This week’s Sunday morning International Game pits the Pittsburgh Steelers against the New Orleans Saints at Stade de France Stadium which is located near Paris. These are two teams that opened their National Football League schedules with high hopes yet more questions than answers.
The Steelers are under the direction of a new head coach, this is an organization that with the hiring of Mike McCarthy introduced only their fourth new coach in more than a half-century. The three predecessors to McCarthy all won Super Bowls.
The journey from cellar-dwellers to Super Bowl Champions began when Chuck Noll took the reins of the team in 1969. In a career that spanned that year to 1991, Noll led the Steelers to four Super Bowl wins. Bill Cowher was named Steelers head coach in 1992, served in the position for 15 seasons, and added a Vince Lombardi Trophy to their collection.
Mike Tomlin took himself out of the job last January after 19 seasons, and during his tenure the Steelers captured another Super Bowl win and a record that will likely never be broken. In his 19 years with the Steelers, Tomlin never suffered a losing campaign.
Now it is McCarthy’s turn to extend this level of excellence … and he has perhaps a bigger challenge than any of the previous Pittsburgh head coaches except Noll. Noll had to turn a losing franchise into a winner, while McCarthy is entrusted to win while the Pittsburgh talent is not up to the standards handed off to Cowher and Tomlin. The Steelers defense lacks the dominating personnel that has marked this team’s success for generations.
The problem with the Steelers is those consecutive non-losing seasons by Tomlin were impressive in the regular season and earned numerous playoff dates, but Pittsburgh was never the best team in the league after the 2008 season. Good enough to win a majority of their games, but that continued success never allowed Pittsburgh high draft choices to build a dominant team.