Steelers or Patriots – Who is the Powerhouse in the Conference?

NFL.com threw up an interesting post today about who exactly is the team of the 2000’s – the Patriots or the Steelers? Above is a graph about showing the wins for each team, and here’s what the piece had to say:

With Pittsburgh losing to Green Bay in Super Bowl XLV – No. 19 on our list of the top 20 games of 2010 – it only creates more debate as to whether the Steelers rank as the best team this millennium. There are those who still cling to the Patriots as that team in what amounts to a two-horse race, despite the fact that New England hasn’t won a Super Bowl since the 2004 season.

The two franchises have combined to appear in seven Super Bowls in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, no other organization has been to the big dance more than twice since Y2K.

But judging by regular season success, as opposed to purely Super Bowl titles, it appears New England has been slightly more consistent about putting a dominant product on the field.

While it pains me to say it, the Pats are still the team of the 2000’s as of right now. They have three Super Bowls compared to two for the Steelers, and they also had a crazy 18-1 season that was only stopped by the Giants of New York in Super Bowl XLII.

The Steelers did have a good showing in Super Bowl XLIII, but the bottom line is they lost, and they were not the most dominant team in the conference this year, New England was, going 14-2 and then laying an egg against the Jets in the divisional playoffs.

This will be a critical season for both teams to see what team truly is the powerhouse in the conference. If the Steelers repeat at AFC Champs, the balance of power changes, otherwise, New England remains as the team to beat in the conference – sorry to say.