Terry Bradshaw has not necessarily had the greatest relationship with the Pittsburgh Steelers since he retired. The four-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Famer likely still holds a lot of resentment for the way that he feels he was treated, largely at the hands of Chuck Noll, which now that I think of it perhaps bears some similarities to what the latest former Steelers are saying…
He and Ben Roethlisberger, the man who is eclipsing the majority of his franchise records, have also had a bit of an icy relationship at times. Not as much as his approach to Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin, but there have been moments in the past, to be certain.
But that wasn’t reflected in his comments to TMZ that he made earlier in the week. When asked, he said, “he’s a great leader. He is. He’s solid”. Considering that he made no qualms about saying the exact opposite of Tomlin—calling him a cheerleader—I’d like to think that means at least a little something.
When he was asked about the comments that players such as Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell made regarding Roethlisberger and his leadership skills, he said, “that’s their opinion, you know? That’s their opinion. I’m not there. I’m not in that locker room. I can’t answer that. I don’t know. But I find him to be fine, I don’t understand it”.
Half the fanbase can’t understand it, either, while the other half seems as though it can’t understand what took everybody else so long to realize how bad of a teammate, leader, and human being Roethlisberger is.
It’s really been an interesting process. Roethlisberger is a highly polarizing figure with some believing that he is the only thing holding the team together and others believing that he is holding the team back and that they can’t play championship football with him as their leader.
Being TMZ, you know that they also asked Bradshaw to weigh in on Tomlin and his role in the current state of the Steelers. While he was reluctant to give a clear answer, he did say that he had the sort of coach you need to win championships when he played, that being Noll.
Who will be the latest to come out and accuse Roethlisberger of being a good or bad leader? There seems to be at least a couple new chapters in this story every week. And frankly, very few of those commenting have had any really meaningful insight, either tampered with bias or simply lacking relevant or current first-hand knowledge.
Whether he is or is not a good leader, he is the quarterback for the foreseeable future, and so will be a de facto leader. The Steelers will look to return to the postseason under his reign in 2019, during which he will have plenty of motivation to be at his best.
