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The 2016 season was the 84th in the history of the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] as a professional sports franchise and as a member of the [[National Football League]] (NFL). It also marked the 17th season under leadership of general manager [[Kevin Colbert]] and the 10th under [[List of Pittsburgh Steelers head coaches|head coach]] [[Mike Tomlin]]. For the first time since [[2004 Pittsburgh Steelers season|2004]], [[tight end]] [[Heath Miller]] was not on the opening day roster, as he announced his retirement on February 19, 2016.
After going 4-5 in their first nine games, the Steelers ended their season on a high note, winning all of their last seven. The Steelers were the first team since the [[2011 Green Bay Packers season|2011 Green Bay Packers]] to play on both [[Thanksgiving]] and [[Christmas|Christmas Day]]. The Steelers won the [[AFC North]] for the second time in three years and made the playoffs for the third straight year. The team also improved upon their 10–6 record from [[2015 Pittsburgh Steelers season|2015]]. [[Le'Veon Bell]] made his career first playoff appearance with the Steelers in the [[2016–17 NFL playoffs|2016–17 playoffs]]. The Steelers went on to defeat the [[2016 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins]] in the Wild Card round and the [[2016 Kansas City Chiefs season|Kansas City Chiefs]] in the Divisional round before losing to the eventual [[Super Bowl LI|Super Bowl champion]] [[2016 New England Patriots season|New England Patriots]] 36–17 in the AFC Championship Game. This was the Steelers' first appearance in the AFC Championship Game since the [[2010 NFL season]]. The team ranked 10th in both offense and defense.
This was also the final season under the ownership of [[Dan Rooney]], as he died on April 13, 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/19152186/pittsburgh-steelers-chairman-dan-rooney-dies-age-84|title=Steelers chairman Dan Rooney dies at 84|website=espn.com}}</ref> {{TOClimit|3}}
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