The 2003 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 71st season as a professional sports franchise and as a member of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. Their season began with the team trying to improve on their 10–5–1 record from

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

in which they lost to the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

in the Divisional round of the playoffs. With the team suffering through injuries as well as less reliance on the running game than normal, the Steelers stumbled to a 6–10 record, going the entire season without winning consecutive games. Since moving to

Heinz Field Acrisure Stadium is a football stadium located in the North Shore neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It primarily serves as the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Pittsburgh Panth ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, this was the Steelers' first season with a losing record and their first season missing the playoffs. The team's record is tied with that of the 1999 season as the worst for a season under head coach Bill Cowher. In his final season with the team, linebacker

Jason Gildon Jason Larue Gildon (born July 31, 1972) is a former outside linebacker for the National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers (1994–2003) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2004). He was selected to three Pro Bowl teams from 2000, 2001, and 2002, and i ...

became the franchise's career sack leader during a game against the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

on November 9. As of 2021, this represents the most recent losing season for the Steelers.

Personnel

Notable additions include Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor.

Roster

Preseason

Schedule

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1

Pittsburgh won their season opener for the first time since

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

.ESPN.com
Retrieved April 23, 2013.

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 8

This was the 1,000th game in Steelers history.

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

The Steelers were the only team in the 2003 season to play on the road following a Monday night road game. The

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

at that time had typically given teams that traveled for a Monday night game either a home game or their

bye week In sport, a bye is the preferential status of a player or team that is automatically advanced to the next round of a tournament, without having to play an opponent in an early round. In knockout (elimination) tournaments they can be granted eit ...

the following week. Steelers head coach

Bill Cowher William Laird Cowher (born May 8, 1957) is an American sports analyst, former football player and coach. Following a six-year playing career as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), he served as a head coach in the NFL for 15 seas ...

objected to the team playing a road game after a Monday night road game. Team president

Dan Rooney Daniel Milton Rooney (July 20, 1932 – April 13, 2017) was an American executive and diplomat best known for his association with the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football team in the National Football League (NFL), and son of the Steelers' ...

said that he would not pursue the matter with the NFL, noting that the second game was in Cleveland, only from Pittsburgh.

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Standings

Honors and awards

References

External links

2003 Pittsburgh Steelers season at Pro Football Reference

2003 Pittsburgh Steelers season
statistics at jt-sw.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2003 Pittsburgh Steelers Season Pittsburgh Steelers seasons

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

Pitts