Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are an American football team playing in the AFC North division of the National Football League. The Steelers are based in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and play their home games in Heinz Field on the north side of town. Heinz Field was built in 2001 and replaced Three Rivers Stadium which served as home to the Steelers for 31 seasons. The team began playing as the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8, 1933 making it the fifth oldest franchise in the NFL. Before the 1940 season the Pirates became the Steelers. There were player shortages during WWII and the combined team played as the Phil-Pitt Steagles in 1943 and the Card-Pitt in 1944. By 1945 they were the Pittsburgh Steelers again and remain so today. Three generations of the Rooney family have owned the team.

Pittsburgh has won six Super Bowl titles, more than any other team. They have won 7 AFC Championship Games, and hosted 10 conference championship games, both records. They have also played in more AFC conference Championship games than any other team and they are tied with the Dallas Cowboys with 14 championship game appearances in either the NFC or the AFC. The Pittsburgh Steelers are the current NFL champions after winning Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009.

Pittsburg Steelers players that were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame include Johnny “Blood” McNally, 1963, Robert “Cal” Hubbard, 1963, Bill Dudley, 1966, Walt Kiesling 1966, Bobby Layne, 1967, Marion Motley, 1968, Ernie Stautner, 1969, Joe Greene, 1987, Len Dawson, 1987, John Henry Johnson, 1987, Jack Ham, 1988, Mel Blount, 1989, Terry Bradshaw, 1989, Franco Harris, 1990, Jack Lambert, 1990, Mike Webster, 1997, Lynn Swann, 2001, John Stallworth, 2002, and Rod Woodson 2009.

Mike Tomlin was named the 16th head coach of the Steelers on January 22, 2007. He is only the third since 1969. He was the youngest to coach in and win a Super Bowl when the Steelers won 27 – 23 over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. His hope for the 2009 season is a repeat of last year with the help of his Steelers team including players James Farrior, James Harrison, Santonio Holmes, Mewelde Moore, Willie Parker, Troy Polamalu, Jeff Reed, and Ben Roethlisberger.