The Pittsburgh Steelers were so easy to despise, and I did every last lucky one of them. They were No. 1 on the enemies list, ahead of the Chiefs and Broncos and even saut?ed liver. My wish for the Steelers was that they be locked in a cave.

All these years later, though, I've come to appreciate them. Well, to a degree. My boyhood devotion to the Raiders was long ago trumped by my admiration of a well-run business.

And no organization in the modern NFL perhaps in all of professional sports has been more consistently competent than the Steelers.

Pittsburgh is hosting a parade today because the Steelers earned their record sixth Lombardi Trophy with a stirring 27-23 victory over Arizona in Super Bowl 43 on Sunday in Tampa. That puts them ahead of San Francisco and Dallas, each of which owns five Lombardi trophies.

Yet the case for the Steelers as the fittest of all NFL franchises only begins with their collection of bright, shiny objects. The breadth of their proficiency separates them from the damaged Cowboys, who claim to be America's Team. It shows them clearly superior to the dysfunctional Raiders, who claim to be the Team of the Decades. And it brushes off the 49ers as thoroughbreds that began wheezing the minute the salary cap was installed.

In the 39 seasons since the NFL-AFL merger, the Steelers have the best overall record. They have the most victories, the most division championships and the most appearances in conference championship games.

If only these achievements were the end of it.

Pittsburgh also has had the most All-Pro selections and, along with the Raiders, the most modern-day Hall of Fame inductees who spent their prime years with the team.

If only there weren't even more to be impressed with. The numbers just keep tilting in their favor.

The Steelers have the fewest losing seasons of any team in the NFL over that period and they are only franchise with only one last-place finish over the 39-year period; to match that aversion to extreme futility, you have to turn to the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees. The Cowboys over that time have had 10 losing seasons and four last-place finishes. The 49ers have had 16 losing seasons and five last-place finishes.

We can keep going. Pittsburgh has had seven 12-win seasons and zero 12-loss seasons. The Steelers during this time have not experienced three consecutive losing seasons and only twice since 1971 have gone through back-to-back losing seasons.

The organization's consistency is mind-numbing; it never loses its way for long.

The clincher, though, is the Steelers' ability to preserve and maintain a continuity that makes them the envy of all sports.

They have had two coaching changes since 1970, replacing Chuck Noll with Bill Cowher in 1992, and replacing Cowher with Mike Tomlin for the 2006 season. In each case, the Rooney family discovered a 30-something coach with a defensive background, watched him develop and hitched rides to Super Bowls.

Team owner Dan Rooney in 2002 requested that his fellow owners heed the call for diversity among head coaches. The rule requiring that at least one individual of color is interviewed for every opening is named after the Steelers' understated chairman.

Rooney, 76 and the son of founder Art Rooney, became team president in 1975 and assumed ownership control in 1988. According to one online biography, he has "implemented a philosophy and management style that emphasizes open, practical and efficient management." Whatever, it works.

Yes, the Steelers find all kinds of luck and catch all kinds of breaks. But they also make more plays than any other team. They draft well and they rarely break the bank for free agents. Above all, they have established a defensive identity that never, ever wavers.

ESPN last year conducted a comprehensive study of the NFL's most impressive franchises, post-merger, and placed Pittsburgh No. 2 on the list, a tick behind the Cowboys and just ahead of the 49ers.

A year later, the Steelers deserve to be on top.

They have been lucky, very lucky, but they also have been the best. For a survivor of the Immaculate Reception, that's not easy to concede.

Contact Monte Poole at mpoole@bayareanewsgroup.com