Who’s on your Steelers Mount Rushmore?

This is a topic that comes up fairly often in the sports world. Lately with the MLB discussing each team’s “franchise four” we thought we’d discuss here who our top 4 Pittsburgh Steelers are, or who would be on our Mount Rushmore.

For the sake of making a difficult debate just a little bit easier, we’re including players only. If you opened up to anyone; the Chief or Chuck Noll would likely be on many people’s list.

This is a really diffusion question to answer, which is what makes it fun. I’m sure we’ll get plenty of different answers in the the comments here.

We at Steel City Blitz have a pretty good range of ages in our staff, which I thought would make our picks differ greatly. Marc and Matt are our elder statesmen, Carlos is our young’n still in high school, and I’m somewhere in between approaching 30 years old.

In asking each of our writers, I told them that their criteria for selections could be their own. Mine personally had to do with not just how game-changing they were on the field, but how well they represented what it means to be a Pittsburgh Steeler. I think have a blue collar mentality is important to go down in Steelers lore.

I polled each person, and here was each of our picks. Although a couple of them waffled on their picks!

Chris
Mean Joe Greene – This was the only no brainer, easy pick for me. The 1974 draft class may have been the pillars in constructing the Steelers dynasty, but Joe Greene was the foundation.
Jack Lambert – The Steelers have historically been known as a team with fantastic linebackers, and a mean streak on the defensive side of the ball. Jack Lambert is the perfect representative of those two things.
Ben Roethlisberger – This one will probably be controversial for many. How do I choose Ben over a QB with 4 rings?! Simply put I think Big Ben is the better passer, and despite playing on some talented teams I don’t think his supporting casts have been as good as Bradshaw’s.
Troy Polamalu – This came down to Troy vs. Franco Harris for me. I give Troy the nod because I think when you factor in modern day passing games being what they are, Troy and Ed Reed are two of the best safeties in NFL history. Troy was the definition of X-Factor throughout his career.

Marc
Mean Joe Greene – Both of my first two are no brainers.
Jack Lambert – See above.
Troy Polamalu – I think he epitomized the Steelers defense under LeBeau and has been nothing short of professional off the field as well.
???? – Both Terry and Ben are easy choices but if you factor in the impact on fans and off-field issues, both have some negatives. For that matter, even Hines has some drawbacks when it comes to comments made in his career. I guess I’d go Ben but I could easily listen to arguments for Franco or Rocky or even Swann.

Matt
Mean Joe Greene –  The cornerstone player of the 70’s dynasty era. The unquestioned leader of the Steel Curtain defense.
Jerome Bettis – That draft day trade brought the Bus here and they road him all the way to SBXL.
Terry Bradshaw/Ben Roethlisberger – You can make a case for either or both honestly.  Who’s the greatest Steelers QB of all time between these two?  hell if I know because they both have done so much.
Hines Ward – Arguably the great Steelers WR ever, even more than Swann and Stallworth. Tough as nails and a leader on this team that epitomized what a Steeler is all about.

Carlos
Mean Joe Green – How much do I really need to say about this man? The man who started it all, THE definition of the Steel Curtain.
Jack Lambert – His toothless snare was feared among all offensive players, just ask that cowboys kicker or any other player that had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of his blows.
Troy Polamalu – My very first favorite player, his on and off field demeanor speaks volumes. He was a clutch player who we could’ve always counted on to make a big play.
Ben Roethlisberger – In my opinion, the greatest Steelers QB. Yes, even over Bradshaw himself. His vastly different playing style, his toughness, and his ability to just make plays.

I’ve got to admit, I really was surprised how similar all of our picks were. I expected most would go Terry Bradshaw over Big Ben and I couldn’t argue with you.

Here are some honorable mentions of guys we also considered.

Terry Bradshaw – Obviously TB is one of only 3* Quarterbacks to win 4 Superbowls. Was very very hard to leave him off, and maybe he shouldn’t be.
Franco Harris – I almost included Franco, in large part from the books I’ve read on the locker room of the 70’s teams. Harris was really the guy that was able to bring a lot of different personalities in the Steelers locker room together. A very underrated leader of the 70’s teams.
Mel Blount – Changed the way the defensive backs had to play, and the Steelers all time leader in interceptions.
Rod Woodson – Rod probably suffers from the fact that his teams didn’t win championships (until he left Pittsburgh), and that he finished his career in Baltimore. Had he won a ring in Pittsburgh he might be higher on fans’ list.
Jack Ham – Jack Ham has been called the best outside linebacker of all time by a consortium of professional sports writers beating out Lawrence Taylor. I really think the fact that Ham didn’t have the personality that a Joe Greene or Jack Lambert did hurts him in his spot in football history.
Lynn Swann/John Stallworth – Both receivers were gamers. They showed up in the big games… but their career numbers just don’t put them in the top 4 for any of us.