The Steelers are renowned for their 3-4 defense. They have used the alignment since the early 1980s, the final days of the Steel Curtain era. The 3-4 is part of their identity, a tradition that dates back to Kevin Greene and Greg Lloyd and continues through James Harrison and Lawrence Timmons today.
So if you ask defensive coordinator Kevin Butler if the Steelers still run a 3-4 defense, he will assure you that they do. "That's what we are," he said during training camp, "26 percent of the time.
"And then, 74 percent of the time we're not.