Two toes in the back of the end zone. Super Bowl XLIII, February 2009, thirty-five seconds left, Ben Roethlisberger lofting it to Santonio Holmes who somehow got both feet down to beat the Cardinals 27-23. That was the sixth Lombardi Trophy for Pittsburgh, and the way they won it, on a tiptoe catch after a hundred-yard interception return earlier in the game, was exactly how the Steelers always seem to win these. Hard, late, and theirs.

Eight trips, six trophies

Only a couple of franchises have ever won six Super Bowls, and Pittsburgh did four of them in the 1970s alone with the Steel Curtain defense and Terry Bradshaw, beating the Vikings, the Cowboys twice, and the Rams. Then a new generation won XL over Seattle and XLIII over Arizona. The two losses both stung less than they would for most, a Super Bowl XXX defeat to Dallas and a XLV loss to the Packers.

The standard they set

Six rings. A defense people still teach. A way of winning the tight ones on the last drive instead of losing them there. Steelers fans, you have the trophy count almost no one else can claim and the toughness to match it. From where I sit, with four trips and none of them won, the Pittsburgh way looks like the right way. Show up, finish, repeat.