When Kevin Colbert helped bring the Steelers their fifth Super Bowl in 2005, Joe Greene was not all too impressed. After all, Greene was a part of a Steelers dynasty in the 1970s that filled up the trophy case. Colbert’s drafting helped them end a 25-year drought, granted, but expectations are always sky high in Pittsburgh.
A Pittsburgh native, Colbert joined the Steelers’ front office in 2000. By his fifth season, they won the Super Bowl and built a roster that would contend for years to come. At the time, Joe Greene was still on the payroll as a special assistant after coaching for many years. As Colbert explained on Off Set with Kinger and the Big Man, he was not one to mince words.
“You get to Pittsburgh, and back then, we had four trophies. You walk in and you understand, ‘Hey, they’ve been there. This is what they’re expecting’. And then when you’re able to help get another one, nothing else matters after that”, Colbert said. “Just because you did it once—and Joe Greene would remind, … ‘Okay, you won, that’s good’. He said, ‘If you want to be great, do it again’. So, that expectation never goes away”.
Entering the 2025 season, the Steelers are still tied for the most Super Bowl trophies with six. Kevin Colbert helped them win their two most recent, but even that is some time ago. The Steelers last won in 2008, but also advanced to the Super Bowl in 2010. Since then, they have only reached the conference finals one time.
While Colbert fed the Steelers talent that left them competitive for roughly two decades, they couldn’t get over the hump, or even approach it very closely, for half that time. He stepped down after the 2022 NFL Draft, leaving them with Kenny Pickett at quarterback.
Indeed, much of Colbert’s late career with the Steelers had been reappraised and found wanting. Many are hoping that his successor, Omar Khan, is working to undo some of that damage. They already traded Pickett, and have now even traded George Pickens, whom even Mike Tomlin gave up on.
The Steelers’ lack of postseason success in recent times is always at the forefront of every conversation about the team. While they usually make the playoffs, they haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. Some big draft misses by Colbert, from Jarvis Jones to Pickett, haven’t helped them crack that nut.
But no matter how high the standards are in Pittsburgh, Colbert still helped bring two Super Bowls to the Steelers. That’s an impressive achievement, even if his resume isn’t spotless. I don’t know if he will ever make it into the Hall of Fame, but how many general managers have drafted a Hall of Fame quarterback and taken a team to three Super Bowls? I don’t suppose it’s a very long list.
