Steelers Nation readies for another Super Bowl run

Photo by Brook Ward, via flickr.com

By Lou Roesch

Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (January 9, 2021) The Pittsburgh Steelers are used to being in the NFL playoffs. Reaching the playoffs is like settling down to warm, cozy family dinner at the holidays. It's that time when "The Patriarch" stands up up to offer a toast. On Sunday, the Steeles Nation will do just that gathering around TV sets across the nation as they host the new kid on the block the Cleveland Browns.

Pittsburgh has been one of the most consistent NFL franchises. They have had just two head coaches since Chuck Noll stopped patrolling the sidelines in the Steel City, a pan of 50-plus years. Over their 67-year history, the team has been owned by one family; the Rooney's.

Art Rooney, the original patriarch of the Steeler faithful paid the NFL franchise fee of $2,500 and on July 8, 1933 the Pittsburgh Steelers were born. Robert Kelly, longtime Steelers fan and owner of TexSport Publications in Houston, reminisced about how he became a Steelers fan.

"I  was born in Pittsburgh. My mother was a Steelers fan. Her parents (my grandparents) were Steelers fans. Her brother, his wife and their children were all Steelers fans. I was born into "Steeler Nation."  In addition, my mother and grandparents lived in the same neighborhood in Pittsburgh as the Rooney family, who own the Steelers. They my mother and her parents, went to the same church as the Rooneys and my mother went to school with Dan Rooney (American executive and diplomat best known for his association with the Pittsburgh Steelers) and son of the Steelers' founder, Art Rooney. I guess you can say the Black and Gold is in my blood. 

For some, the Black and Gold is embodied by the last 16 years, with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at the helm of the Steelers offense. Big Ben stands 6'5" and 240 pounds, and is not easily taken down. Defenses know that the Steelers are going to throw the ball especially since 2010. He is the NFL leader in Empty Backfield Snaps and yet they seldom can stop him. Notwithstanding, a season ending injury in 2019, Big Ben is as durable they come, having missed just one game to injury in the previous three seasons, before 2019. Since 2013, he has missed just five games due to injury. That durability is what has led to much of the Steelers s playoff success. The Steelers with Roethlisberger under center have never missed the playoffs more then two consecutive years which, adheres to their franchise where they have appeared in the playoffs in 30 times in 60 years. Behind Roethlisberger, the Steelers are 13-8 headed into his  22nd postseason start with two Super Bowl titles in three tries.

"Ben Roethlisberger is a competitor," continued Kelly. "In all his years in football; high school, college, and professional; he has always found a way to win.  It is as if to say he "has to win." It is ingrained in his persona."

Without much of a run game, the Steelers will depend on Big Ben to be the quarterback of the Pittsburgh team that started 12-0 where he completed 67% of his passes for 25 touchdowns against five INT's. The Steelers are 25-3-1 with Roethlisberger against the Browns including 15-0 at home. The Steelers franchise quarterback owns the Browns having more wins against the team that passed on him in 2004 draft allowing him to travel the 133 miles from Cleveland to  Pittsburgh then any signal caller in NFL history. 

As the patriarch of this team, the Steelers will go as far as Big Ben's arm will take them. 

"If Ben is at his peak, and all of his teammate are "with him," concluded Kelly, "they will be unstoppable."