Bill Cowher's surprise announcement as the first member of the 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame class was a long time coming.
And it was something unexpected by Cowher. In fact, when he took over as head coach of the Steelers from Chuck Noll in 1992, he had a much more simple goal in mind.
The former special teams player with the Browns and Eagles and then-defensive coordinator of the Chiefs just wanted stick around.
"When I got the job in 1992, I was 34 years old, I remember going back to Kansas City and laying in bed that night and telling my wife, ‘If I don’t screw this up, I’m going back to my 20th class reunion as the head coach of my hometown team,’" Cowher told me earlier this year when he returned to Pittsburgh for his induction into the Steelers' Hall of Honor. "My first goal was just don’t get fired in the first three years."
That didn't happen. Cowher coached 15 seasons with his hometown team. He led the team to the playoffs in each of his first six seasons, advancing to the Super Bowl at the conclusion of the 1995 season. That trip ended with a 27-17 loss to the Cowboys.
It would be 10 more years before Cowher would get over that hump and finally win a Super Bowl. But his teams kept knocking on the door.
But until winning that Super Bowl at the conclusion of the 2005 season, it appeared Cowher's legacy might be that of a coach who could get a lot out of a team, but couldn't get over the hump.
The Steelers reached the AFC Championship in 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2004, going 1-4 in those games, all at home.
"We kept getting there. We kept knocking on the door," Cowher said. "Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. I don’t feel like in any of those games we played poorly. For whatever reason, you go back to the 1994 championship game we lost, we’re throwing the ball in the end zone at the end with a chance to win that game. In 1997, we’re playing against John Elway and Terrell Davis and Kordell (Stewart) threw an interception in the end zone and we still had a chance at the end, John Elway throws a ball to Shannon Sharpe. Shannon Sharpe to this day, didn’t even know what the play was. I know that because I worked with Shannon Sharpe. I talked to Shannon Sharpe.
"In 2001, they have two returns for touchdowns," he continued. "In 2004, if Ben (Roethlisberger) makes the read to Hines (Ward) at the end of the first half on a red zone play instead of going to Heath (Miller), Hines was wide open going over the middle. It was a throw and we still worked our way back. We just kept getting there. We were like Freddy Krueger, we were everyone’s worst nightmare. We keep coming back. We did have a resiliency. We had character, a toughness about us. We weren’t going to be defined by where we were. We were going to be defined by our next game."
That's what made it all that more special when the Steelers finally did get over that hump at the end of the 2005 season.
The Steelers had gone 15-1 the previous season, marking the best record in franchise history, only to come up short once again in a loss at home to the Patriots in the AFC Championship. It was the second time they had lost at home to the Patriots in the AFC Championship, having also done so in 2001.
"I remember, the second AFC Championship, sitting out there and watching them celebrate on our field," said Ward of the team's loss to the Patriots that season. "I stayed out there. I wanted to watch. I wanted to see what it really felt like, because we didn’t know. For me, Jerome (Bettis), they lost another AFC Championship. We just assumed we were going to come back. I remember after the second one we lost. It was freezing cold and I said, ‘If we ever get another opportunity …’ I looked around, there were a couple of guys who stayed and watched that. We took it all in."
Twelve games into the 2005 season, the Steelers were sitting at 7-5 following a loss at home to the Bengals. They were on the outside looking in at the AFC playoffs.
But there was something special building.
"We had lost three straight games, the last one to Cincinnati in our place," Cowher recalled. "We got done, (Bengals receiver) T.J. Houshmanzadeh was wiping his shoes with the Terrible Towel. It became a series of one-game seasons. It was the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and we finished up against Detroit."
Cowher ticked those games off in his memory like the games had just been played.
"Ironically, as we started the playoffs, it began with the last team we lost to," Cowher said of the Bengals. "I told them, I just wanted to show them one clip and that one clip was T.J. Houshmandzadeh wiping his feet."
Message delivered. Message received.
"I said, ‘Get a good night’s sleep, fellas,'" Cowher said with a laugh.
"That struck a nerve with a lot of players," Ward said. "Coach would always have those little clips that would relate to the players. That was on our minds throughout the whole night. Waking up the next morning, we were ready to go."
The Steelers, the No. 6 seed, beat the third-seeded Bengals in Cincinnati, 31-17, to earn a rematch with the Colts in Indianapolis. Indianapolis, the top seed, had beaten the Steelers, 26-7, in Indianapolis back in Week 12 during that three-game losing streak.
"We came out that game, for the first time, just throwing the football," Cowher recalled. "People said, ‘Wow, who are these guys?’"
But it still took a monumental effort to beat the Colts, as Bettis fumbled late in the game and the Colts recovered the loose ball, with cornerback Nick Harper scooping it up, only to be tackled in the open field by Roethlisberger.
The Colts got into field goal range, but Mike Vanderjagt's 46-yard field goal attempt never had a chance, sending the Steelers on to Denver.
"We finished up with probably the best game we played, the AFC Championship in Denver," Cowher said of the 34-17 Steelers' win. "Offensively, defensively, that was the most complete game we had played all year."
From there, it was on to Detroit and a 21-10 win over the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
"It was a special year, a special group of guys," Cowher said. "So much about that team, it was more about the journey we had. You come to a very defining point in a season. No doubt, that defining point came when we lost that game to Cincinnati for our third-straight loss. Everybody counted us out. We came in that next day and started grading ourselves and looking in the mirror. From that time on, it was a very focused team."
Cowher, the Crafton boy, had delivered the Steelers their fifth Super Bowl title.
He and the team would part ways following the 2006 season as Cowher would go on to take a job with CBS as a pre-game analyst, a job he still holds to this day.
He finished his coaching career with a record of 149-90-1 in the regular season, 161-99-1 including his postseason record. That places him 19th on the league's all-time list for victories.
And now, it's put him in the Hall of Fame, something that would not have happened had he not finally gotten over the hump in 2005.
"I know Coach Cowher, when were standing up on the stage and I was holding my son and the trophy, it was surreal in that moment," Ward recalled. "Seeing the elation on Coach Cowher’s face and handing that trophy to Mr. (Dan) Rooney, it was something he wanted to do as a head coach."
And it came from having seen Noll do it when he was growing up.
"I grew up in the ‘70s. I graduated high school in 1975," said Cowher, now 62. "I went down and played football at N.C. State. But this was the team, I saw what they did for the city, the resurgence, the energy, the proudness because they were there. It was the City of Champions."
And it had another champion.
Now, it has another Hall of Fame coach, even if Cowher knows there was more to it than just him.
Center Dermontti Dawson, linebacker Kevin Greene, cornerback Rod Woodson and Bettis have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame from Cowher's teams. Two other of his former players, safety Troy Polamalu and guard Alan Faneca, could join him in this year's Hall of Fame Class. Both are up for election among the modern era players, while former Steelers safety Donnie Shell is among the other players who could be elected via the special Blue Ribbon Panel that has already chosen Cowher. That second group will be announced Wednesday morning.
"I think you’re constantly tweaking, trying to find the right chemistry," Cowher said. "I think the one thing that makes this place special is we’re alway working together. It’s a collaboration of everything, whether it’s the scouting, the coaches, everybody works together. That was instilled from the very beginning. It starts at the top from Mr. Rooney to Art (Rooney). There’s very much, when you walk in the door, it’s a family-type atmosphere. You hold people accountable. You try to think outside the box and be forward thinking, but you’re not afraid to make tough decisions.
"I think that really characterizes to me what this organization is about. It starts at the top. I learned a lot of lessons in 15 years. I came in here as a brash 34 year old coach. When I left here 15 years later, I was a better person, coach and I had a better perspective on life. A lot of it had to do with the Rooneys, this city, just going through the ups and downs. There were some tough years. In ’98 and ’99, there was some losing. You persevere. You’re defined by how many times you get back up when you get knocked down."
