When you think of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl titles immediately come to mind – the four from the 70s or the two in the 21st century. The fact that the difficult times, long before the Steelers became one of the most successful NFL teams, have now been forgotten, is due to the Men of Steel, who were brought to the city by then head coach Chuck Noll from 1969 – and to those who followed in their footsteps decades later.

Steelers.com
Tony Dungy helped Chuck Noll coach the Steelers in the 1980s.
29 Steelers are now part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame – and a few more are well on their way there. It would go beyond the scope of this article to go into detail about all 29 of them here. This article is therefore limited to a small selection of the greatest Steelers of all time. Six titles – six players.
Running Back Franco Harris (1972-1983)
When talking about Steelers football, one name must not be missing: Franco Harris. As a running back, he stands for the identity of the team from Pittsburgh – wearing down the opponent with the run game, taking away hits and controlling the ball like a clock. Harris was the ideal player for this, given his size and mass. He not only curved around opponents, but ran right through them.
Harris is best known for his Immaculate Reception, which he will tell you all about in the podcast. But it's not just this one catch, which kicked off the Steelers' successful years in 1972, that is worth mentioning. At the end of his career, the American-Italian running back had an incredible 173 games. No wonder Harris was so popular with the fans – especially with ‘Franco's Italian Army,’ his personal fan group – and was practically a Pro Bowl regular. The Hall of Famer was named to the league's All-Star team nine times.
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Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (2004-2022)
When Big Ben won Super Bowl XL with the Steelers on 5 February 2006 despite throwing two interceptions, he became the youngest quarterback (23) of all time to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the sky. He reached the pinnacle of his sport in just his second year as a professional. Many more successful seasons followed, during which he thrilled crowds in the style of an unbreakable tower behind his offensive line and broke the franchise records for most passing yards and passing touchdowns held by Terry Bradshaw in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Safety Troy Polamalu (2003-2014)
He is, of course, an essential part of this list with his flowing, curly black hair. As cheerful and friendly as Troy Polamalu was off the field, on the field he was an aggressive, disruptive defender. The safety combined all the qualities that make a Hall of Famer: improvisation, speed and quick reactions.
If mind reading were actually possible, Polamalu might be considered the inventor of the skill. Time and again during his 12-year career in Pittsburgh, the American of Samoan descent anticipated the next play or snap of the opponent and then reacted with an artistic flying tackle or leap over the line of scrimmage.
The result: two Super Bowl titles, a Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2010, 32 interceptions, 12 sacks, five touchdowns and many other individual honors. There was only one moment that Polamalu perhaps didn't see coming: when David Baker, president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, knocked on his door to tell him about his induction into the Hall of Fame.
Quarterback Terry Bradshaw (1970-1983)
Could there have been a more perfect playmaker for the team from Steel City? Hardly. Terry Bradshaw was tough, fearless and a true leader.
With this attitude, he brought four Super Bowl titles to Pittsburgh, two of them as the MVP of the final game. However, the quarterback's career was not always smooth sailing. In 1974, he lost his starting spot at the beginning of the season before winning his first Super Bowl that same year.
Especially in the early years of his career, the Steelers' success was based on a dominant running game and a strong defense, while Bradshaw managed. It was only when the league changed the rules to make passing easier that Pittsburgh became the team of quarterbacks. In ‘Steel Men,’ Franco Harris describes his team as one that simply went along with the changes in the NFL and adapted to remain successful. Bradshaw did this in particular, even becoming MVP in 1978 and player of the year in the league.

Steelers.com
Steelers' Terry Bradshaw uncorks a pass in Super Bowl XIV.
Linebacker Jack Lambert (1974-1984)
Jack Lambert had a horseshoe moustache, missing teeth and a grim look. Couple that with his penchant for stamping opposing players into the ground with his bad temper and brutal play, and it's easy to see why he was nicknamed 'Count Dracula with cleats.'
For 11 years, Hall of Famer Lambert wreaked havoc for the Steelers. Unforgotten: In Super Bowl X, he defended his kicker Roy Gerela against the trash-talking Cowboys safety Cliff Harris and rammed him to the ground, thus changing the momentum. The action was an initial spark for Pittsburgh, which then turned a deficit into a victory.
Defensive tackle Joe Greene (1969-1981)
It's not pleasant to imagine what might have happened if head coach Chuck Noll had not selected the defensive tackle from Texas with his first pick as Steelers coach in 1969. ‘Mean’ Joe Greene was the foundation of a defence that helped Pittsburgh win four championships in the 1970s.
The 6'4‘, 275-pound defensive lineman dominated the Steelers’ D-line for 13 years. He experienced the times when the team only won one game in a season. But even as a rookie, he showed that he was capable of helping to turn things around. Within three years, Pittsburgh had become one of the best teams in the league. Greene was followed by Ernie Holmes, Dwight White and L.C. Greenwood – the Steel Curtain was born.
The defensive tackle hated to lose. And that's why he rarely lost. The Steelers dominated the 70s like no other team, and Greene was a big part of that. Ten Pro Bowls, two Defensive Player of the Year Awards and, finally, induction into the Hall of Fame in 1987 represent only a fraction of what Joe Greene did for the Steelers.
To this day, he is one of only two players whose jersey numbers the Steelers no longer officially award. The other one? Ernie Stautner, a D-Liner born in Prienzing, Bavaria, who played in Pittsburgh from 1950-1963.

Associated Press
“Mean” Joe Greene was a cornerstone of Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain defense and a team that became a dynasty in the ’70s.
Honorable Mentions: Not listed, but not forgotten
Ernie Stautner and the players mentioned above are not the only legends who shaped the Steelers' years of success. Center “Iron Mike” Webster (1974-1988) led an offensive line with such selfless dedication that it made every running back's job easier. Webster died in 2002 at the age of 50.
Wide receiver Hines Ward (1998-2011) was perhaps the best blocking receiver of his generation and still leads the franchise's all-time lists in catches, yards and touchdowns. Linebacker Jack Ham (1971-1982), the other Jack, compiled an uncharacteristic 32 interceptions for his position. And cornerback Rod Woodson (1987-1996) did a great job in the backfield behind the steel curtain against the league's best receivers, regularly snatching the balls out of their hands and carrying them into the end zone for pick six (12 times, NFL record).