‘Tis the season for celebrating with family and friends and reveling in the most joyous of occasions. It’s a time to be grateful for all the blessings in life.
Wait! There’s a Pittsburgh Steelers game before Christmas?
Sound of phonograph needle dragging across the record…Holiday jingly bell music coming to an abrupt halt.
Do we have to watch? I mean…we don’t want to be depressed this time of the year.
We don’t want Grandma to squeeze our cheeks and ask us how we’re doing and be forced to then tell her a bald-faced lie.
“Uhhh…we’re doing great, Granny. Couldn’t be better.”
That is, when how we should answer this question after watching yet another disappointing loss is:
“Granny, I just watched a Steelers game, and I want to rip down all of these holiday decorations, stomp on all of the children’s gifts and toss that horrible fruitcake you bring us each year out in the street.”
But watch we must, Steelers Nation. It’s our job.
Don’t blame me, I’m not the schedule maker. So, cheer up Tiny Tim. Let’s give it a Spin.
Wanna Get Away?
These must be the worst three weeks of Coach Mike Tomlin’s reign as head of the Steelers. For years, he’s had the unwavering support of the national media and all his former players, but the cracks in his armor this year are wider and more ominous than the San Andreas Fault.
Sure. His team is 7-7 and still well within striking range of earning a ticket to the playoffs, but he’s never been under quite an assault from all directions.
Suddenly, the emperor appears to have lost the last of his clothes as even his unflappable ability to keep a locker room sewn tightly is looking as shaky as a used car salesman trying to pass off an AMC Gremlin as one of the best-built classic automobiles.
Probably the most concerning is Tomlin’s look on the sidelines. It’s the same face you’d see on one of those “Wanna Get Away” commercials for Southwest Airlines. He just doesn’t appear to be enjoying himself anymore.
In the past, I could find myself getting angry at some of his on-field decisions, but these days after a particularly poor play, I just want to give him a hug and tell him, “Cheer up, football just isn’t that important, Mike.”
The last time this kind of deep sadness expression was seen on a Steelers head coach’s face was during Bill Cowher’s last season. He had just (finally) won a Super Bowl after all those years of trying, and it seemed as if climbing that mountain, coupled with conflicting family priorities, was making his job less fun than it needed to be for him to perform at a head coach level in the National Football League.
This is probably the most important question for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the last few games, however many that ends up being.
Coach? Do you still want to do this? And if so, do you want to continue doing this in Pittsburgh?
Till our face is fully blued, we can talk about new offensive coordinators and whether we have the quarterback of the future…or not. But those aren’t the ones that matter the most. The one that trumps them all, including “Should Tomlin continue as head coach in 2024?” is “Does Tomlin want to continue in the job?”
The evidence in the affirmative hasn’t been resounding, it must be said.
What Are You Drinking?
How do you evaluate the tenure of Tomlin? How do you feel about the job that Art Rooney II has done since taking the lead in his role as president?
It all comes down to a matter of taste.
If you’re all about stacking up wins, there are few NFL organizations that have done better than the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tomlin’s career record is 170-101-2 since serving as head coach for the Steelers. As far as active coaches besting this performance over a long period of time, you can only really mention Andy Reid and Bill Belichick.
If piling up wins and non-losing seasons year after year is what gets you to spin your Terrible Towel the most, then any talks of replacing Tomlin are utter nonsense. There is a reason why so many other organizations would leap at the opportunity to have him wearing their coaching hat and jacket.
If Tomlin and Pittsburgh separated ways, and he still wanted to coach, he would not be unemployed for longer than a week, unless he wanted more time to sort through the plethora of offers.
From a business perspective, being able to have predictably consistent winning seasons for a professional team is highly beneficial in terms of profitability. Stadiums don’t empty if your team is still in the running. Especially one with Pittsburgh’s rich history and fanbase.
So, if “always being in it” while keeping a healthy bottom line is your cup of tea, then Art Rooney II has done an outstanding job as president of the team.
However, if you’re one of those who measure Pittsburgh in terms of championships, or at least deep runs into the playoffs (like most of Bill Cowher’s term), then the past ten years or so have been an abject failure.
Worse, it’s been smoke and mirrors. The team has been just good enough to raise false expectations, leaving Steelers Nation feeling click-baited into buying tickets and sports paraphernalia.
So…where do your tastes lie? Team Wins? Or Team Championships?
Those roads are not built in the same way.
The Man Behind The Curtain
It is time to evaluate Art Rooney II with a much brighter interrogation light. There is no question that his poise, communication delivery, and management style are impressive to the point of being magisterial.
His approach to being patient and ever-devoted to his coaches is admirable. His gentlemanly approach to not making comments about the team during the season and doing his best to stay out of his employees’ way is all highly applaudable.
That is. If it’s working.
It is not.
It is time to recognize that Tomlin has not been perfect. He’s been great in many ways, but most certainly not perfect in his leadership of the franchise. In fact, he has some glaring weaknesses.
Why hasn’t Rooney ever stepped in and fixed the obviously broken approach to hiring and retaining coaching personnel? After all these years, Tomlin’s coaching tree still would make Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree look like a California Redwood.
Why hasn’t Rooney been more attuned to the howling of the fans? Because, as it turns out, the fans were right all along.
Do we matter? Because we ain’t feeling it that way.
If the Pittsburgh Steelers were more of a publicly traded company and not as much a family dynasty, would Rooney still be employed as the president?
Again, it’s a matter of taste. Do you prefer wins? Or championships?
I was under the impression those six Lombardi’s mattered to the Rooney family. They certainly do to most of Steelers Nation.
Hey. I believe in capitalism. He owns the company (at least the majority share). He can choose to do what he wants.
My question is, “What does he want?”
If it truly is winning championships, then he would have flipped the corporate conference table over and raised holy havoc years ago when the New England Patriots tied the Steelers for first place in that category.
For those of us on Team Championships, that was the final straw. That was when it was clear Humpty Dumpty had fallen and needed to be fixed immediately.
What has Rooney’s actions since then told us?
That the mission of the Pittsburgh Steelers has changed. There are only two options. He’s either poor at his job, or he’s firmly on Team Wins.
The Lost Generation
Let’s face it. Most of Steelers Nation, like myself, are unwell.
We haven’t missed a single play of any game since technology made this possible decades ago. Our weekly dose of dopamine during NFL seasons swings widely with the wins and losses of our team.
The moment our Steelers lose their last game of the season, we turn immediately into NFL draft central and are deranged enough to care about the passing completion percentage of quarterbacks at Podunk University.
We do outrageous things like insisting that the television remain on during Thanksgiving dinners when the Steelers are playing. Or we say something like, “I don’t mind cold turkey.”
We won’t let our kids marry into Cleveland Browns or Baltimore Ravens families. Shortly after our children are birthed, we are smothering them and adorning their rooms with Steelers schwag so their indoctrination can commence without hesitation.
Our kids can fail at school and life, but they better at least be a Steelers fan.
We are unwell.
It’s also why stadiums are filled with Steelers fans any place they play. This is whether they are undefeated in a season or struggling beyond repair. We show up, and we drag our children and grandchildren with us, by the ears if necessary.
But it’s important to understand there is only one reason we are so unwell.
It’s because someone in our family experienced the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowl victories over the course of six years.
It’s because someone in our family has been seeking out that next pipe dream ever since.
If the Steelers are indeed choosing Team Wins over Team Championships, they are going to lose this generation. Sure, there will be some who will have uncurable Mad Cow disease for their team regardless. Heck, there are Detroit Lions fans.
But if they expect to carry on the tradition of unwavering, unrivaled fan support for generations to come, they better get on with winning more championships and quick like.
Otherwise, we are facing a lost generation.
They’re Greaaaatttt!
This Sunday, the Steelers take on Tony the Tigers, and what a difference a few weeks can make.
The last winning feeling Pittsburgh tasted was against the Bengals in Cincinnati at the end of November. This was the first Matt Canada-less game, and the offense was giddy with the newfound experience of freedom from incompetence.
The running game went off, Pat Freiermuth was rediscovered, and the Steelers’ defense performed well against backup Jake Browning.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to realize that although Canada was gone, he left his stinking offensive scheme behind.
Since then, the Steelers have drifted into the weeds and ditches, and Browning and the Bengals are riding a three-game winning streak.
The Baltimore Ravens are so far ahead at 11-3 in the division that all that is left on the menu for the Steelers is Wildcard playoff scraps.
The Steelers will be absolutely desperate to win their last regular season home game of the year, and if they don’t, the Grinch will have stolen Christmas for real this year for Pittsburgh fans.
Fortunately, if they fall short again, the game is Saturday giving us two days to recover from the depression.
After all, it’s never a good look for the neighbors to have to witness Granny’s fruitcake bouncing out on the street.
