I wonder if a young Ben Roethlisberger would have been traded away by Tomlin and Khan???

In 2005, the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated. They went 11-5 in the regular season and a perfect 4-0 in the playoffs, finishing 15-5 overall. What made that run so special wasn’t just the record. It was how they did it.Bill Cowher was the steady hand steering the ship. A coach in his prime, leading with toughness, discipline, and belief. And at the center of it all was a 23-year-old Ben Roethlisberger the youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl at the time.

 

The steelers were 27-4 including the playoffs in the first 2 years with Roethlisberger as starter.They were dominant.Don't let the 6 seed in a strong conference(with a 11-5 record)fool you.If Roethlisberger would not been out for 4 games and that Maddox would not been god awful in the 2 overtime loss,the steelers record would been better...It was almost the same team who had a 15-1 record in 2004

 

I've seen several times a team have a down year after a deep run and bounce back after that

The Steelers did this several times in the 2000s until 2010.They make the afc title game or super bowl in 2001,2004 and 2010 after missing the playoffs the year before.They did not make the playoffs in 2006 and 2009 after winning the super bowl

 

We didn’t dominate in 2005. This is false. Sure, we went on a run in the playoffs obviously since we won the SB but we were a 6th seed for a reason.

I remember distinctly because we lost to the Bengals and I thought the season was over at 7-5.

That isn’t domination. Domination is a 1 or 2 seed and

nah, I watched that whole season. We were 7-5 at one point and lost a shoot out with the Bengals. Keep in mind

We also got blown out in Indy which is why everyone was shocked when we came out passing and kept passing in the playoffs vs the Colts.

You can use revisionist history if you want but when we were 7-5 no one was screaming SB contender and how we had a dominating roster at that point.

There is no fooling anyone when you are a 6th seed. The record was the record.

When the Giants won those SB’s as a 6th seed, no one calls them a dominant roster. They got hot just like we did.

 

This.

We were a good to very good team in a conference with other good to very good teams. I don't think we were the best of the teams in the conference. But we did get "hot at the right time". And with Ben in his prime, you were in every game.

Tomlin unquestionably benefited from having Ben when he was hired (and other great players like Troy too).

Just like Cowher benefited from having guys like Woodson, Dawson, Lloyd, Lake, etc. We didn't fall ass-backward into an incredibly talented QB a few years before Cowher was hired. Instead, Noll drafted Neil O'Donnel before Cowher was hired. And while he wasn't anywhere close to what Ben was, he did deliver 4 reasonably good seasons (for the era and the system) and a great playoff run...until the end. I wonder what would have happened if we kept NOD and Erhardt as the OC.

 

We didn’t win a SB in 2006.

How many teams have repeated as SB champs the next year? Not many.

No one says “they had a SB roster last year, why didn’t they win again?”

Its hard to win SB’s.

Also, the 2 biggest plays made in SB 2008.. 2 of the 3 players (Holmes and Harrison) weren’t impact players in 2005. Harrison was on ST and Holmes was still in college. Oh, and again, the OL was TRASH in 2008.

 

exactly.

Small sample size but after that Bengals loss Steeler fans weren’t thinking SB. We were wondering if we would even make the playoffs.

When we had to play the Colts most fans were like “well, its been a great season..”

because we were absolutely embarrassed on Monday night in Indy.

That’s what made 2005 so special. We didn’t really think we had much of a shot at 7-5. Win every game and then have to go on the road and win every game when no other team had ever done it before?

and while 2004 was magical for Ben. The playoffs were the exact opposite. We thought we lost to the Jets like 3 times with those FG attempts. Pat’s embarrassed us the next week.

It was the typical “Cowher” playoff special in 2004 and if not for Ben’s shoestring tackle, it may have been happened again in 2005.

We had good rosters. Yes, we thought 2004 would end with a SB appearance based on the regular season but it was all a surprise which is what made it more special.

 

Either you except head to head , or You don't. This why I laughed at the people who right away asked what's Tomlins, and Belichicks head to head because they were the same that said it didn't matter. Hypocrites.
Either it does , or doesn't. People can't pick, and chose. If it was only one meeting, I would agree, but if its more than once
I personally think Belichick is a awesome HC, this is for the unthinking people that love to down Tomlin, people can't have things both ways . You can't say Tomlin sucks, and Belichick is great, and yet Tomlin without a HOF Qb has a winning record, and Belichick without his HOF Qb, a Qb that also won a SB without him has a losing record , and say He was great , the two thoughts don't match up. Anyway much of what I said isn't towards you.

 

LoL. Really. Same roster??
LoL. Only 13 guys on the whole freaking roster were the same. LoL 13 out of 53. Yeah that's totally the same. LoL
That's not even counting guys that were starting in one, that were just backups in the other.

 

I've heard it all now. Mike Tomlin is a better coach than Bill Belichick.

Bill Belichick won the Super Bowl 6 times with 2 totally different rosters in 00's and 10's, sans QB.

Tomlin never sniffed a Super Bowl after 2010 when the players drafted from 1998-2006 retired or moved on.

 

Teams change every season. That’s just the way it is.

Only thing ridiculous is trying to imply that a team who wins a SB is the same team 2 years later. If that’s the case why aren’t all these SB winning teams bouncing back 2 years later? Why aren’t teams moving on from expensive HC’s and hiring young unproven guys to go right back to a SB?

 

Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu, Willie Parker, Heath Miller, James Farrior, Larry Foote, Casey Hampton, Hines Ward, James Harrison, Jeff Reid, Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel, Ike Taylor, Deshea Townsend and Bryant McFadden.

That's a helluva core for both Super Bowl XL and XLIII teams!

Harrison didn't start but he played games in '05. Townsend was the #3 nickel CB.

 

The season doesn’t end after just 12 games. We were 15-5 winning 75% of our games including the super bowl. I'm glad Cowher and the team did not lose heart or focus at 7-5.

 

Here's a some guys drafted before Cowher was the HC. There are probably more.

• Woodson
• Dawson
• Faneca
• Lake
• Lloyd
• O'Donnel (no Ben, but got them to a SB)
• Thigpen
• Foster
• Jackson
• Wolford

IMO, this doesn't mean Cowher shouldn't get credit for the success he had when these guys were on the team.

He did a good job with the roster that he was given too.

Didn't win a SB like Tomlin did. But that's becuase Ben >> O'Donnel (who was still really good for us outside of SBXXX).

Even still, he might have won a SB if we didn't have to pay that Cowboys team. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I remember that those 'Boys teams did the best job of manipulating the new cap (came into effect 2 years earlier) re: Aikman-Smith-Irving. But I admit to knowing a lot less about the cap then vs. now (and I'm still no expert).

 

How many "dominant" teams do people think can be in the league at the same time?

 

It was a very good roster but at the same time,they had very few playoffs experience.1989 was their only playoffs experience.The roster in 2008 had super bowl experience,players and also in the coaching staff

Faneca was drafted in 1998 under Cowher btw