Should the Steelers have won more Super Bowls than they have? Or could they have? Part 1

… “should” and “could” very different helping verbs

Sports columnist Tim Benz tackled an interesting topic a few weeks ago, one that many Pittsburgh Steeler fans have debated over the years. His focus is a little narrower than the one that I am taking here. Here is his premise: “Should the Steelers have gone to more Super Bowls in the Bill Cowher-Mike Tomlin era? And if so, is coaching to blame?” he wrote in the Tribune-Review.

First, Steeler fans are spoiled by their success since the woeful first 41 years of their franchise. Art Rooney, Sr. was a great guy, but the Steelers were second on his list of priorities. His racetracks brought in the big bucks. Never did he imagine during those years that the football franchise may worth a billion dollars or that his teams would win six Super Bowls.

So, the six Super Bowl wins is still the gold standard for all teams. No one else has that many, but the fans have yearned for more over the years. Are those desires realistic? Should the Steelers have made more Super Bowls? Benz tackles the topic, and it is interesting. I agree with part and disagree with part, but he does a good job with his analysis.

Benz analysis

First, he talks about reaching the Super Bowl, not winning it. Here is his summary of whether he believes that the Steelers should have reached more Super Bowls, “The short answer to the question is, ‘yes.’ Given the wealth of talent the Steelers have had since 1992 (Cowher's first year replacing Chuck Noll), they ‘should have’ gone to at least one more Super Bowl.”

Benz further defines his parameters. “But that little phrase — ‘should have’ — is pretty important to define here. In my view ‘should have’ connotes that the Steelers have underachieved versus the appropriate level of expectation,” he wrote.

My parameters are different in this discussion

When I will say “should have” won more Super Bowls, it means to me that the team had some superior personnel, ranking as one of the top two to four teams in the league. In other words, they were a superior team to those that made it to the ultimate final game.

Once they were there, were they superior to a team that defeated them?

From that basis, I agree that the Steelers should have made one more Super Bowl — and won that. In fact, I disagree with Benz and say that they should have made quite a few more Super Bowls — but will argue that they should have won just one more.

Coaching records

First, some history focusing on the records of the coaches involved should be analyzed. One of the three is in the NFL Hall of Fame, while the other two may make it, though their chances are not great. Only time will tell.

After that, I will summarize what I have found.

Bill Cowher

We will first look at Cowher, then go back quickly to Noll, and then finish with Tomlin, the current coach.

Bill Cowher became the successor to Chuck Noll in 1992. I have told the story many times about getting a one-on-one interview with him later that year. I asked him how he was approaching succeeding a legend like Noll, who was going to be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in a few years.

His answer, from what I remember: One thing I know is that I cannot control the past. But, I know that if I come to work every day and give it my best, that I can be successful. That is not exact, but it is close.

No one ever questioned his work ethic, and Cowher immediately made an impact. Part of that was due to the fact that the Steeler draft picks, which were overall pretty poor in the 80s after a great 1970 run, were starting to pay dividends.

At one point in his career, Cowher was winning more than 65 percent of his regular-season games. His teams captured eight division titles in his 15 years, earned 10 playoff berths, and played in 21 playoff games, including six AFC title games. He advanced to the Super Bowl twice. In short, that is pretty impressive.

However, the area that has haunted Cowher has been his teams’ performances in the postseason. He coached the Steelers to six AFC championship games, and until the season he won a Super Bowl in the 2005 season — as a wild card — he had lost four of five of them, all on his home turf.

And in a number of those games, they were prohibitive favorites. So, Cowher had a great regular-season record, but not so much in the postseason.

Cowher Record

Overall, his regular-season coaching record was 149-90, 62.3 percent, in his 15 years, which is still impressive. However, before his run to the 2005 Super Bowl, his playoff record was below .500, 8-9. Cowher, who was a hometown hero for a long time, suddenly became the guy who could not get the team to the next Super Bowl.

Cowher did, however, coach his 1995 team to the Super Bowl. This was perhaps his best coaching effort despite losing to the Dallas Cowboys. The Steelers were not particularly talented offensively that year. Quarterback Neil O’Donnell had a great season — until the Super Bowl itself. They also used Slash, Kordell Stewart, at various positions offensively.

The strength of that team — like the Steeler tradition started by Noll — was its defense. Look at the linebackers: Kevin Greene, a hall-of-famer who led the team in sacks with 10; Greg Lloyd, 6.5 sacks; Chad Brown, 5.5; and Jason Gildon, 3.

They also had Rod Woodson and Carnell Lake in the secondary, along with Darren Perry.

However, those two picks by O’Donnell led to two touchdowns in a 27-17 Dallas victory.

I would not list that as a “should” have won another Super Bowl, but it is definitely a “could.” Still, it was a very good coaching year for Cowher. I give him high grades for this season.

The team that “should” have won a Super Bowl

I believe that only one team over the past 26 years should have won a title, while a number could have done so. The team that should have was the 2001 Steelers.

The Steelers entered the game as the number one ranked defense in the league and their 55 sacks led the NFL. With a rookie QB named Tom Brady, the Steeler defense was confident — actually overconfident.

The Steeler offense was third in the league. The QB for the Steelers was Kordell Stewart, and this AFC title game would cement his reputation in the minds of Steeler fans. And not in a positive way.

However, the difference in the game was the play of New England’s special teams and na inordinate number of miscues by the Steelers. The first mistake led to a Troy Brown touchdown. Brown scored the first TD of the game on a 55-yard punt return that would never have occurred had not the Steelers’ Troy Edwards been flagged for going out of bounds on a 64-yard punt. Brown went up the middle on the re-kick from deep in Steeler territory.

The hero for the Pats was not Brady. He was injured in the second quarter, and Drew Bledsoe came in and engineered another scoring drive that gave the Pats a 14-3 halftime lead.

The Pats raised that to 21-3 after they blocked a 24-yard field goal, and Brown recovered it and returned it 11 yards before lateraling it to Antwan Harris, who returned it for a TD.

So, the heavily-favored Steelers were down 21-3 early in the third quarter before falling 24-17. It was a brutal loss for the team and the fans, and it led to the dominance of the 2000s by Bellichick and Brady.

Here is the problem. Cowher allowed the team to get out of hand prior to this game. They had cut a video about reaching the Super Bowl, and he made a statement that the team spent a portion of each practice preparing for the Super Bowl — which never came to fruition.

This was one that the Steelers should have won since the Pats went on and defeated a relatively lackluster St. Louis Rams team in the SB. The Steelers had arguably the best team in the league, absent the QB position. Kordell Stewart was very inconsistent, and that was costly that year.

Other AFC title games

1994 AFC title game vs. San Diego

This line tells the entire story here: The Chargers scored 14 unanswered points in the second half to upset the heavily-favored Steelers. This was a game that the Steelers lost, 17-13, but should have won.

They were ahead 13-3 early in the third quarter, but the offense could not get moving in the second half and the vaunted defense could not stop a mediocre San Diego team. Steeler QB Neil O’Donnell completed 32 of 54 passes for 349 and a TD, and the Steelers had a 415-226 advantage in total yardage. Yet, inexplicably, they lost.

Rate this one as “should have” reached the Super Bowl.

However, they would have faced the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. Not sure if they had superior talent in that game, so I will not rate that as a “could have” won the Super Bowl. We will never know. If they could not defeat San Diego, it is tough to say that they could have beaten a much superior 49ers team led by Hall-of-Famer Steve Young.

1997 Loss to Denver, a wild-card team

The Steelers entered the playoffs as the number 2 seed to Kansas City. However, they play uninspired ball in the playoffs, just getting by New England, 7-6, in the opener at Three Rivers.

Then they had to face Denver, a wild-card team that had defeated KC the week before in an upset. The Steelers had beaten the Broncos 35-24 in the regular season. In that game Kordell Stewart played well, throwing for 303 yards and three TDs. Stewart, however, threw three picks in the title game.

The Broncos, led by John Elway, jumped out to a 24-14 halftime lead. Stewart led the Steelers on a good drive to open the third quarter, taking them to the Denver 5 before throwing for an interception in the end zone. They also missed a field goal earlier.

Stewart later fumbled on a sack, with Denver recovering at their 32.

Overall, this is another “should have” advanced to the Super Bowl, but with Elway playing against Stewart, I have to rate it down to a “could have.” [Imagine how many more Super Bowls the Steelers could have won if they had drafted Dan Marino in 1983.]

2004 Loss to New England

On paper, the 2004 loss to New England may appear to be more devastating than it was. In retrospect, it illustrated why the Patriots were already so dominant in the league.

The Steelers should have been strong favorites as they entered the playoffs with a 15-1 record. They had also defeated the Pats during the regular season, ending a 21-game winning streak, so this may again have been a case of overconfidence.

This one was no contest. New England, the defending Super Bowl champs, raced out to a 24-3 halftime lead, taking advantage of two Ben Roethlisberger interceptions and a Jerome Bettis fumble to build that advantage. In essence, that game was over.

Tom Brady’s playoff record grew to 8-0 with that game, so to say that the Steelers should have, or could have, won that game, would have been a stretch. The Pats were defending world champs and Brady was the dominant quarterback in the NFL. Roethlisberger was just a rookie, but it was a prelude to later games as Ben simply has been unable to defeat Brady in big games.

On paper, this may have looked like a could or should have, but it was not. The 41—27 score included a TD late in the game. It was really not that close, though it should have been closer based on the earlier stats.

Cowher's numbers

Reached two Super Bowls, won one and lost one.

1. Should have won one more Super Bowl (2001).

2. Should have reached one more Super Bowl (1994).

3. Could have won one more Super Bowl (1996),

4. Could have reached one more Super Bowl. (1997).

Part Two: Chuck Noll, Mike Tomlin, and the Final Totals