There’s been lots of discourse about the storied tradition of the Steelers franchise lately. It all started due to Ben Roethlisberger questioning whether the Steeler Way existed anymore. From there, the story erupted, and the national media ran with it.
It’s a valid question, especially considering how the Steelers have been playing lately. Sure they sit at 7-7, far from horrible, but more importantly the edge seems to be gone. The team has had multiple winnable games where it needed to gut it out and just haven’t been able to. They seem like the games that the old Steelers always used to win.
Many former players have shared their opinions on the matter with various levels of agreement. One of the most respected former Steelers, Hines Ward, shared his on The Eye Test For Two Podcast.
“We don’t get into all the antics.” Ward said, referring to the culture of Pittsburgh. “We just play our hearts out. The Steelers have got a lot of young, very talented guys, but it’s more about them than about the team. When I hear some of their comments, it’s about what I did. I don’t want to get hurt. I don’t wanna do this. I never played the game that way…And I think there’s, a disconnect with the younger generation, from the former players. So, you see the frustration from former players because it’s more about I than it, it’s about the team.”
In the social media era of football, we’ve seen the disconnect between the athletes of yesterday and today only grow wider. Everything was tougher and more pure back in the day, the old athletes will claim, and there is a lot of proof and reason to back that up.
But as usual, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. And while it’s not the most exciting take, we want to be sensible about it. Have the Steelers looked rough this year? Absolutely. Do they quite give other teams the same fear as they used to when you see them on the schedule? No.
But let’s look around the league. We are in the ultimate player movement era, where free agency has players shift from team to team more than ever. How many teams can keep the level of success that the Steelers once did for as long as they have? The New England Patriots were the exception, not the rule, and even they’ve fallen off. Who else? The Kansas City Chiefs, I guess, but they are bolstered by the best quarterback in the league. After that, maybe the Philadelphia Eagles?
Ward’s sentiment rings true for me and many other Steelers fans. There is a disconnect. But in today’s NFL, maybe it’s impossible to bridge.
Listen to the full podcast here.
