The 1997 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 65th season as a professional sports franchise and as a member of the National Football League.
This season was considered a transitional year due to many key free agent losses in the offseason, as well as the first season of Kordell Stewart starting at quarterback.
The Steelers finished with an 11–5 record, their fourth consecutive AFC Central top seed, and their sixth straight playoff appearance. In doing so, Steelers head coach Bill Cowher tied Hall of Fame coach Paul Brown with most consecutive playoff appearances to start a head coaching career in the NFL—a record Cowher still co-owns with Brown, as the Steelers missed the playoffs the following year.
The Steelers had 572 rushing attempts in 1997, the most in the 1990s. Their 2,479 total rushing yards were the third-most of the decade by any team.
The Steelers went into the season introducing a new font style numbers on jerseys matching the ones they wear on the helmets and the Steelers logo patch on uniform.
The Steelers would host the AFC Championship Game for the third time in four years; however, they would ultimately lose to the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. That game was the last playoff appearance for the Steelers during the 1990s and they did not return to the postseason until 2001.
Offseason
The Steelers saw many key free-agents leave the team, the biggest being cornerback Rod Woodson, whose ten-year tenure with the team ended due to a dispute over money with the Rooney family. Woodson would sign with the San Francisco 49ers as a result, though the Steelers would see him again in the following four seasons afterward as a member of the rival Baltimore Ravens. Other free-agent losses included Chad Brown, Ernie Mills, Andre Hastings, Deon Figures, and Brentson Buckner, among others. The team did manage to keep its other prized free-agent besides Woodson, locking up Jerome Bettis (who they had acquired in a trade with the St. Louis Rams the year before) with a four-year deal.
The team also had a transition at quarterback. After pushing Bill Cowher play exclusively at quarterback, Kordell Stewart was handed the starting job and dropping his "Slash" role on the team. Stewart would have success with the team this season, but would be inconsistent afterwards.
The team also made some minor changes to the uniforms this season, the first changes since gold pants were adopted as part of the white jerseys in 1972. The jersey numbers, previously having the old-style block numbering, were switched to the rounder style (Futura Condensed) as seen on the helmets. In addition, the Steelers logo was added to the left shoulder and the names became single color (black) fonts on the white away jersey. The names returned to gold on black the following year. The uniforms have remained the same since these changes as of 2007.
NFL Draft
Personnel
Staff
Notable additions include Paul Wiggins and Mike Vrabel.
Roster
Season
Preseason
Schedule
Regular season
Schedule
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1 (Sunday August 31, 1997): vs. Dallas Cowboys
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Game time: 1:00 pm EDT
Game weather: (Partly Sunny) Game attendance: 60,396 Referee: Jerry Markbreit TV announcers: (FOX) Pat Summerall (play by play), John Madden (color commentator), Pam Oliver (sideline reporter)
Scoring drives:
Dallas – Miller 12 pass from Aikman (Cunningham kick) Dallas – Irvin 42 pass from Aikman (Cunningham kick) Dallas – FG Cunningham 52 Dallas – Irvin 15 pass from Aikman (Cunningham kick) Dallas – FG Cunningham 24 Dallas – Johnston 13 pass from Aikman (Cunningham kick) Dallas – FG Cunningham 28 Pittsburgh – Bruener 4 pass from Stewart (N. Johnson kick)
Week 2 (Sunday September 7, 1997): vs. Washington Redskins
at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Game time: 1:00 pm EDT
Game weather: (Partly Sunny) Game attendance: 58,059 Referee: Ron Blum TV announcers: (FOX) Dick Stockton (play by play), Matt Millen (color commentator), Pam Oliver (sideline reporter)
Scoring drives:
Pittsburgh – Stewart 1 run (N. Johnson kick) Washington – FG Blanton 37 Washington – Mitchell 97 kickoff return (Blanton kick) Washington – FG Blanton 28 Pittsburgh – Bettis 1 run (N. Johnson kick)