As many fans of the NFL may very well know, there is a long-standing rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. What lots of us are wondering, however, is why? What caused this rivalry and what spurred it into becoming a mutual hatred between coaches, players, and fans?
In 1996, a Steelers home game between the Steelers and the Ravens began a multiple decade feud between the two teams. Numerous sources state that conflicts between players on the field, as well as disagreements among coaches led to this rift. One online source, Steelers.com states, “This outstanding rivalry started in 1996 when the Browns moved from Cleveland and became the Baltimore Ravens. Since then, Pittsburgh leads the series 33-25, including four playoff matchups. In the playoffs, the Steelers have lost just once against Baltimore. Pittsburgh won six of the first seven meetings.” This would lead us to believe that the Steelers may have taken the move from Ohio to Maryland to heart and decided to begin a conflict with the team. However, there has been a rivalry between the two teams even before this move.
According to student Ryan Freisleben (11), “It is one of the deepest and most passionate rivalries in all of sports, because it goes back decades and decades. Fueled also because the Ravens used to be the Browns and there [were] already problems there.”
Furthermore, Ryan adds, “I think the fact that the Browns and the Steelers hated each other long before the Ravens and Steelers rivalry is what caused it, just as a result of the transformation of this team into a new one.”
Because of this rivalry, many fans of both teams were excited to watch the two teams approach a rematch as playoff season approached. The matchup between these two teams on January 6th resulted in a Pittsburgh win of 17-10. This particular game was the Steelers’ opportunity to make it into the Wild Card round of the NFL Playoffs, which they did but sadly lost to the Bills with a score of 31-17. This opportunity and win created even more excitement, interest, and trash talk between the two teams.
As both teams are now out and the Super Bowl is approaching, fans have begun to wonder what the next NFL season holds.
Will the rivalry ever end?
