In the 1970s, the Pittsburgh Steelers assembled one of the greatest defenses of all time. The Steel Curtain helped them win four Super Bowls, and since then, the Steelers’ culture has been tied to their defense. When they’ve been most successful, the Steelers have had great defenses. Ben Roethlisberger provided them with some spectacular offenses, but even then, he understands what the city of Pittsburgh wants to see in its football team.
“The Steelers have almost always been, ‘Let’s find a way to get a defense,’” Roethlisberger said recently on his podcast. “I’ve told any running back or rookie that comes in here, ‘The Pittsburgh Steelers will always be about defense and a running back. Accept it.’
“I have no problem with that. I tried to preach that to [Najee Harris], James Conner, who obviously knew from being around here that that’s what it’s about. And that’s great. No matter when we were the flying high offense, the Killer B’s, we were a top-scoring offense in the league, and we were putting up all those points and all those numbers, it was still about the defense. That’s what everyone wants.”
Roethlisberger isn’t wrong. During the 2010s, he played some of his best football. The Steelers’ offense was loaded with talent, including Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell, Maurkice Pouncey, and David DeCastro. However, they never got to a Super Bowl.
Much of the story surrounding them was how putrid their defense was. Over the past few years, the spotlight has once again been on the Steelers’ defense. However, during the Killer B’s era, that unit struggled. They had good players, like Cam Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, and Ryan Shazier, but they couldn’t put all the pieces together.
One of their biggest issues was their secondary. After franchise stalwarts like Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor, and Ryan Clark left Pittsburgh, the Steelers had a difficult time replacing them. William Gay was a fine player, but the rest of the pieces in Pittsburgh’s secondary left much to be desired.
With Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh had a quarterback that could elevate their passing game. It was wiser for them to not be so run-centric on offense. However, since he retired following the 2021 season, the Steelers have returned to their old formula. They want to be a run-first offense, winning mostly thanks to their defense smothering opponents.
Unfortunately, recreating that formula hasn’t been easy. Today’s NFL is more of a passing league. It’s not often that you see sub-par quarterbacks making deep playoff runs thanks to a stellar defense and quality run game.
Also, Roethlisberger shouldn’t sell the importance of offense in Pittsburgh short. Lately, the story with the Steelers has been their inability to find his successor under center. While the Steelers’ defense usually draws the most attention, they haven’t won championships without a franchise quarterback. Roethlisberger and Terry Bradshaw were just as important to Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl wins as their defenses.
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