Every Steeler, from Hines Ward to Mike Tomlin, knows what counts in Pittsburgh: winning Super Bowls

PITTSBURGH - On Feb. 6, 2006, the day after Pittsburgh defeated the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL, Hines Ward, the Steelers' veteran wideout and game's Most Valuable Player with five receptions for 123 yards, stopped at a gas station. When he spoke to the fans standing by, he realized that the celebration was already over.

"Everyone was asking if we were going to win the next one," Ward says. "I was like, 'Geez, let's just enjoy this one.'"

Such is the way success is greeted in Pittsburgh. Since 1975, the Steelers have won six Super Bowls, the most of any franchise in history. Their most recent title came just two years ago, but their berth in the AFC Championship Game has an entitled town anticipating a seventh Lombardi trophy. The next step comes Sunday against the Jets at Heinz Field.

"I hesitate to say this, but some people say it's almost like a religion around here," says Steelers owner Art Rooney II, whose family's consistent, blue-collar sensibilities since Art Rooney Sr. secured the franchise in 1933 certainly have contributed to the pious aura.

Reminders stand in the hallway inside the team's office building. The silver, glistening trophies, encased in glass and surrounded by colorful collages and descriptions on placards, greet all who enter. Not to be lost in the shadows are the everyday links to the past, be it Hall of Fame defensive lineman Joe Greene one day or "Immaculate Reception" hero Franco Harris the next.

"The only story line we have is six trophies, and we're trying to get another one," safety Ryan Clark says.

Motivation can be monetary as well. On the grease board on a wall in the practice facility locker room this week, the math has been laid out for newcomers in blue, erasable marker. The message is simple:

"$142,000" - the bonus each player stands to earn if the Steelers win the Super Bowl - is encircled by stars and followed by the words: "This is what we're playing for." Beneath are starker terms: "Don't f--- with my money."

"Guys know," Ward says. "Don't mess it up."

There is one fireproof method forged from a fan base built on the support of blue-collar workers: "Win," as coach Mike Tomlin reiterated on Tuesday. The Steelers have done so with different quarterbacks, in distant decades, but the coaching, for the most part, is uncommonly constant. The three men (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Tomlin) who have landed the Lombardi for the Steelers are the same ones who have coached all the games since 1969.

"We have one standard," Tomlin says. "That standard is winning."