A Blunt and Endearing Letter to Pittsburgh Steelers Fans

To any and all fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, it has to be said: you guys are screwed.

I'm sensing a trend here. First off, let's talk about the concept of "secondary teams." Many sports fans say they have that second team other than their favorite that they love. As for me, I kinda do, but I kinda don't. I'm a diehard Packers fan, but if I did have a secondary team in the NFL, it would be the Steelers. There was always something about how the Steelers carried themselves. Gritty, tough, never doing things the easy way. They're basically the Packers of the AFC.

The Steelers are that team I would always speak highly of and refuse to accept any negativity. Same goes for the NHL's Maple Leafs, yet I called out their problems recently. Recent years have seem me really notice that the Steelers did have a few flaws, but at the end of the day, they still got wins, and still somehow got to the playoffs.

Before I address a pair of elephants in the Black and Gold room, I have to give some flowers here:

Thank you, Mike Tomlin. In a league where it's hard for Black head coaches, in a league where Black coaches get immensely scrutinized and fired for the same things that would get White coaches excuses, mulligans, and even extensions, Tomlin kept on truckin', persevering, and winning. 19 seasons. Zero losing seasons. 193 wins, the same exact total as another Pittsburgh coaching legend, the late, great Chuck Noll. Super Bowl Champion. Yet people actually wanted him fired because Tomlin isn't White. You know how many teams would get on their hands and knees to have Tomlin as their HC? Thankfully, Tomlin decided his own fate, and resigned at the end of this past season, because Tomlin is the only one who had that right.

So I had to get that out of the way first, but now, it's time to address a pair of glaring issues:

Aaron Rodgers is doing that thing again. It came out yesterday that Rodgers won't make his decision about his future with the Steelers, or any team, until mid-March. Good grief. So basically, the Steelers are being held hostage during a very rare moment in the team's history where there are nearly no certainties. And I thought about this, and it led me to something I had already known but hadn't said publicly: the Steelers didn't prepare for life after Big Ben. They didn't even come close to preparing. When your all time great QB is about to hang it up, you need to be ready. You need to comb the draft, or possibly try to make deals. Pittsburgh did neither. They made no deals, and tried to start backups who would only be starters on team playing for a draft pick... maybe.

Big Ben's true decline started as early as 2019. That should have been the moment Pittsburgh started to prepare for the end. They didn't. Ben had his retirement after 2021, but look what followed: Mason Rudolph, Kenny Pickett, Duck Hodges, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields. Wilson had the pedigree, but that was ages ago. Pitt got a Russell Wilson who was absolutely cooked. Of course, they picked up Rodgers for this past season. He was 41 at the time, now he's 42. Oldest QB in the league, the prime is about 85-90% gone, but here's the sad part: despite all of that working against Rodgers, he's still the best QB they've had since Ben retired. And now, Rodgers is pulling this with the Steelers still having no true plan for the most important position in football. Good grief.

And while this actually inspired me to write this piece, it's not the most damning issue hitting the Steelers right now:

Why? WHY?! WHY?!?! Let's get one thing straight: anyone would have been a downgrade after Tomlin. Once Tomlin resigned, there was nowhere else to go but down. But seriously... him?! Just because he's from Pittsburgh?! Have they never actually seen this guy?! And I swear, if I hear one more person say, "He's won a Super Bowl," I'll scream. Aaron Rodgers won that Super Bowl. Mike McCarthy was just a sack of white noise on the sidelines. Still is. Rodgers made McCarthy, and it was followed by years of McCarthy destroying Rodgers' prime. And then, McCarthy went to Dallas and ruined Dak Prescott's prime, which also included losing at home in the playoffs to the "little Packers team that could" in 2023.

It's amazing. My fair and factual criticism of McCarthy is always met with "He has a ring," yet when I mention Tomlin's ring, "Oh, that was Bill Cowher's team." It wasn't. The whitewashing of POC accomplishments needs to stop. The only group of people happy about this hire are the racists who wanted Tomlin fired knowing full well that a) Tomlin's an icon, and b) the Steelers don't fire coaches (McCarthy is their fourth HC since 1969). Regarding that, all I'll say is this: You got what you wanted. But I know McCarthy. He will fuck it up, because that's what he does. I also believe that streak of .500 or better seasons will end with him, and the Steelers will be headed for a drought. When all of that bad stuff happens, and it will, I don't want to hear anything resembling buyer's remorse from you. You asked for this. Now deal with it. Or as we used to say as kids, "No backsies!"

One more thing. The Steelers have never fired a head coach in my lifetime. But then again, the US had never won Gold in Men's Hockey in my lifetime. The Yankees and Dodgers had never played each other in a World Series in my lifetime. The last two happened in a two year span. The third could happen if McCarthy really does make a mess of things in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are facing more uncertainty than they've ever faced as a franchise. They have a new HC and they really don't know if Rodgers will return to the team. In addition, they have to hope that TJ Watt will remain healthy in 2026, because if he doesn't, the Steelers are in big trouble, and the guy who magically saves them isn't there anymore.

I truly hope for good things for the Steelers. They're a good team with good intentions, but they just get in the way a lot. Even so, that AFC North football will always be interesting to watch.