One for the thumb? Not for these Steelers because they have none. Period. They're looking for their first Super Bowl ring, a quest that Dan Rooney compared to that of the 1974 Steelers, who also had never won a championship.

Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Steelers running backs coach Dick Hoak is one of four full-time Steelers employees still in search of that elusive fifth Super Bowl ring. Click photo for larger image. Related coverage For Big Ben, it's time to tear up Marino's script Steelers Notebook: Aide knows both sides of Super story Super Bowl business: Diamonds for ketchup; Super Bowl security; Behind the Steelers logo

"I look at this as the first one," said Rooney, who spent the past two days at an NFL meeting in Orlando. "It's the first one for this group of players, who really deserve it. They've really worked hard, they're really good football players, they played well.

"Not taking anything away from the guys back in the 1970s, but this is a new group, a new time."

The Steelers have not won a Super Bowl in 26 years, losing in their only appearance since then 10 years ago. They won four in six years, starting with the 1974 season.

"I would say this probably compares to our first time, Super Bowl IX," Rooney said. "It's very similar, these young guys we have, just like the players then. It's really their turn, their time up. The kind of people they are, it's a close team, they've done things the hard way, although it probably worked out, home and away."

Rooney is one of only four full-time Steelers employees who can get one for the thumb. Those with four Super Bowl rings include Rooney, running backs coach Dick Hoak, scout Joe Greene and Bob McCartney, their video coordinator. Longtime scout Bill Nunn has four, but he retired to part-time status.

"We're the last people who were here during that time," Rooney said. "It's really great to see this new generation come on, this generation of players, generation of coaches, it's really an exciting time. They've done well and they've earned it.

"I look at this as a separate thing; this is not one for the thumb, it's one for these guys."

Only one player on their 53-man roster has been to a Super Bowl -- cornerback Willie Williams, who was on the Steelers' 1995 team. Line coach Russ Grimm has three rings from his playing days with the Washington Redskins and assistant secondary coach Ray Horton has one from Super Bowl XXVII with the Dallas Cowboys.

"It would mean a lot to me, but the thing I enjoy about it is seeing a lot of these guys who've never been there before," said Hoak, who will wear one or sometimes two of his four rings Saturday night before a game. "Now they're getting their opportunity. I get more excited about that.

"Yeah, it's going to be a great thing if we win and I get my fifth ring. But I'm more happy for those guys who have never been there before to get that experience and win it."

That is what Rooney told his players during a meeting Monday. The Steelers are proud of their past, Rooney said, but this is their time.

"He told us to play this one for us, and the things we've been through have nothing to do with the past," safety Mike Logan

said. "Go out and play for ourselves.

"He definitely has the experience and he knows what it's all about. I think he wants to make this an enjoyable time for us because he knows it's hectic with all the demands that come with the Super Bowl."

Rooney succeeded his father, Art, as team president in 1975 after the Steelers won their first Super Bowl. Son Art II succeeded Dan in 2002 and has a chance to earn his first Super Bowl ring as the team's president, as his father and grandfather did before him.

"He's like these young players, really," Dan Rooney said.

Rooney believes the excitement generated by his team's march to the Super Bowl can match that of the 1970s and comes at a good time for the city.

"I think it means a lot to Pittsburgh in so many ways," Rooney said. "It means something to pick the town up, its feeling for itself, the idea we can do it. I think it's very meaningful when Pittsburgh's trying to do a lot of things as far as getting economic and labor employment going.

"You pick up a paper all over the world and people are saying the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the Super Bowl. It's a great team, and I think it's a great thing. Home playoff games would have produced much more money for the city, but this is something above and beyond the money."

Whatever the result in Detroit, Rooney believes the Steelers will compete for future Super Bowl berths.

"Sure, I definitely think we can continue to be successful. First of all, we look at this as -- and rightly so -- winning the Super Bowl is the ultimate. But you look at our team, what we've done in the last number of years. We've won more games than probably anybody. We've been in more postseason games, championship games and all those things. We've done well. I think these guys like it here, they're good people, all get along -- at every level in this building. It's worked. I think we can go on.

"We have to win this game, though. I can't be talking about the future or anything. We need to win this game."