Tom E. Curran • E-mail

TAMPA, Fla. - So they won. An epic. Now, what does the Pittsburgh Steelers' 27-23 win over Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII mean to their franchise legacy, the individual legacies of Ben Roethlisberger, Mike Tomlin, Hines Ward and the rest?

A lot.

The impact of this game won’t slowly fade.

For the Steelers as a whole, they become the first franchise to win six Super Bowls. As important as the overall haul of Lombardi Trophies is the way in which they’ve won them. Their franchise personality, if you will.

Thirty years. Three coaches. Four Super Bowl wins for Chuck Noll. One each for Bill Cowher and Tomlin.

“They are pretty special guys,” said Art Rooney II, son of Steelers owner Dan Rooney. “All three of them. We were lucky each one of them was with us as long as they were and hopefully Mike will be here a while and win a few more of these trophies.”

It is that continuity that makes the Steelers unique. In an era of disposable coaches and reactionary owners whose trigger-finger twitches with every loss, the Steelers are rock steady.

It’s not just what they've done, but the way they’ve done it.

“I think it’s meaningful for everybody, for America in general,” said Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. “You don’t have to be a big-market team. You don’t have to be a big-market player. We don’t have any superstars on our team that require attention. To do it with the humility and the unselfishness that this team has done it with sets a good example for teams to follow.”

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Tomlin, hired at 34, now a Super Bowl champion at 36, has a mindset that meshes perfectly with Pittsburgh’s philosophy.

Asked what winning the Super Bowl meant to him personally, he answered, “I’m not concerned about my personal milestones. I just want to contribute to the legacy that is the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m very blessed to be hired by the Rooney family. They took a chance on a 34-year-old coach with not a long resume; I understand that. They took a little criticism for that and I took it personally. I wanted to ante up and add to their legacy and thankfully, with the help of a great coaching staff and great players we were able to do that.”

Tomlin is in a position to be very special.

Roethlisberger, with two Super Bowl titles, already is.

“The guy is one heck of a competitor,” said Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch, who spent 2008 on injured reserve. “I sit every day with him in meetings and see how hard he works on and off the field. He makes plays, that’s what he does. I don’t know where he stands in history, but I know he’s definitely No. 2 in Steelers history because Terry Bradshaw has four (Super Bowl wins). When you look at it and compare where they were at the age Ben’s at, he’s well on his way to exceeding all the things that were imagined for him.”

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Winning two Super Bowls by the age of 27 and having a Super Bowl masterpiece like the one he authored in Tampa? It changes your obituary, that’s what it does.

And there may be more to come. Nobody ever mentions general manager Kevin Colbert, the underrated architect of this team. Year after year, the Steelers reload and retain and draft well.

Pieces are in place for a long run of success.

Asked if this was the most special Super Bowl win, Steelers owner Dan Rooney said, “They’re all special. It was something because it was the sixth. They are all meaningful from one all the way to six.”

And, perhaps, beyond.