Even casual Pittsburgh Steelers fans know about legendary defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and the role he played in the organization playing in three Super Bowls from 2005-10 and winning two of them, including in 2008 with a generational defense.
But how about this for an alternate universe: What if instead of bringing his signature zone blitz to the Steelers when he joined first-year head Bill Cowher’s staff in 1992, he unveiled it almost a decade earlier in Pittsburgh.
And in the USFL.
It could have happened. When the USFL expanded in the early 1980s, Pittsburgh was awarded a franchise for the 1984 season and the Maulers eventually offered their head-coaching job to LeBeau.