The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a Super Bowl since 2008. They’ve only advanced beyond the Divisional Round of the playoffs twice since then.
But while the Steelers haven’t been great over the last 15 years, they’ve never been bad. Despite the waning arm strength and subsequent retirement of Ben Roethlisberger and the Kenny Pickett/Mason Rudolph-led quarterback carousel that followed him, head coach Mike Tomlin has never seen a losing season in his first 17 years on the job.
A win over his arch rival Cleveland Browns in Week 12 would bring that streak to 18 years — extending his record of most NFL seasons without a sub-.500 record. It would also give him the third-most consecutive winning seasons in league history, behind only Tom Landry (21 straight years of success with the Dallas Cowboys from 1965 to 1985) and Bill Belichick (19 winning seasons with the New England Patriots from 2001 to 2019).
Pittsburgh’s streak of winning campaigns stretches beyond Tomlin. His predecessor, Bill Cowher, had only three sub-.500 years in his 15 seasons at the helm. He left after an 8-8 2006, one year after winning Super Bowl XL.
All told, the Steelers’ last losing season came in 2003, when they went 6-10 with XFL veteran Tommy Maddox at quarterback. With a victory Thursday night in Cleveland, Pittsburgh can make it 25 straight years without a losing record.
