Team History: Pittsburgh Steelers Quiz

Answer: Philadelphia Eagles

The Steelers were formed concurrently with the Eagles in 1933, after the state of Pennsylvania repealed its Blue laws that sought to restrict activity on Sundays. Art Rooney, known as "The Chief", applied for and was granted an NFL franchise in May 1933. The franchise has never left the Rooney family's ownership.

While the Cardinals franchise only moved to Arizona in 1994, the team has existed since 1920. The Lions franchise has existed since 1930, although the team was known as the Portsmouth Spartans until 1934. The Redskins first came into existence in 1932, but the team was based in Boston until 1937.

The Steelers, alongside the Eagles, are the seventh oldest NFL franchise. The Green Bay Packers (1919), Chicago Bears (1920) and New York Giants (1925) are also older than the Steelers.

Answer: 5

The merger with the Eagles went fairly well, with the team compiling a 5-4-1 record and finishing just one game shy of the joint-division winning Washington Redskins and New York Giants. The merger with the Cardinals was a disaster, with the team losing all ten of its regular season games. Unsurprisngly, the Steelers and Cardinals finished bottom of their respective divisions in 1945.

Answer: 5

The Steelers were one of the league's weaker teams throughout most of this era. The team went 6-5-1 in 1949 but this was only enough for second in the Eastern Division, with only the top team qualifying for the NFL Championship game.

1958 and 1959 saw the team post 7-4-1 and 6-5-1 records respectively but it was not enough to advance to the next stage. The team posted an impressive 9-5 record in 1962, but the New York Giants finished three wins ahead of them. The team's 7-4-3 record in 1963 was the team's last winning season before Chuck Noll's arrival in 1969.

Answer: Joe Paterno

Paterno was hot property after leading Penn State to an undefeated season in 1968. He had also been named AFCA Coach of the Year for his work with the team. Paterno opted to stay at Penn State, where he remained until 2011, when he was removed from his position as a result of the Penn State sexual abuse scandal.

Noll was the youngest head coach in NFL history at the time, aged just 37. According to Art Rooney, it was Miami Dolphins icon Don Shula who recommended Noll, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Answer: 9

Noll's first draft pick was "Mean Joe" Greene in 1969, taking the defensive tackle with the fourth pick. After winning a coin toss with the Chicago Bears, the Steelers took quarterback Terry Bradshaw with the first overall pick in 1970 while also taking cornerback Mel Blount in the third round. Outside linebacker Jack Ham was drafted in 1971 as was running back Franco Harris in 1972.

The 1974 draft class was incredible for Pittsburgh. Four future Hall of Famers were taken. (No other team had ever drafted more than two in one draft). Center Mike Webster, linebacker Jack Lambert and wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth were taken by Noll within the team's first five picks of the draft.

Answer: John Fuqua

With Oakland leading 7-6 with just 22 seconds left and the ball at Pittsburgh's 40 yard line, quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass intended for Fuqua. When Raiders safety Jack Tatum batted it away, Harris caught the ball at ankle height and ran the ball into the end zone. Pittsburgh ended up as 13-7 winners.

The play was massively controversial as some theorize that only Fuqua touched the ball, or that the ball hit the ground before Harris recovered it. According to NFL rules at the time, both instances would have resulted in the play being an incomplete pass.

Answer: Field goal

Even though the game featured two of the best quarterbacks in the league in Pittsburgh's Terry Bradshaw and Minnesota's Fran Tarkenton, defense dominated the first half. The only source of points in the first half came in the second quarter when Vikings halfback Dave Osborn dropped a Tarkenton pitch into the end zone, with Tarkenton downed by Steelers defensive end Dwight White for a safety.

In the third quarter, a nine-yard touchdown run from Franco Harris gave Pittsburgh a 9-0 lead. A Pittsburgh punt was blocked by Minnesota linebacker Matt Blair and recovered by safety Terry Brown in the end zone. The Steelers finished the Vikings off with a touchdown from Bradshaw to Larry Brown. The game ended 16-6 to Pittsburgh.

Answer: 50+ catches in the regular season

Swann, alongside St Louis Cardinals wideout Mel Gray, led the NFL in touchdown receptions with 11. Swann won Super Bowl MVP after catching four passes for 161 yards and a touchdown in the Steelers' 21-17 win against the Dallas Cowboys. (This achievement was particularly miraculous as Swann had suffered a concussion in the AFC title game against the Oakland Raiders)

Swann's achievements in the regular season saw him nominated to the Second Team All-Pro roster for the 1975 season. However, Swann did not quite crack the 50 reception mark, catching 49 balls for 781 yards.

Answer: Myron Cope

WTAE, the Steelers' flagship radio station, attempted to create a gimmick that would attract viewers to their radio show. Cope, the Steelers' radio broadcaster, was originally against the idea but agreed to help after he was offered a raise in his next contract.

The towel has since become synonymous with the Steeler fan experience, and Steelers fans have often taken pictures of their towels in extreme places such as Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Everest. When Cope died in 2008, his daughter draped his coffin in a quilt made from Terrible Towels.

Answer: 1st

The game had many memorable moments, including a 75 yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to John Stallworth, a strip sack on Bradshaw that led to a touchdown and an infamous pass interference call on Cowboys defensive back Benny Barnes that helped give Pittsburgh a two score lead in the fourth quarter. The game ended 35-31. The game is perhaps most famous for Jackie Smith's drop that could have given the Cowboys four more points had he caught it.

Super Bowl XLII (Giants 17-14 Patriots), Super Bowl XLIX (Patriots 28-24 Seahawks), Super Bowl LI (Patriots 34-28 Falcons) and Super Bowl XXV (Giants 20-19 Bills) also made the top 5.

Answer: New England Patriots

The Steelers lost to the Chargers in the first round of the 1982 playoffs, with Dan Fouts leading a fourth quarter comeback from 28-17 to win the game 31-28. Kellen Winslow caught two touchdown passes in the fourth. This was the last playoff game Bradshaw played in.

The Steelers made it to the 1984 AFC title game, where they lost 45-28 to the Miami Dolphins. The Fins were led by Dan Marino, who the Steelers had passed on in the 1983 draft. In the 1989 playoffs, the Steelers lost to the Broncos after a last minute comeback led by quarterback John Elway. Denver won 24-23.

Answer: Made the playoffs in all of his first five seasons

Cowher was not expected to achieve much in his early years due to excessive decline in Noll's later years. The Steelers actually made the playoffs in Cowher's first six seasons, but would suffer a number of unexpected playoff losses that would become a defining theme of Cowher's tenure.

Cowher did win the AFC Central in five of his first six seasons, but the 1993 season saw the team only make the playoffs as a wildcard team. The Steelers had three 10+ win seasons in Cowher's first four years, but could only achieve a 9-7 record in 1993. The Steelers made it to their first AFC title game with Cowher in 1994, Cowher's third season.

Answer: Jason Gildon

Gildon registered a career-best 13.5 sacks in 2000, which was enough to see him nominated. Young linebacker Porter also registered 10.5 sacks of his own. At one stage, the Steelers went 20 consecutive quarters without giving up a touchdown, which was only two shy of the 22 quarter record set by the Steelers in 1976.

It is a surprise that Bettis was not nominated, as he had rushed for 1,341 yards. He did make the Pro Bowl in six other seasons however (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004). Dawson was a Pro Bowler in every season between 1992 and 1998, and is a part of the Steelers' all-time team and the NFL 1990's All-Decade Team.

Answer: First punt return for a touchdown in Super Bowl history

Early in the third quarter, a Willie Parker 75-yard touchdown run gave the Steelers a 14-3 lead. Kelly Herndon returned a Ben Roethlisberger interception for 76 yards to help set up a Seattle touchdown in the third quarter. (Steelers player James Harrison would break this record in Super Bowl XLIII by returning an interception for a 100-yard touchdown). In the fourth quarter, a reverse saw Antwaan Randle El throw a 43 yard touchdown to Hines Ward.

Answer: Defensive Player of the Year

James Harrison had an incredible season, registering 16 regular season sacks (4th in the league) and seven forced fumbles (most in the NFL). As a result, he was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Harrison, as mentioned previously, would cap this off by returning a Kurt Warner interception for a 100-yard touchdown in that year's Super Bowl. The Steelers won the game 27-23 to seal a record-breaking sixth Super Bowl.

Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Jerod Mayo won the Offensive Player, Offensive Rookie and Defensive Rookie awards respectively.

Answer: Hines Ward

Ward only ever played for the Steelers, playing for the team between 1998 and 2011. He was MVP of Super Bowl XL. He had exactly 1,000 career receptions. Holmes was the MVP of Super Bowl XLIII, and is famous for his legendary catch that sealed the win against the Cardinals. He was traded to the New York Jets in the off-season that preceded the Steelers' Super Bowl XLV appearance.

Sanders and Brown were both rookies in the 2010 season before Super Bowl XLV. Sanders stayed with the Steelers between 2010 and 2013 before joining the Denver Broncos. Brown left the Steelers in 2019 after being traded to the Oakland Raiders.

Answer: Washington Redskins

The game took place in Week 9 of the 2012 season, with the Steelers winning 27-12. The Steelers were the first team to reach 400 wins in the post-merger era (1970 onwards).

Upon the conclusion of the 2016 season, the Steelers still had the best post-merger win-loss record, winning 61.1% of games (444-282-2). They were the only team with a post-merger record above .600 across those 47 post-merger seasons.

Answer: Bill Cowher

Cowher was named Coach of the Year in 1992 after he led the Steelers to an 11-5 record and an AFC Central title, the team's best win-loss record since 1979. Cowher also won the Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year award in 1992 and 2004.

Despite the dominance the team had in the 1970s under Noll's leadership, Noll never won the AP Coach of the Year. However, he was the UPI AFC Coach of the Year in 1972 and Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year in 1989.

Tomlin won the Motorola NFL Coach of the Year in 2008, but ilke Noll has struggled to win the AP award.

Answer: Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount

Bradshaw and Blount were both inducted in 1989, their first year of eligibility. Interestingly, both men played for the Steelers between 1970 and 1983. Ham (1971-82) and Lambert (1974-84) were inducted in 1988 and 1990 respectively.

Dawson (1988-2000) and Bettis (1996-2005) were inducted in 2012 and 2015 respectively. Both Swann and Stallworth were drafted in 1974, with Swann leaving Pittsburgh in 1982 and Stallworth exiting in 1987. Swann was inducted in 2001 while Stallworth was accepted a year later.

Answer: NFL 2000s All-Decade Team

Even though the Steelers won two Super Bowls in the 2000s, only three Steelers featured in the decade's team. This included Alan Faneca (1998-2007), Joey Porter (1999-2006) and Troy Polamalu (2003-14). Notable omissions include James Harrison and Hines Ward.

The 75th anniversary team was heavily Steeler-populated, with Mike Webster (1974-88), Joe Greene (1969-81). Jack Lambert (1974-84), Jack Ham (1971-82), Mel Blount (1979-83) and Ron Woodson (1987-96) all featuring.

The 1980s team had Webster, Lambert, Blount and kicker Gary Anderson (1982-94) while the 90s team featured Woodson and Anderson alongside Dermontti Dawson (1988-2000), Hardy Nickerson (1987-92), Levon Kirkland (1992-2000) and Carnell Lake. (1989-98)