You can hardly be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and not know that ‘the standard is the standard’. It’s a motto that’s literally right on the stadium walls, something that the players walk past and see every day. Surely they hear head coach Mike Tomlin say it just as frequently.
It can be made to sound empty simply due to the frequency of repetition, but that’s only if you let it get that way. Within it is a guiding principle for all to adhere to, even if they ultimately fall short. Put simply, every year, the standard is winning a championship, and every year without a championship is one in which they don’t meet their own standard.