Steelers' Bill Cowher Used To Instigate Fights Between The Legendary Jerome Bettis And Joey Porter Sr.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the most unique and impressive stats in all of professional sports. There have only been three head coaches to roam the sidelines for the franchise since the 1969 season. Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin have set a standard and precedent that may never be replicated in the world of sports ever again. The trio has combined for six Super Bowl championships, leading to the organization being one of the most highly-regarded in the entire world. Surely, plenty of stories come about over the course of five-plus decades.

The best coaches know how to get the absolute most out of their players. It's exactly why so many analysts and players believe that Tomlin is one of the most talented to ever do it. He is a supreme motivator. The same can be said about Cowher, but he may have done it in a different way with his angry chin and by constantly yelling at both players and officials.

On the latest episode of Not Just Football, hosted by Steelers team captain Cameron Heyward, Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis joined to tell stories about his playing days and much more. He went into detail about how Cowher used to plot against both him and defender Joey Porter Sr. The two were always jawing during practices, and the coach found a way to get in between the two and stir the pot.

"We were the catalysts," Bettis stated. "What would happen was — it'd be funny — one day we'd come out and the defense would get the best of us, right, and Coach Cowher, he would come by me and he'd be like, 'Da*n shame to see that offense get their a** whooped by the defense yesterday,' you know? And, I'm like, 'What? What'd you say?' And he [would be] like, 'No, I'm just saying, I was just watching the film.'"

That would fire Bettis up enough to then go to his offense and let them know that the defense was making fun of how the unit had performed the day prior. It motivated the offense to shut the defense up.

"We go out there and go crazy on them right, and then Coach Cowher would do the same thing to Joey. 'Hey, Joey, offense kicked y'alls a** yesterday man. It's a shame and they laughing.' And then, it'd just get wound up, so that's how we would go because we wanted to show out on the other group, right, and coach, he was just the great manipulator."

Cowher was purposefully trying to instigate hostility and anger at practice in order to get the best out of his team on both sides of the ball. Bettis and Porter were known for not being afraid to challenge one another, and this only led to more confrontations in practices.

There's no doubt that both Bettis and Porter had a certain edge about themselves when playing on a football field. Those Steelers practices back in the day were probably both heated and exhilarating. Cowher didn't care if his players resented each other while going up against one another because it brought out a competitive edge that would later come out during meaningful games. It truly can be looked at as a genius coaching tactic. He knew exactly how to nudge his players.

Steelers Have A Different Kind Of Motivator In Tomlin

While no legitimate stories have come out about Tomlin acting similarly to Cowher, he doesn't have to be exactly like his predecessor. Pittsburgh's current head coach motivates with his words and confidence, not necessarily by pinning teammates against one another. He will also call specific guys out in player meetings to prove to them that no one is safe from being ridiculed when failing.

Do you think that the Steelers need a little bit of internal disdain on the practice field to truly set up smash-mouth football in games? Let us know in the comments below!

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