Four days after the Boston Red Sox ended the Curse, the Pittsburgh Steelers ended the Streak.
The New England Patriots had not lost a football game since September 28, 2003 - a span of 21 games. Their NFL-record streak was shattered thanks in large part to the play of the NFL's top rookie through the first half of the season, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The 11th pick in this year's draft is a 22-year-old rookie with only five career starts in the league, but he is already working on a league record of his own: he is only the second quarterback in league history to win his first five starts.
As Roethlisberger continues to win games for the Steelers, Mark Whipple '79 is helping his young protégé shine at the position he once excelled at for the Bears. Whipple quarterbacked Bruno to second-place finishes in the Ivy League in 1977 and 1978 and also earned four varsity letters playing shortstop for the baseball team. Now, he is the Steelers' quarterbacks coach, working daily behind the scenes with one of the biggest stories of the NFL season.
"Ben was certainly a 'can't miss' prospect," Whipple said. "But I could not say I could have predicted him playing this well this early."
Whipple has a lot of experience with success. After his playing career at Brown, he went on to coach the Bears from 1994 to 1997. He led Bruno to a 24-16 record during his tenure and then compiled a 49-26 mark in six years coaching the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Whipple's career in football began while growing up in Phoenix, where he played both baseball and football.
"Living in Arizona was great because we played all year round," Whipple said. "It was a big change going (to Brown) because I went from playing 13 or 14 football games a year to 9 or 10 games and getting snowed out in baseball. The cold weather was tough to deal with during baseball season, because we would always start late."
Whipple had never seen the campus when he decided to attend Brown. However, he quickly settled into life on College Hill. Playing sports was an easy way to meet people.
"The best part about playing in the Ivy League was the ability to meet kids at other schools," said Whipple. "I met so many kids at the other (Ivy League) schools playing sports that I became friends with. I think the closeness between the schools is a unique aspect of the Ivy League. We were all having similar experiences."
Despite all of his athletic achievements at Brown, Whipple remembered his time at Brown more for how it prepared him for the future.
"Brown was great in so many ways," said Whipple. "It has a lot to do with me being with the Steelers."
Chris Berman '77, the host of ESPN's "NFL Countdown" and "NFL Primetime" and a friend of Whipple's, was one of many people encouraging the Steelers to consider Whipple for the quarterbacks coach position. Whipple also attended Brown with Steelers owner Dan Rooney's daughter.
Of course, playing experience and recommendations only go so far when trying to land a job in the NFL. Whipple's successful head coaching stints at Brown and UMass were what really appealed to the Steelers.
When Whipple was named Brown's head coach before the 1994 season, the team had been mired in a losing stretch.
"Before we got there, the program was struggling a little bit," said Whipple. "We were able to get it turned around. I left before the Ivy Championship (in 1999), but a lot of the kids on that team were kids that were there when I was, kids we recruited."
After resurrecting the Brown football program, Whipple took the top position at UMass and revitalized that team as well. Whipple took a team that had won 19 games in the previous four years and won a national championship in 1998, his first season on the job. His career record of 49-26 was the second-best mark in UMass history.
Having turned around two major collegiate programs in 10 years and serving as a head coach for the past 16, Whipple said the decision to move on was an opportunity he could not turn down.
"The transition has been easier than I thought it would," said Whipple. "I had been in charge for 16 years. I was dealing with every aspect of the team. Now I am fortunate enough to be working with a great staff and I can really focus on one thing, which is helping Ben and the other quarterbacks."
Not long before Whipple arrived in Steeltown, he realized that he might be working with a special type of player.
"They never told me they were going to draft Ben," Whipple said. "However, I thought that Ben was the one who would probably be there at number 11. I was the only one who had seen him, and the more I got to know him and his family, the more I liked him. There were three great quarterbacks out there, but Ben had the biggest upside."
The knocks on Roethlisberger were that he had struggled against stiffer competition at the University of Miami-Ohio (he threw four interceptions against Iowa in last season's opener) while feasting on the weaker teams in the Mid-American Conference. He wasn't as polished as the other two big-name quarterbacks, Eli Manning and Phillip Rivers, who were both from power conferences.
"The competition stuff was never an issue," said Whipple. "Look at Byron Leftwich and (Chad) Pennington. If you can play, you can play. Ben loves to compete, and had he stayed in school he would have won the Heisman this year. There was no hesitation when we were considering Ben."
Fortunately for the Steelers, both of their off-season quarterback acquisitions have been continuing their history of success.
