Instead of getting ready for a Sunday playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills, we’re talking about RB Rashard Mendenhall’s Super Bowl fumble. Again.
In fairness, he didn’t bring the latest conversation up on his own. In a sit-down interview with Vladislav Lyubovny, better known as DJ Vlad for his popular YouTube channel, Mendenhall was asked to relive that moment against the Green Bay Packers, the turnover contributing to the team’s narrow loss.
“When it comes to that play, I’m like, ‘what could I have done?'” Mendenhall told Lyubovny. “I’m still sitting here today, ‘What could I have done?’ I get a handoff, I’m closed in the backfield after getting that handoff. In my mind, my body, my psyche, that’s not a mistake. That’s just a result of the play. The fumble is a result of the play.
“And the word ‘fumble’ implies blunder. But I didn’t make a blunder. There’s nothing that can be done. I live my life and I’m not carrying a mistake that I made. Because if I did, then there’s something I could’ve done better. I couldn’t have held the ball any better. I got the handoff like I always do. I couldn’t have made another decision.”
Though you’ve likely seen it before, and may not want to see it again, here’s the fumble/blunder/result, whatever term you’d like to choose.
Since the play, Mendenhall has been trolled and attacked on social media. In many fans’ views, that moment cost Pittsburgh the Super Bowl. Giving Mendenhall grace, it was far from the only reason. Green Bay raced out to a comfortable lead, QB Aaron Rodgers slicing and dicing the Steelers’ secondary, and QB Ben Roethlisberger threw a pick-six. At one point, the Packers were ahead 21-3 before the Steelers showed up, all happening before Mendenhall’s career-defining moment.
But the fumble halted the momentum Pittsburgh was building. After Green Bay’s recovery, the Packers marched downfield for another touchdown, again building a multi-score lead. Roethlisberger couldn’t produce another game-winning Super Bowl drive, throwing incomplete on fourth down, and the Packers hoisted the Lombardi instead.
Painful as the play is, Mendenhall believes he had no control over the outcome.
“If I could go back, there’s nothing that could’ve been done,” he said.
There’s no doubt Pittsburgh’s blocking was poor and that Mendenhall was hit in the backfield. But it’s not as if the Packers made the play at the mesh point either. He took three steps before being contacted. If every running back coughed up the ball under those circumstances, every game would be a fumble-fest. Blame, if assigned, should go to multiple people on that play, blockers and runner, instead of isolating either group.
For Mendenhall, it’s the latest example of him describing the play and he’s done so more frequently in recent years. Explaining why, he said it’s a case he’s willing to make for the rest of his life. If anything, it’s the reason to write about the topic – again – to understand why he keeps defending himself.
“Is that something you fight for? For me, yeah. Is that a hill I’m willing to die on? Hell yeah. Because I have to live on it anyway,” he said.
Nearly 15 years removed from the play, there isn’t much else to say. The only thing everyone should do is move on. The play happened, it hurt the Steelers’ chances, and they lost the Super Bowl. Anger-tweeting at Mendenhall isn’t going to solve anything. Mendenhall trying to absolve himself isn’t going to do anything, either. It just makes fans resent him more.
The only interesting and original thought I can offer: Will Mendenhall and fans stop reliving history once the Steelers win their next Super Bowl? That Green Bay loss was their chance to win a seventh ring and had they added another trophy a year or two later, they could’ve been considered another dynasty, having already won in 2008.
In some sense, and the comparison isn’t 1:1, Mendenhall is Pittsburgh’s version of Bill Buckner. The man perceived as the one who cost his team a championship, even if assigning complete and utter blame on either individual is wrong. For Mendenhall, the Steelers still had 12 minutes to come back and win the game. For Buckner, the Red Sox lost the following Game 7 to the New York Mets. But both are defined by that singular moment.
When Boston finally won their next World Series in 2004, Buckner had to feel relief. When the Red Sox were champs again in 2007, Buckner threw out the first pitch to open the 2008 season, receiving a lengthy standing ovation from fans. It probably didn’t resolve all the grief he felt from his error but likely it helped.
Make no mistake, there’s no future ovation coming for Mendenhall. But internally, when Pittsburgh raises its next banner, maybe it’ll offer him some peace. Perhaps he’s at peace now; he’d likely argue he is. But based on how passionately he continues to tell the world this wasn’t his fault, it doesn’t sure sound like it.
Watch the entire segment, where Mendenhall talks about playing with Antonio Brown and touches on other parts of his career, below.
