Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago

[img_l]http://media.jsonline.com/images/Column+Header+-+Lea.gif[/img_l]Bud Lea

Steelers haven't superseded Pack's legacy
 


Posted: Feb. 4, 2009

We can all take a vacation now. The football season is almost over.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won another Super Bowl. A franchise that once was so desperate for support it merged with the Philadelphia Eagles and then with the Chicago Cardinals now stands alone as the model of success in the NFL.

The Steelers went home with their sixth Super Bowl trophy. That's one more than the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers.

"Congratulations. You are the winningest franchise in NFL history." That's what Commissioner Roger Goodell told Dan Rooney Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium when he presented the Steelers' owner with the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Winningest franchise in the NFL? C'mon, commissioner.

The Steelers deserve to be hailed as the most successful team in Super Bowl history. But as the holder of NFL Championships, the House of Rooney still trails the Green Bay Packers by years.

The Packers have won more championships than any other team in NFL history. Pittsburgh (six) has just half as many titles as Green Bay (12).

Curly Lambeau's teams dominated the league. His teams won their first three titles when the NFL champion was determined by league standings in 1929, '30 and '31. When the playoff system was established in 1936, Lambeau coached the Packers to three more championships - in '36, '39 and '44.

Then came the Lombardi dynasty in the '60s that captured five NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls. Had the NFL and AFL merged sooner than 1967, the Packers very likely would have beaten any AFL opponent in a Super Bowl showdown.

The Steelers are no Johnny-come-latelies. They are the league's fifth-oldest franchise. Originally called the Pirates, they were founded in 1933 by Art Rooney, who was offered the Pittsburgh franchise for $2,500.

With no draft as a basis for building a team, Rooney found it difficult to compete with the established Packers, Chicago Bears and New York Giants in the battle for talent. In 1937, he lured Green Bay star Johnny "Blood" McNally to join the Steelers as player-coach.

McNally began by giving his players a perfect example of how he wanted them to perform: He took the opening kickoff of the first game of his first season 100 yards for a touchdown. The rest of the team, however, was not talented enough to emulate McNally.

Far from being a disciplinarian, McNally was more apt than his players to miss practice. He enjoyed life and did not let football interfere with pleasure.

Under his carefree stewardship, the Steelers won four and lost seven in 1937, but they dropped off to 2-9 the next year and 1-9-1 in 1939, McNally's final season.

McNally, who played seven years with the Packers, is among 21 Green Bay players and coaches in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Steelers also include him among their Hall of Fame honorees.

The Steelers didn't have a winning record until 1942. They did not win a divisional title until 1972.

I remember covering a game in 1957 when Liz Blackbourn brought his 2-7 Packers into Forbes Field (a baseball park) and hammered the Steelers, 27-10. The Steelers finished the season at 6-6 and the Packers at 3-9; Blackbourn lost his job.

The Packers have met the Steelers 31 times and have won 18 of those games.

It isn't easy going against Packer history. But in beating the Arizona Cardinals, the Steelers have secured the position as the greatest franchise since the NFL-AFL merger in 1967.

After winning the first two Super Bowls, Green Bay reached the playoffs only twice in the next 25 years before the Brett Favre era. In the past 37 years, the Steelers have had only seven losing seasons, reached the playoffs 24 times and won six Super Bowls and seven AFC titles.

While most other owners change coaches in what seems like every five years, the Rooneys have only had three since 1969: Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and now Mike Tomlin. Each has won at least one Super Bowl.

The measurement of a pro football dynasty is the equation involving the most championships in the fewest years. For all the hype that surrounded the New England Patriots' four Super Bowl rings in seven seasons, Lombardi's Packers and Noll's Steelers were more dominant.

With Bart Starr at quarterback and Ray Nitschke at middle linebacker, those Packers earned five NFL titles in seven seasons, including three straight, including the first two Super Bowls.

Noll's Steelers, with Terry Bradshaw at quarterback and Joe Greene at defensive tackle, delivered four trays of Super Bowl rings in six seasons.

As a group, Tomlin's Steelers are mostly much bigger and faster than Noll's Steelers and Lombardi's Packers but are they better? We will never know.

Back in July when training camp started, few expected the Steelers to still be playing in February in the Super Bowl.

They faced the toughest schedule in the NFL. Their defense was getting old. There was a question about quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's shelf life because he had been sacked a combined 93 times the past two seasons.

But here they were winning another Super Bowl, as if it were their birthright.

The Packers are on the first floor of an NFL Films library with the biggest stack of championship games. The Steelers still have some work to do.

By the way, the teams will meet next season in Pittsburgh.


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dfosterf (16h) : I think a Kenny Clark tribute is in order
Zero2Cool (29-Aug) : new site, text editor gooder even on phone
beast (29-Aug) : Oh yes, sometimes they make using a cellphone tough. I just wanted to make sure it was the correct article, & thank you for pointing it out.
jdlax (29-Aug) : I can't believe one of my teams went out and wablammo just up and acquired one of the best players in the world overnight
dfosterf (29-Aug) : I do very much appreciate when Beast and others pick up my slack 😊
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beast (29-Aug) : That's not what your she said 😌, she said keep going 😏
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Zero2Cool (28-Aug) : Packers just cost Lions more money with Hutchinson too huh
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buckeyepackfan (28-Aug) : Kenny Clark is the player, 2 1st rnd picks
Zero2Cool (28-Aug) : umm... what?
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Mucky Tundra (28-Aug) : RICKEY SCOOPS WAS RIGHT AGAIN!!!
Mucky Tundra (28-Aug) : ITS HAPPENING
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buckeyepackfan (28-Aug) : MICAH IS COMING TO GREEN BAY!!!!!!!!!
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dfosterf (27-Aug) : Mecole Hardman to our practice squad
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Nick Nieman from Texans our 5th linebacker. Special teams signing
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Looks like we signed Clayton Tune as QB3
wpr (27-Aug) : TKT people lose their minds over QB3. Point is almost none of them are ready that's why they are on the PS and other teams don't take them.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Unfortunately he doesn't seem ready to be an emergency QB.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : As a Canadian and a follower of Canadian University football. I am rooting for him
dfosterf (27-Aug) : I bet a lot of us will follow the Taylor Elgersma journey with interest. Personally, got a Kurt Warner vibe goin' on. I like him
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Not sure if either will be claimed though.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Tune or Hooker would make sense
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