Founded in 1933, the Pittsburgh Steelers is the fifth-oldest team in the league and one of the most popular teams among blue-collar workers in the league.

This is a team that started with defense, and has won the reputation of "Screen of Steel" with its excellent performance. On the road to winning the championship for the past five times, they all rely on the defensive team to win. They have a long history and tradition of defense. Many fans even believe that they are the league's number one defense, and their peak period is terrifying.

Historically, the Chicago Bears in 1985 were hailed as a desperate defensive team; and beyond this, the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive team in the 1970s was truly invincible and established a dynasty.

After its establishment in 1933, the Pittsburgh Steelers performed poorly for nearly forty years and struggled. They only entered the playoffs in 1947, and were members of the back-season classes for most of the time. They could not see any hope for the playoffs. They even achieved a record of losing all in 1944 during World War II.

Of course, there were only ten games in the season at that time, which was still very different from the first time this year's Detroit Lions history.

Despite this, the Pittsburgh Steelers struggled at the beginning of its establishment. Then in 1969, the team brought famous coach Chuck-roll to Pittsburgh and began a long and arduous reconstruction work heart-wrenchingly.

Under Chuck Roll, the Pittsburgh Steelers spent the establishment period of the first three seasons and officially rose to the postseason in 1972. From 1972 to 1979, they entered the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons, reached the Super Bowl finals four times and won four championships, including two defending feats in 1975 and 1979, and their dominant performance was almost impossible to find an opponent.

Roll stayed at the Pittsburgh Steelers until the 1992 season and then announced his retirement. The defensive team waited for another famous coach, Bill-cowher.

After taking office, Kohh created another feat of making it into the playoffs for six consecutive years, but unfortunately, the team did not wait until 2005 for the team's fifth Super Bowl championship trophy. Kohh later officially announced his retirement, forcing the Pittsburgh Steelers to find a new successor.

McTomlin made his debut under this background—

By the way, Tomlin's competitors at that time included Ken Weisen Hunter, who was the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers at the time, but unfortunately Weisen Hunter lost to Tomlin in the competition. Then Weisen Hunter went to the Arizona Cardinals as head coach and led the team to the National League final this season.

Just a little bit, Wiesenhunter and Tomlin will once again stand on the opposite side of competition, but Lu Yiqi's emergence broke this situation.

Tomlin is the first African-American coach in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers team, and is also the third youngest head coach in the four major sports leagues in North America. Of course, all of these records were later refreshed by Lu Yiqi, and Lu Yiqi further swept the first, the first Asian coach, the first youngest head coach, and so on in the four major sports leagues in North America.

In his first season as the head coach, Tomlin led the Pittsburgh Steelers into the playoffs and unfortunately failed to play in the wild card game. Then in the second season, they were already on the Super Bowl stage. The coach's talent and strength were undoubtedly a winner of Pittsburgh fans.

Whether it was the Chuck Roll era, the Bill Coach era, or the current McTomlin era, the Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive team was the absolute protagonist.

Objectively speaking, since Ben Roslisberg joined in 2004, the Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive team has gradually recovered and has indeed become competitive. Later, the team began to introduce excellent running backs and wide receivers in the draft, which also proves their determination to have more competitiveness in offense, mainly because the mainstream development direction of the league is tilting towards offense.

However, what the Pittsburgh Steelers are still good at is defense.

Rossrisberg was not the protagonist in the 2005 championship and the 2008 season's rise to the Super Bowl, and Rossrisberg was the real hero. The Pittsburgh Steelers are still the desperately powerful Iron Team.

So, what are the characteristics of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defensive team?

In fact, many of the most widely circulated basic defensive tactics in the league now come from the Pittsburgh Steelers, or have been improved and improved by the Pittsburgh Steelers. What they are best at is establishing "steel curtain defense".

What exactly is a steel curtain?

That is to say, divide the defense team into parallel lines. The first line is the defensive front line, the second line is the linebacker, the third line is the cornerback, and the fourth line is the safety guard. There are four lines in front and back, showing vertical parallel standing. Each line is a curtain of steel, which lies like an iron curtain on the road ahead. It is not only airtight, but also layered. Each line of defense can be regarded as a nightmare.

Such a defensive strategy is still a defensive tactic widely used by thirty-two teams, including Lu Yiqi.

The Pittsburgh Steelers under Tomlin pays more attention to offense and defensive balance. Rossrisberg's existence gives Tomlin more room to play, pays attention to passing and running balance, and emphasizes the offensive strategy of counterattacks, which does give the Pittsburgh Steelers more possibilities, but Tomlin's best attitude is defensive tactics.

Before being the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tomlin was the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings—so Tomlin and the Green Bay Packers are also considered old acquaintances, and his defensive tactics have many similarities with Lu Yiqi:

Pressure in the frontcourt.

The Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive tactics are "3-4" formations, with three defensive forwards and four linebackers combined. They attach great importance to the pressure exerted by linebackers, which also makes them dominant in the frontcourt. This year, two of their four linebackers were shortlisted for the Pro Bowl and the All-American team, among which James Harrison became the best defensive player of the year in the 2008 season. From this, they can see their front-line strength.

Not only that, Pittsburgh Steelers' online guard, safety guard, cornerback and other positions are all strong, basically equivalent to an upgraded version of the Green Bay Packers' defense team.

Of course, Tomlin and Lu Yiqi are still different after all. Lu Yiqi's defensive tactical system is more advanced, and pressure is only part of the system. There are many tactical changes in the cooperation between the front and back courts; while Tomlin is more solid and steady, and retro tactics are the mainstream.
Chapter completed!