Though Pittsburgh Steelers RB Jerome Bettis never officially retired following the 2004 season, that was his and his teammates’ expectation. After their magical 2004 run ended with an AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots, Bettis told the team post-game that he was hanging up his cleats.
In the end, that loss is what brought him back for 2005. A year where Bettis finally got his ring in his hometown Detroit.
Joining The Pivot in an episode that aired Tuesday, Bettis shared the story of how a trip to the Pro Bowl caused him to change his mind.
“We were 15-1. So we had like eight guys in the Pro Bowl,” Bettis told the show’s Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder. “So with those eight guys, each guy brought a couple of teammates. So we had about 20 Steeler guys at the Pro Bowl. And because we lost an AFC championship, the coaching staff was there. And because the coaching staff was there, Mr. [Dan] Rooney decided to come. And they threw a big Steeler luau for everybody.
“So we go to the luau. And I’ll never forget two guys, it was Larry Foote and Clark Haggans. And they say, ‘Man, JB, this is gonna be terrible, man. We’re going to go to Detroit. We gonna win a championship in Detroit, your hometown.’ Larry said that then. Then Clark said, ‘Yeah Bussy, man it’s gonna be a shame. We gonna miss you.’ I was looking like, ‘What? I didn’t know [the] Super Bowl was in Detroit the next year.'”
Previously, we’ve heard Jerome Bettis’ decision stemmed from QB Ben Roethlisberger’s promise to get him a Super Bowl ring. And perhaps that played a part. But it seems like his discussion with defensive starters like Larry Foote and the late Clark Haggans first planted the seed of Bettis’ return. Being around teammates in a joyous environment at the Pro Bowl, a stark contrast from the gloomy locker room after the Patriots loss, gave Bettis a jolt he didn’t have before. Once Bettis realized next year’s Super Bowl would be played in his hometown, he opened the door to giving it one last try.
A conversation with his wife Alice sealed it.
“I said, ‘Babe, I’m thinking about giving it one more shot. What you think?’ And she said, ‘If you’re asking me, you already made up your mind.'”
However, Bettis’ return came with one condition.
“I called Coach [Bill Cowher]. And I was like, ‘Coach, I’m gonna come back one more time. But I’m gonna need a raise.’ Because that year I had took a pay cut because they had brought in Duce Staley,” he said. “Yeah. And Ducey got hurt and I ended up starting like eight, nine games, almost at a thousand yards.
“I was like, ‘Listen, you paid me to be a backup. You ain’t paid me to start eight, nine games.’ I said, ‘I need a raise.’ He gave me a raise, and then I came back, man, and made history.”
However, media reports from the time paint a different picture. Bettis reportedly took a pay cut, not a pay raise, to play out the 2005 season. The Associated Press offered the details in a February 2005 article.
“Bettis was to have made $4,484,000 next season but will play for about $1.5 million — or about $500,000 more than his base salary last season.”
That’s a substantial decrease, though I suppose it could be spun into Bettis playing for more in 2005 than he did in 2004. No matter what the money said, the important thing for Bettis was getting his ring. He did. Pittsburgh got hot late in the season to sneak into the playoffs. They became the first No. 6 seed to win the Super Bowl, upsetting the Indianapolis Colts in the Divisional Round along the way. A game that nearly ended in disaster thanks to Bettis’ goal-line fumble. But Roethlisberger’s tackle and K Mike Vanderjagt’s miss kept the Steelers’ Super Bowl hopes alive.
In Detroit, the Steelers dispatched the Seattle Seahawks, 21-10. Jerome Bettis didn’t play a major role, but the game was a celebration of his Hall of Fame career. What he meant to Pittsburgh, a physical style of play that reflected the city, and to football.
