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Steelers haven't superseded Pack's legacy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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Zero2Cool (2-Apr) : Texas’ WR Isaiah Bond is scheduled to visit the Bills, Browns, Chiefs, Falcons, Packers and Titans starting next week.
Zero2Cool (2-Apr) : Spotting ball isn't changing, only measuring distance is, Which wasn't the issue.
Zero2Cool (2-Apr) : The spotting of the ball IS the issue. Not the chain gang.
Mucky Tundra (2-Apr) : Will there be a tracker on the ball or something?
Zero2Cool (1-Apr) : uh oh
Martha Careful (1-Apr) : Too bad camera's can't spot the ball as well.
Mucky Tundra (1-Apr) : So will the chain gang be gone completely or will they still be around as a backup or whatever?
Zero2Cool (1-Apr) : The method for measuring first downs in the NFL will switch from chain gangs to camera-based technology in 2025, the league announced.
Martha Careful (1-Apr) : A big step in the right direction. Just put in the college system is very very good.
Zero2Cool (1-Apr) : NFL has passed a rule that allows both teams to possess the ball in OT during the regular season
Zero2Cool (1-Apr) : Touchbacks on kickoffs will now bring the ball to the 35-yard line.
beast (31-Mar) : It might of gotten more popular recently, but braiding hair (even men) in certain cultures goes back for centuries.
Martha Careful (30-Mar) : Is men braiding their hair a new style thing? Watching the NCAA men's tournament many players have done
Zero2Cool (29-Mar) : Ha. Well, it'd be nice for folks to reset their own password. Via validated email 😏
beast (29-Mar) : Monopoly was supposed to be an educational game, that show how evil capitalism was and how we should avoid it
beast (29-Mar) : Lol, I was thinking username would be better, as then I wouldn't have to keep an email up to date lol 😂
beast (29-Mar) : Zero2Cool (25-Mar) : I was thinking email because I think it'll make folks keep it up todate lol
wpr (29-Mar) : sure is
Zero2Cool (29-Mar) : Monopoly is a rip off of The Landlord's Game
wpr (27-Mar) : 28 days until the draft
earthquake (27-Mar) : Which seemed strange to my 9 year old self, that you could be a fan for a team other than the one you play for
earthquake (27-Mar) : Nothing eventful happened, other than it being clear that he was a bengals fan
earthquake (27-Mar) : And we went and hung out with him one afternoon, I must have been 9 or so
earthquake (27-Mar) : That’s wild, when I was a kid my friend lived in the same apartment complex in De Pere
Mucky Tundra (27-Mar) : Only career highspot was a 200 yard rushing game while playing for the Cardinals
Mucky Tundra (27-Mar) : He is a former Packer. Drafted out of Northern Illinois. Didn't do much in GB.
dfosterf (26-Mar) : Despicable
Zero2Cool (26-Mar) : Former NFL. I think Packers too
Zero2Cool (26-Mar) : NFL RB Leshon Johnson has been charged in a massive dog fighting operation, with the FBI seizing over 190 Pit Bulls
Mucky Tundra (26-Mar) : Some real irony of a QB as short as Wilson playing for the Giants
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Mucky Tundra (26-Mar) : Russell Wilson signs with the Giants.
Zero2Cool (25-Mar) : I was thinking email because I think it'll make folks keep it up todate lol
wpr (25-Mar) : I don't think there is a significant difference. I use a user name for many. Others email.
Martha Careful (25-Mar) : email
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wpr (25-Mar) : Thanks Zero
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beast (24-Mar) : And the only time they have won the Championship in an even year, was the first time they did, in 2006.
beast (24-Mar) : Since 2007, there have been 10 odd numbered years, Wisconsin Women have won the Championship in 7 of those 10 odd numbered years.
buckeyepackfan (24-Mar) : Congratulations Lady Badger Hockey Team. NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!
Zero2Cool (23-Mar) : I don't think it's completed yet. it was just announced last month, right?
dhazer (23-Mar) : did netflix ever release the Packers documentary
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beast (21-Mar) : Unsigned FA QB Rodgers is supposedly in the Steelers building
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