They are rock-solid franchises that epitomize the term "old school." The Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears have classically traditional uniforms, ownerships that remains within the respective founding families, legions of rowdy and distinctive fans, histories filled with Hall of Fame coaches and players and league championships, and recent pasts marked by the frustrating inability to recapture halcyon days.

Yet in this topsy-turvy NFL season of mayhem, and at a time in the nation's history when it seems melancholia is the only sentiment overriding sheer panic, it's as if patron saints George Halas and Art Rooney are conspiring at a hastily-convened heavenly league meeting, rife with cigar smoke and backroom politicking, to make things right again.

	The Steelers lead the NFL in rushing behind Jerome Bettis' 550 yards.

How else to explain the performance of a Pittsburgh team that hasn't won a Super Bowl since Terry Bradshaw still had hair? Or the inexplicably stunning play of Chicago, which hasn't vied for league superiority since Jim McMahon was still cool, and where the death watch on embattled coach Dick Jauron began early in training camp?

For starters, look to a low-tech de-evolution that has served both teams well, as each has refashioned itself through basics.

Five games into the season, the erudite Jauron might salvaged his job. Bill Cowher of the Steelers, on the other hand, might have resurrected his foundering reputation after a playoff drought of three seasons. In doing so, the coaches reached into the past, adopting a football-primer approach shy on glitz but big on results.

"They both just play good, hard football," said former Bears coach Mike Ditka. "They run the ball, make just enough plays in the passing game and play great defense. I guess, in a sense, they're kind of throwback teams."

That might be a bit of a stretch, since there are elements of both teams that occasionally make you want to throw up, not throw back. Each of the teams, though, has ridden a relatively non-contentious schedule and consistently hard play to success at this juncture of a wacky season.

This edition of the Bears won't conjure up comparisons to the "Monsters of the Midway," nor will Pittsburgh remind anyone of the "Steel Curtain" dynasty of the '70s. But at 4-1 and, among the most pleasant surprises of the early season, leading their divisions, the two proud franchises are stirring old passions dormant for too long.

Steelers fanatics have pulled their threadbare Terrible Towels out of mothballs. Loyalists of Da Bears are in the basement rummaging for those old Super Bowl Shuffle videotapes. Hardly the chic choice of pundits during the preseason, the clubs have broken out the Rust-Oleum and applied it in generous doses to their Rust Belt franchises.

The respective turnarounds could not have come at a more opportune time. The Bears are asking their long-suffering fans to travel to Champaign, Ill., for home games next season as Soldier Field is renovated. The Steelers are playing their first campaign in new Heinz Field, and while that is generally viewed as progress around the league, loyal 'burghers who flocked for decades to beloved Three Rivers Stadium are characteristically slow to accept any kind of change.

	Riding the Bus
	After sub-par seasons in '98-99, Jerome Bettis has picked up the pace in '00-01 and helped lead the Steelers' resurgence. Bettis has just 385 fewer yards in 21 games in '00-01 than he had in 31 games in '98-99, and has three more 100-yard games in '00-01 than in '98-99. That translates into a better record for the Steelers, especially when Bettis breaks the 100-yard barrier.
		'98-99	'00-01
	Rush YPG	73.4	90.0
	100-yd gms.	8	11*
	Team W-L	12-19	13-8
	*Steelers 9-2 in those games

Such early success might also help convince knowledgeable fans in each city that both teams will benefit long-term from recent front office upheaval. The Bears hired talented personnel chief Jerry Angelo this spring as their first general manager since the '80s. Cowher won a power struggle with former director of football operations Tom Donahoe two years ago and, despite just a 22-26 record the past three years after six seasons of playoff appearances, was rewarded with a three-year contract extension.

Some of the same season ticketholders calling for Cowher's dismissal a year ago, now are lauding his rededication to the job and the kind of lunchpail mentality he has re-fostered.

It is no coincidence that in a city where the brewski of choice is Old Style, the Bears are winning by returning to their smashmouth roots. Or that the Steelers, whose fans quaff Iron City, are living up that rollicking image.

There is some irony, since the demise of the steel industry in Pittsburgh and the close of the livestock yards in Chicago have turned the cities into corporate centers. The result is a fan base that is neither blue-collar nor white-collar, but something akin to gray-collar. The shade doesn't matter, however, when victories keep piling up.

"It's kind of an older city where the people have very deep roots," Steelers Hall of Fame fullback Franco Harris said of Pittsburgh. "They have the perspective of time here, and some people still talk about the dynasty years of the '70s as if they were yesterday. Of course, in their hearts, they know that isn't the case. But the one constant here has always been physical football, the kind of style that reflects the tone of the city, and this team is playing it."

Indeed, in a league where there is no such thing as an upset anymore and where success is predicated upon reaching a level of consistency and maintaining it over the course of the season, Pittsburgh and Chicago take some pride in adopting a trite-but-true formula: If you run the football well and stop the run, avoid turnovers and take the ball away from your opponent at least a few times per outing, you will win more often than you lose.

	“	They both just play good, hard football. They run the ball, make just enough plays in the passing game and play great defense. I guess, in a sense, they're kind of throwback teams. ”
		— Mike Ditka, former Bears and Saints coach

It is not by happenstance that Pittsburgh ranks No. 1 not only in rushing offense but also in rushing differential, holding a 108.2-yards-per-game advantage over its opponents. While the Bears have more vertical dimension in the pass attack, with some big-play receivers, Chicago also holds a healthy margin over opponents (104.4-75.6) in the rushing game.

"We believe we can run it on anyone," said Steelers tailback Jerome Bettis. "Last week, when we played Tampa Bay, everyone was talking about what a big test it would be for our running game. Hey, for us it was another opportunity to show people what we are about. We're going to line up and come right at you, no frills, nothing fancy. It's all about being a man, you know, about seeing who's stronger mentally and physically."

In purging some overpaid and underachieving veterans, Angelo helped to create a better atmosphere in the Bears' locker room. Offensive right tackle James "Big Cat" Williams, the last link to the Chicago playoff years of the past, has talked about better chemistry. In Pittsburgh, the Steelers have clung to their old 3-4 defense while everyone else is using a 4-3, and some younger players previously deemed draft mistakes have stepped up.

Because of Bettis, and the tandem of Anthony Thomas and James Allen in Chicago, the quarterbacks, Jim Miller of the Bears and Pittsburgh's Kordell Stewart, are not being counted on to win games. Rather, as has been a leaguewide trend, the quarterback spot is being minimalized for the two teams. First-year coordinator Mike Mularkey is allowing Stewart more freedom to run, designing plays to get him to the edge of the defense, and featuring dependable wideout Hines Ward on third down.

The journeyman Miller, who replaced Shane Matthews as the starter after two games, is a no-nonsense guy who doesn't turn the ball over and has a knack for getting teammates to rally around him. Nothing breeds an attitude reversal like winning, Miller emphasized last week, and the mental turnaround in the Bears has been palpable, he said.

"Everyone in the locker room believes every week now we're going to win," Miller said. "It's an infectious thing. You can see the confidence in everyone's eyes. It used to be that we just hoped to win. Now if we lose a game, I think guys will be upset, will take it a lot harder than maybe they did the last few years here. Since I've been in Pittsburgh before, I'm betting that's something the teams have in common."

The other most obvious shared commodity is superb defensive play.

Pittsburgh is getting Pro Bowl caliber play from three of its four linebackers, surprising toughness from a reshuffled front line and terrific cornerback coverage. Last week, the Steelers had 10 sacks in their victory at Tampa Bay, and the exotic angles from which the pass rush came left Buccaneers blockers flailing. The rekindled determination has lifted Pittsburgh to the top of the defensive standings.

"When the lights go out and the tape goes on," said defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen, "nobody wants to be left out of the frame. So most times, when you freeze a shot, there are 11 people around the football."

The same apparently holds true for the Bears, where coordinator Greg Blache actually found enough minute errors to rail about following a shutout win over Cincinnati. That dissatisfaction aside, a unit feeding off younger players like middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, safeties Mike Brown and Tony Parrish, and cornerback R.W. McQuarters (perhaps the league's most improved player at his position), is opening eyes around the NFL as it continues to stymie solid offenses.

Chicago has now surrendered just one touchdown in 13 quarters and is among the most opportune defenses in the league.

"Hey, this is a town that demands you play great defense," Urlacher said. "You run out there in a Bears uniform, and people think of (Dick) Butkus and people like that. There is a history to uphold here and we're starting to take pride in upholding it."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.