Pittsburgh

The pre-merger era (1933–1968)

Art Rooney, a Pittsburgh native and accomplished multi-sport athlete, developed a passion for football that led him to found the semi-professional Hope-Harvey Football Club as a teenager, widely considered the precursor to the Steelers.

In May 1933, Rooney was awarded an NFL franchise for a $2,500 fee, establishing the Pittsburgh Professional Football Club (later renamed the Steelers), which began play that season as the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field.

The Steelers first took to the field as the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 20, 1933, losing 23–2 to the New York Giants. Through the 1930s, the Pirates never finished higher than second place in their division, or with a record better than .500 (1936). Pittsburgh did make history in 1938 by signing Byron White, a future Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to what was at the time the biggest contract in NFL history, but he played only one year with the Pirates before signing with the Detroit Lions. Prior to the 1940 season, the Pirates renamed themselves the Steelers.

During World War II, the Steelers experienced player shortages. They twice merged with other NFL franchises to field a team. During the 1943 season, they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles forming the "Phil-Pitt Eagles" and were known as the "Steagles". This team went 5–4–1. In 1944, they merged with the Chicago Cardinals and were known as Card-Pitt (or, mockingly, as the "Carpets"). This team finished 0–10, marking the only winless team in franchise history.

The Steelers made the playoffs for the first time in 1947, tying for first place in the division at 8–4 with the Philadelphia Eagles. This forced a tie-breaking playoff game at Forbes Field, which the Steelers lost 21–0. That would be Pittsburgh's only playoff game in the pre-merger era; they did qualify for a "Playoff Bowl" in 1962 as the second-best team in their conference, but this was not considered an official playoff.

In 1970, the year they moved into Three Rivers Stadium and the year of the AFL–NFL merger, the Pittsburgh Steelers were one of three old-guard NFL teams to switch to the newly formed American Football Conference (the others being the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Colts), in order to equalize the number of teams in the two conferences of the newly merged league. The Steelers also received a $3 million ($24.9 million today) relocation fee, which was a windfall for them; for years they rarely had enough to build a true contending team.

Chuck Noll years (1969–1991)

The Steelers' history of bad luck changed with the hiring of coach Chuck Noll from the NFL champion Baltimore Colts for the 1969 season. Noll's most remarkable talent was in his draft selections, taking Hall of Famers "Mean" Joe Greene in 1969, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount in 1970, Jack Ham in 1971, Franco Harris in 1972, and finally, in 1974, pulling off the incredible feat of selecting four Hall of Famers in one draft year: Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster. The Pittsburgh Steelers' 1974 draft was their best ever; no other team has ever drafted four future Hall of Famers in one year, and only very few (including the 1970 Steelers) have drafted two or more in one year.

A pivotal moment in franchise history came during the 1972 season with the "Immaculate Reception," when Franco Harris caught a deflected pass and returned it for a game-winning touchdown against the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs—securing the Steelers' first postseason victory ever and signaling the beginning of their rise to prominence. The play is often cited as one of the greatest in NFL history.

At the core of the Steelers' dominance was the famed "Steel Curtain" defense, anchored by Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Ernie Holmes, and Dwight White along the defensive line, with linebackers Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, and Andy Russell providing elite support. Known for its physicality, discipline, and relentless pass rush, the Steel Curtain became one of the most feared defensive units in NFL history, consistently ranking among the league's best and helping define the team's identity throughout the 1970s.

The players drafted in the early 1970s formed the base of an NFL dynasty, making the playoffs in eight seasons and becoming the only team in NFL history to win four Super Bowls in six years, as well as the first to win more than two; capturing championships in Super Bowls IX, X, XIII, and XIV. They also enjoyed a regular-season streak of 49 consecutive wins (1971–1979) against teams that would finish with a losing record that year.