There was absolutely no pressure on Noll. Not even after winning his first game, then losing his final 13 that first season. He felt a depressing apathy associated with the Steelers in the media, and the community and couldn't understand it. He certainly wouldn't accept it.

"They had had 40 years of not winning," Noll said. "The whole city, it was kind of the same thing. I remember the headlines: 'S.O.S. - Same Old Steelers.' It was an attitude built in, and that was something you have to change in people. The players not only got it from the newspapers, but from the people in public whom they'd meet. It was a matter of changing attitudes, attitudes of the players and the community."

Chuck Noll was the coach and architect of the Steel Curtain defense.(AP)

So Noll put together a plan to build the Steelers from the ground up, and there was no better place than to start on defense. "All teams that get to the Super Bowl are good on defense," Noll said. "In order to win, you first don't lose it." It had begun in 1969 with the drafting of a no-name defensive tackle out of

North Texas State named Joe Greene, who would ultimately be looked upon as the most important player in franchise history. That draft also yielded a pass-rushing end named L.C. Greenwood.

In 1970, quarterback Terry Bradshaw was the big prize, but cornerback Mel Blount also joined the team. In 1971, Noll hit the jackpot, finding six starters including linebacker Jack Ham, defensive end Dwight White, defensive tackle Ernie Holmes and safety Mike Wagner. Cornerback J.T. Thomas and linebacker Loren Toews came aboard in 1973, linebacker Jack Lambert arrived in '74, and when the smoke cleared, the Steelers - playoff participants in '72 and '73 - were legitimate Super Bowl contenders in '74.

They became known as the Steel Curtain. Greene, Holmes, White and Greenwood comprised a menacing, quarterback-devouring front four. Veteran Andy Russell, Lambert and Ham formed the top linebacking trio of the day. The secondary of Blount, Wagner, Thomas and Glen Edwards was big, hard-hitting and intelligent.

SPOTLIGHT   Jack Lambert(AP)

This was a smart defense - all great defenses have to be smart - but it also derived great pleasure in the art of intimidation. Of Greene, Vikings coach Bud Grant once said, "Help him up after a play, pat him on the backside, talk to him, keep him happy. If you get him angry, he's liable to hurt somebody."

Pete Axthelm wrote, "This is a crazy world. About the only thing you can depend on in this day and age is a good Lambert hit on Sunday."

From 1974-76, the Steelers' point yields were 189, 162 and a remarkable 138. The first two years they won the Super Bowl, and in '76, had it not been for injuries to both starting running backs - Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier - they may have won a third straight but lost the AFC Championship Game to Oakland.

Noll built this defense on speed and skill, not size. "It's not the size of the dog, that whole thing," Noll said. "It's skills, sure, but vision is very important and that's not part of being big. It's speed, ability to hit. That doesn't necessarily go with mammoth size. Paul Brown always talked about fat guys. 'They think fat,' he said. 'They lean on people, they don't hit.' So we weren't necessarily interested in how big a player was, but rather how tough, how quick, how fast, how smart."

The irony of the Steel Curtain is that it was at its very best in 1976, one of two years it did not win the Super Bowl between 1974-79. That season, the team got off to a 1-4 start, but won its last nine games to win its fifth straight AFC Central crown.

Over that nine-game span, it pitched five shutouts and allowed just 28 points. Houston scored 16 points in one game, but the other eight opponents did not score a single touchdown, managing just 12 points on four field goals. It was a period of dominance unsurpassed in the modern-day NFL, a mark not even the 1985 Bears could match.

"We just shut people down, completely dominated them," said Lambert.

After missing the Super Bowl in '76 and '77, the Steelers made return engagements the next two seasons and won both, giving them four championships in the decade. And while Bradshaw, Harris and Lynn Swann played key roles in the last two titles, it was the defense that again led the way as Noll kept adding pieces to a nucleus that never seemed to decline.