The Pittsburgh Steelers made a magical run from the Wild Card round to adding their sixth Super Bowl title in the 2005 season. Jerome Bettis returned for the final year in his illustrious career and added a Super Bowl ring in his hometown of Detroit to cap off a Hall of Fame resume. The legendary Pittsburgh running back said he had a feeling that the team in 2005 could be special, but it took a while for him to feel like they had an "it" factor.
Bettis told former teammate Ben Roethlisberger and his podcast co-host Spencer T'eo on the 36th episode of Footbahlin that magic returned after Head Coach Bill Cowher made a big change after a tough Week 13, 38-31 loss to AFC North rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals.
"They [the Bengals] were shining their shoes with Terrible Towels and when they did that, Coach Cowher came in and erased everything on the whiteboard and he just put Chicago," Bettis said. "He also let [Ken] Whisenhunt call whatever he wanted to call."
Bettis said that before that game, Cowher had been policing Offensive Coordinator Ken Whisenhunt's calls. Roethlisberger also remembers the head coach hanging over the coordinator's shoulder during games. Bettis added that once the leash was off Whisenhunt, the unit transformed.
"When he [Cowher] took the reigns off, our offense totally changed," he said. "We started letting it go and we hadn't done that. That was when we became a different football team."
The extremely snowy conditions for the team's next game against the Chicago Bears weren't conducive to a heavy passing attack, but the ground and pound with Willie Parker wasn't working. The team, as Roethlisberger recalled, "put the snow tires on The Bus" for the second half. Bettis helped propel the team to a 20-15 victory with two rushing touchdowns, and 101 yards on the ground.
The ground game remained a focal point for the rest of the regular season as Pittsburgh knocked off the Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and Detriot Lions to finish the season at 11-5 and second in the AFC North behind Cincinnati. Once the playoffs rolled around, Whisenhunt unleashed the passing offense. In every postseason game, except the Super Bowl, the team threw for more yards than they ran for knocking off the Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game to earn the right to play the Seattle Seahawks in Detroit.
Steelers' Bettis Mocks The Defensive Minded Cowher
Cowher was the defensive coordinator for three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs before he became the head coach in Pittsburgh. Before that, he had coached special teams and the secondary in Cleveland. He had played four years as a linebacker in the NFL before becoming a coach. Due to all that experience on that side of the ball, Bettis said he didn't have the mindset to understand offensive play-calling.
Bettis said that there was no way Cowher would've let Whisenhunt call the famous reverse play where receiver Antwaan Randle El connected with Hines Ward for a touchdown in the Super Bowl against the Seahawks. He said it just wasn't in Cowher's nature to do anything remotely of the trick-play variety.
"He [Cowher] used to always say, 'If you've got to trick them, then you can't beat them,'" he said with his best Cowher impersonation. "A true offensive coordinator takes advantage of those opportunities, but he was a defensive guy."
Even if Cowher was truly opposed to the reverses or other trick plays that Whisenhunt put into the offense, he couldn't have been too upset when it landed him a Super Bowl ring to end his career. Bettis was certainly grateful that Cowher decided to let his play-caller be free. He said the total change for the offense was the catalyst to running the table after the brutal loss to the Bengals.
Do you remember the offense opening up in the 2005 season after the loss to the Bengals? Do you think defensive head coaches should stay out of the way of offensive coordinators?
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