we do it.' It's just an understanding that gets passed on from one owner to the next, from one coach to the next, from one player to the next ... through everybody. You just learn that way ... whatever way that is."
Belief system
The Steeler Way is power football. Power offense, power defense. Even quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is big (6-5, 241) and physical.
The Steelers rely on a fast, furious and physical pass rush from their 3-4 defensive scheme featuring two oversized linebackers, 265-pound LaMarr Woodley and 245-pound James Harrison.
Pittsburgh switched from the 4-3 scheme that won four Super Bowls in the 1970s to a 3-4 scheme in 1983. In 2001, the Steelers were the only team in the NFL playing a 3-4. This is a franchise slow to change.
"If you stick with what you believe, eventually you'll come out the other end," Colbert said. "You're going to have times where you're going to miss on a draft pick or have a losing season. But if you stay true to what you believe in — what's proven to help you win — you're going to get where you need to go."
The draft is what the Steelers believe in.
When Pittsburgh won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1975-76, all 22 starters were homegrown. None played for any other team but the Steelers. Nineteen of the starters were draft picks and three were undrafted free agents.
Thirty-five years later, the philosophy hasn't changed. Sixteen of the starters on the 2010 team were drafted by the Steelers. Two others signed as college free agents and have never played for another team.
"The draft always has been the bloodline here," Colbert said. "That's an organizational philosophy. It speaks to what they've always done. You can't miss on your draft picks because that adds to your continuity, especially if you're not going to be a big free-agent team. Our free agency is spending on our own players.
"We spend as much as anyone else, but it's on our players, not someone else's. We'll get the occasional guy here and there. But we're not going to live with that philosophy."
Draft smart
Few teams have had the drafting success of the Steelers. Since the merger, they have drafted nine Hall of Famers. Eight of their first-round draft picks will be starting Sunday in the Super Bowl.
The Steelers are comfortable with the draft board, no matter where they are selecting. In the 41 drafts since the merger, they have felt strongly enough to trade up in the first round only twice. They came away with Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu when they moved up in 2003 and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes when they went up in 2006.
Only twice in the last 41 drafts have the Steelers traded down in the first round, both times when they fielded calls while they were on the clock. Again, they drafted Pro Bowlers in moving down — tight end Eric Green in 1990 and nose tackle Casey Hampton in 2001.
"Just stay with your board," Colbert said.
When the Steelers were drafting 32nd, they stayed right there and took defensive end Ziggy Hood in 2009. He'll start in the Super Bowl. When they were fortunate enough to draft in the top 12, they again stayed put and selected Roethlisberger at 11 in 2004.
"Quarterback wasn't a glaring need at that point," Colbert said. "Tommy Maddox was having a lot of success for us. But I remember Bill [Cowher] saying, ‘For the good of this organization, we have to take the quarterback.'
"We didn't expect Ben to play right away. We were fine with Tommy bridging the gap until Ben was ready. But Ben got in there and never turned back."
Roethlisberger stepped in for an injured Maddox in the second game of his rookie season. He won all 13 of his starts that year. The next season, Roethlisberger won his first Super Bowl. But he was an exception to the club's operating philosophy for draft picks.
"We're not upset if a rookie doesn't contribute," Colbert said. "We're actually surprised if they do. When they are ready, they play."
Polamalu, Hood, tight end Heath Miller , linebacker Lawrence Timmons and running back Rashard Mendenall were all first-round draft picks. None started as rookies. All will be starting in the Super Bowl.
"Patience is a big part of our organization," Colbert said.
"We've been fortunate enough to have people in place that allow us to bring others along behind them. Then one replaces the other. You just take the best players, put them together and eventually you'll come up with a good team. It's not that scientific."
Add a free agent
When there is a shortage in a position queue, the Steelers will sign the occasional free agent. But they won't break the bank for him.
The Steelers signed linebacker James Farrior in 2002 to a modest three-year, $5.4 million contract. That same off-season, the Cowboys signed linebacker Kevin Hardy to a five-year, $23 million deal.
Farrior is still with the Steelers, still starts, has two Super Bowl rings and has been to two Pro Bowls. Hardy lasted one season with the Cowboys.
When the Steelers found themselves in need of a right tackle because of an off-season Achilles' tendon injury to incumbent Willie Colon , they signed Flozell Adams off the unemployment line last summer. The Cowboys cut the five-time Pro Bowler in the spring. Adams also will start for the Steelers in the Super Bowl.
"We don't have a blueprint for the type of player we're looking for," Colbert said. "We just want productive players who are good people."
The Steelers have won the most NFL championships (six), games (384) and division titles (20) since the merger.
So the Steeler Way works. Because they hire good people, let them do their jobs, draft well, exercise patience, develop players and pay them to stay.
"It's not that complicated," Colbert said.
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their way in their first 37 years in the NFL.
The Steelers never won a championship. They never even played for a championship. Pittsburgh was almost 100 games below .500 in those first four decades of football (157-253-19).
So inconsequential were the Steelers that the NFL sent Pittsburgh packing to the AFC when the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. The NFC certainly wasn't going to miss the brand of bad football being played in Pittsburgh.
But the change of scenery suited the Steelers. They won their first division title in 1972, then won the first playoff game in franchise history on what has been dubbed an "immaculate reception" by Franco Harris.
Two years later, the Steelers won their first AFC Championship. Two weeks later, Pittsburgh hoisted its first Lombardi Trophy.
The formula the Steelers utilized in winning that first title is still in place 36 years later as Pittsburgh pursues a record seventh Lombardi Trophy.
It's now officially the Steeler Way {ellipsis} whatever way that is.
"It's hard to define," Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert admitted. "It's really just trying to do the right thing in all situations. It's not a complicated formula."
Not complicated at all. Hire good people and let them do their jobs.
The Steelers have employed only three head coaches since the AFL-NFL merger— Chuck Noll , Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin . All have won Super Bowls. The Steelers have employed only three personnel directors since the merger — Dick Haley, Tom Donahoe and Colbert. The Steelers have had only two owners and both came from the same family — Art and Dan Rooney . Both are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"If there's a consistency, it's the Rooney family and the way they want their team run," Colbert said. "It gets back to doing the right thing in all situations — be it draft picks, coaching decisions, how we carry ourselves in the building, off the field.
"There's no sign that says, ‘This is how we do it.' It's just an understanding that gets passed on from one owner to the next, from one coach to the next, from one player to the next ... through everybody. You just learn that way ... whatever way that is."
Belief system
The Steeler Way is power football. Power offense, power defense. Even quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is big (6-5, 241) and physical.
The Steelers rely on a fast, furious and physical pass rush from their 3-4 defensive scheme featuring two oversized linebackers, 265-pound LaMarr Woodley and 245-pound James Harrison.
Pittsburgh switched from the 4-3 scheme that won four Super Bowls in the 1970s to a 3-4 scheme in 1983. In 2001, the Steelers were the only team in the NFL playing a 3-4. This is a franchise slow to change.
"If you stick with what you believe, eventually you'll come out the other end," Colbert said. "You're going to have times where you're going to miss on a draft pick or have a losing season. But if you stay true to what you believe in — what's proven to help you win — you're going to get where you need to go."
The draft is what the Steelers believe in.
When Pittsburgh won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1975-76, all 22 starters were homegrown. None played for any other team but the Steelers. Nineteen of the starters were draft picks and three were undrafted free agents.
Thirty-five years later, the philosophy hasn't changed. Sixteen of the starters on the 2010 team were drafted by the Steelers. Two others signed as college free agents and have never played for another team.
"The draft always has been the bloodline here," Colbert said. "That's an organizational philosophy. It speaks to what they've always done. You can't miss on your draft picks because that adds to your continuity, especially if you're not going to be a big free-agent team. Our free agency is spending on our own players.
"We spend as much as anyone else, but it's on our players, not someone else's. We'll get the occasional guy here and there. But we're not going to live with that philosophy."
Draft smart
Few teams have had the drafting success of the Steelers. Since the merger, they have drafted nine Hall of Famers. Eight of their first-round draft picks will be starting Sunday in the Super Bowl.
The Steelers are comfortable with the draft board, no matter where they are selecting. In the 41 drafts since the merger, they have felt strongly enough to trade up in the first round only twice. They came away with Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu when they moved up in 2003 and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes when they went up in 2006.
Only twice in the last 41 drafts have the Steelers traded down in the first round, both times when they fielded calls while they were on the clock. Again, they drafted Pro Bowlers in moving down — tight end Eric Green in 1990 and nose tackle Casey Hampton in 2001.
"Just stay with your board," Colbert said.
When the Steelers were drafting 32nd, they stayed right there and took defensive end Ziggy Hood in 2009. He'll start in the Super Bowl. When they were fortunate enough to draft in the top 12, they again stayed put and selected Roethlisberger at 11 in 2004.
"Quarterback wasn't a glaring need at that point," Colbert said. "Tommy Maddox was having a lot of success for us. But I remember Bill [Cowher] saying, ‘For the good of this organization, we have to take the quarterback.'
"We didn't expect Ben to play right away. We were fine with Tommy bridging the gap until Ben was ready. But Ben got in there and never turned back."
Roethlisberger stepped in for an injured Maddox in the second game of his rookie season. He won all 13 of his starts that year. The next season, Roethlisberger won his first Super Bowl. But he was an exception to the club's operating philosophy for draft picks.
"We're not upset if a rookie doesn't contribute," Colbert said. "We're actually surprised if they do. When they are ready, they play."
Polamalu, Hood, tight end Heath Miller , linebacker Lawrence Timmons and running back Rashard Mendenall were all first-round draft picks. None started as rookies. All will be starting in the Super Bowl.
"Patience is a big part of our organization," Colbert said.
"We've been fortunate enough to have people in place that allow us to bring others along behind them. Then one replaces the other. You just take the best players, put them together and eventually you'll come up with a good team. It's not that scientific."
Add a free agent
When there is a shortage in a position queue, the Steelers will sign the occasional free agent. But they won't break the bank for him.
The Steelers signed linebacker James Farrior in 2002 to a modest three-year, $5.4 million contract. That same off-season, the Cowboys signed linebacker Kevin Hardy to a five-year, $23 million deal.
Farrior is still with the Steelers, still starts, has two Super Bowl rings and has been to two Pro Bowls. Hardy lasted one season with the Cowboys.
When the Steelers found themselves in need of a right tackle because of an off-season Achilles' tendon injury to incumbent Willie Colon , they signed Flozell Adams off the unemployment line last summer. The Cowboys cut the five-time Pro Bowler in the spring. Adams also will start for the Steelers in the Super Bowl.
"We don't have a blueprint for the type of player we're looking for," Colbert said. "We just want productive players who are good people."
The Steelers have won the most NFL championships (six), games (384) and division titles (20) since the merger.
So the Steeler Way works. Because they hire good people, let them do their jobs, draft well, exercise patience, develop players and pay them to stay.
"It's not that complicated," Colbert said.
