Talent only gets an NFL team so far. Championship squads need more than just being fast, strong and physical. A tight bond and a high power sure don’t hurt. That’s the story of the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, Bill Cowher’s squad that finally won “one for the thumb.” Reflecting on that group on the 20-year anniversary of that squad that will reunite this weekend in Pittsburgh, Cowher revealed the reasons why the Steelers hoisted the Lombardi.
“We all had a degree of commitment and we all learned to trust one another and have each other’s back,” Cowher said during a Friday appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “It wasn’t our most talented team, but it was our closest team. And that’s what I’m proud of.”
The Steelers were in the throngs of despair late in the regular season. Dropping from 7-2 to 7-5, Pittsburgh was playing its way out of the playoff picture. But a late-season push, aided by how close the veteran-laden team was, propelled the Steelers into the postseason as the sixth and final seed. Even if the team was led by a second-year quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger, the defense was firmly established and the front five served as the heart of the offense.
Odds were still stacked against them. To that point, a No. 6 seed had never won it all. Just before the team’s Wild Card game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Cowher got a little extra boost.
“We’re getting ready on a Friday night,” he said. “We played at Cincinnati Bengals, were a six seed. Mr. Rooney comes into my office about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Everybody’s gone. He says, ‘Coach, how are we doing?’ I go, Mr. Rooney, I think we’re good. We had a good week work. I mean Cincinnati, we know them well. I think we’ll be okay.
“He goes, ‘Well, I want to give you something here.’ I go, ‘What is it?’ He goes, ‘Rosary beads.’ I go, I’m not even Catholic. He goes, ‘Just take them.’ I said, ‘We don’t need any luck.’ He said, ‘Coach, every little bit helps.'”
Cowher accepted the beads and placed them in his pocket. Two weeks later when the Steelers were in danger of letting a historic upset of the Indianapolis Colts slip away following RB Jerome Bettis’ fumble and Roethlisberger’s incredible tackle, Cowher understood what Rooney meant.
“I went in my pocket. I started holding that thing. I go, ‘Come on baby. Work your juju.'”
Kicker Mike Vanderjagt, at the time the NFL’s most accurate kicker in NFL history, hooked a game-tying kick wide right to preserve the Steelers’ victory. Seeing the power of the rosary beads, Cowher made sure to hang onto them the rest of the way. Minutes before kickoff against the Denver Broncos, Cowher rushed back into the locker room to retrieve them. Pittsburgh confidently won the game, advanced to the Super Bowl, and beat the Seattle Seahawks.
Cowher told the show he specifically mandated the Steelers wear their away white jerseys to keep the manta of being the road underdog, even if Super Bowl XL felt like a home game played in Jerome Bettis’ backyard. It came against a Seattle Seahawks team often forgotten for how talented it was that season. The No. 1 scoring offense and a 13-3 team that hadn’t lost a meaningful game that year since October (Seattle fell in Week 17 but rested its starters).
The Steelers are gathering the 2005 Super Bowl team this weekend and will honor them during Sunday’s game facing those Colts that helped pave the way to that title run. And 20 years later, Cowher still owns the beads given to him by the late Rooney.
“I’m gonna pull them out on Saturday night as I meet with some of the guys,” he said. “And just talk about the element of what happens with that football team. It started at the top.”
Pittsburgh had the right ownership, coaching and players (and, evidently, divine intervention). It was a group in clear coordination that worked together to dig out of a regular season that was potentially lost. To pull off three-straight AFC road wins. To climb the mountain and cheer at the top. Facing their own potential three-game losing streak against the favored Colts, the 2025 Steelers would be wise to heed the same advice.
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