In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles,Giants, and Redskins

The Steelers have had three coaches that would be regarded as legendary on most franchises. One of them is Hall of Famer Chuck Noll, who led the team to four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s. Noll also ranks third when it comes to improving the Steelers’ all-time winning percentage. While he was an outstanding head coach, he also had 7 seasons (out of 23) with a losing record. Consider that Mike Tomlin has never had a losing record in 12 years as Pittsburgh’s head coach and has won 65% of his games. Bill Cowher had 3 losing seasons in 15 years and won 62% of his games while coaching 48 more games than Tomlin. When it comes to regular season success, you can make a case for all three of these men as the best in Steelers history, but the numbers side with Tomlin: without him, Pittsburgh has a 0.505 winning percentage. Without Cowher, the Steelers franchise winning percentage is 0.506, and without Noll, it’s 0.514. Of course, Tomlin inherited a great team from Cowher, and Cowher inherited a great franchise from Noll. It was Noll who built the Steelers up from nothing, inheriting a 2-win team in 1968 and winning just one game his first year. His four rings make him the clear choice for best coach in Pittsburgh history.

The full coaching history for the Steelers ^[1]Which includes the ’43 Eagles/Steelers and ’44 Cardinals/Steelers teams. is below.

At quarterback, this is naturally a two-man race. You might be surprised to learn that Terry Bradshaw actually has a better career winning percentage than Ben Roethlisberger; Big Ben was ahead of Bradshaw entering 2018, but a 9-6-1 season dropped him behind the Hall of Famer. Still, Roethlisberger comes in 1st in this table because of the large lead he has in games played: as good as the Steelers have been, the franchise (sine 1950) has only won 53.5% of games not started by Roethlisberger. On the other hand, here’s something that might surprise you: the Steelers are 305-306 since 1950 in all games started by quarterbacks other than Roethlisberger and Bradshaw. I would have thought the team would have a much worse record, but Neil O’Donnell, Kordell Stewart, and Bobby Layne all had good runs in black and gold.

What about running backs? The Steelers have had three Hall of Fame running backs in Franco Harris, Jerome Bettis, and John Henry Johnson, and Le’Veon Bell may work his way into Canton one day, too. Harris led the Steelers in rushing in 136 different games (including playoffs) in his career, which ranks as the 5th most of any player for one team since 1950. Bell joins a small group of players to lead his team in rushing 94% of the time for over 60 games: Barry Sanders with the Lions, Edgerrin James with the Colts, Eric Dickerson with the Rams, and Eric Dickerson with the Colts.

When it comes to wide receivers, the Steelers have a star-studded history. There’s four Hall of Fame caliber wide receivers in Hines Ward, Antonio Brown, John Stallworth, and Lynn Swann, and don’t forget about Louis Lipps, who led the team in receiving yards six times in his career (a feat only Ward equaled). But who led the Steelers in receiving yards in a game most often? And who did it at the highest rate? The answers below:

That’s it for the Pittsburgh version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.