Pittsburgh Steelers

Super Bowl XLIII

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a National Football League (NFL) team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the American Football Conference (AFC) North Division.

## Contents

* 1 History and League Success
* 2 Rooney Rule
* 3 AFC North Rivals
* 4 External links
* 5 References

## History and League Success[edit]

The Steelers entered the league in 1933, and were originally called the Pittsburgh Pirates (the same as the baseball team), before taking their present name in 1940.

Prior to the AFL-NFL merger they were one of the league's worst franchises: they never appeared in the NFL championship game and had only one playoff appearance (1947). Also, during World War II, due to a lack of available players, they were temporarily merged with other teams: in 1943 with the Philadelphia Eagles to form the "Phil-Pitt Eagles" (more popularly called the "Steagles") and the following year with the then Chicago Cardinals to form "Card-Pitt" (mockingly called the "Carpets", fitting for a combined team finishing 0-10, the franchise's only winless season).

Upon the merger of the leagues, the Steelers (along with the Cleveland Browns and the then Baltimore Colts) were moved to the AFC to equalize the number of teams in each conference. After the merger, the Steelers became (and remain) one of the league's dominant franchises: they have been to eight Super Bowls (tied with the Dallas Cowboys for second-most; the Steelers and Cowboys are the only teams to meet each other in three different Super Bowls, with the Steelers winning the first two and the Cowboys winning their most recent meeting), winning six (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 2005, and 2008, tying them with the New England Patriots for the most wins).

They are the only team to have its helmet decal on only one side of the helmet (the right). The decal is a variation of a trademark known as the Steelmark and was originally owned by U.S. Steel; it is now owned by the American Iron and Steel Institute. It consists of three hypocycloids (yellow, orange and blue) with the word "Steelers" included.

## Rooney Rule[edit]

Dan Rooney, the owner of the Steelers, was named the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland on July 1, 2009 [1] The Rooney family also instituted the NFL's "Rooney Rule", which requires for any head coach or senior operations manager vacancy that one ethnic minority person must be interviewed (it does not require actual hiring, and thus is often ignored by teams who interview a "token" candidate having already decided who will be hired).

## AFC North Rivals[edit]

* Baltimore Ravens
* Cincinnati Bengals
* Cleveland Browns

## External links[edit]

* SI Team Site
* Pittsburgh Steelers

## References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/125608.htm.

NFL Teams
|  | AFC  |  |  |

* Baltimore Ravens
* Buffalo Bills
* Cincinnati Bengals
* Cleveland Browns
* Denver Broncos
* Houston Texans
* Indianapolis Colts
* Jacksonville Jaguars
* Kansas City Chiefs
* Miami Dolphins
* New England Patriots
* New York Jets
* Oakland Raiders
* Pittsburgh Steelers
* San Diego Chargers
* Tennessee Titans

| NFC  |  |  |

* Arizona Cardinals
* Atlanta Falcons
* Carolina Panthers
* Chicago Bears
* Dallas Cowboys
* Detroit Lions
* Green Bay Packers
* Minnesota Vikings
* New Orleans Saints
* New York Giants
* Philadelphia Eagles
* San Francisco 49ers
* Seattle Seahawks
* St. Louis Rams
* Tampa Bay Buccaneers
* Washington Redskins