Unbelievable’ franchise decline-Steelers legend fires….
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a proud franchise with a rich history of success and a winning culture that has consistently put them above.500 year after year.
This pride is reflected in so many areas, from the long-standing continuity of head coach Mike Tomlin and his six Super Bowl championships to the customary discipline on the field.
However, it is a lack of leadership on the part of the team that is beginning to worry about the future of the “Steelers Way.”
Ben Roethlisberger Takes Shots at Steelers’ Current Status
After 18 seasons as Pittsburgh’s quarterback, Roethlisberger has established himself as a franchise legend with his strong right arm and toughness at the helm. His words carry weight, which is why his recent comments sting even more for Steelers fans. “Maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers tradition is over,” Roethlisberger said on his podcast, “Who’s grabbing a guy by the face mask saying, ‘This is not what we do?’ Is that what’s happening? Yeah, you have people on defense saying that, but you need people on offense saying that. You need someone standing up in that room and saying that this is not what it means to be a Black and Gold player.”
“This isn’t what has been handed down from those teams of the ’70s. The Steel Curtain, the four Super Bowls, the Nolls, the Bradshaws, the Blounts. All those people, it’s unbelievable.”
Though the Steelers currently hold the No. 6 seed in the AFC standings with a 7-6 record, they’ve been trending in the wrong direction.
Kenny Pickett remains sidelined with an ankle injury. Mitch Trubisky is entrenched as the current leading option at quarterback. The team made ignominious history by dropping consecutive home games to teams that entered the fray at 2-10. Job-status speculation is beginning to swirl around head coach Mike Tomlin.
Some of these problems are tied together. Roethlisberger made it clear in the aftermath of the 21-18 loss to the New England Patriots that burning timeouts in the second half is bad coaching. “I think it’s a mistake to not call a timeout late in the game,” Roethlisberger said on the same podcast. “There’s a certain amount of emotion you need to have in these situations because timeouts are so valuable, and we saw that in this game. We had one more timeout, we got a completion, we could have worked the center of the field, and all we had to do was give (Chris Boswell) a 60-yard field goal. Give him a shot and he will tie the game.” He likes his chances in overtime because the Patriots scored all their points first and the momentum had changed.
While it’s difficult to fault Roethlisberger for talking about “coaching decisions,” several current Pittsburgh players took (controlled) umbrage at the general tone of the quarterback’s post-retirement message.
Ben has every right to be his own judge,” said Harris, who was in the same locker room with the quarterback in his final year. “It’s not my place to tell him what he should do or shouldn’t do. I can’t answer that question. He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. He knows what it’s like to be here, he knows what it takes to win a Super Bowl. He knows what the bar is for credibility.”
I was his last year on the team, so I don’t really know what the “Steeler Way” is. He’s been here with Troy Polamalu and Jerome Bettis, so he knows what it’s like. Someone on the outside, someone who’s been on the field with him, might think they know what it’s like, but I don’t.
Ben has a point of view, and he’s right to have it. But I disagree,” defensive end Cameron Heyward, who has made six Pro Bowls in his 13 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, said on “Good Morning Football.”
We’ve lost our last two games and it’s been tough. But the Steeler Way is about endurance, and that doesn’t change no matter what happens. So there’s a lot to be done, and that begins with winning games, playing good defense, and scoring points.
The only thing better than winning is winning, and Pittsburgh could quickly turn around the mood if it emerges victorious from upcoming games against the Colts (December 16), Jake Browning and the Cincinnati Bengals (December 23), the Seattle Seahawks (January 7, 2023), and then the Baltimore Ravens (January 7, 2020).
The Steelers Way has produced playoff berths in 12 of 19 full seasons (Roethlisberger since entering the league in 2007) and just one.500 record under Tomlin.
Both objectives are still attainable.
