Never have I Ever
I have been a Steeler homer since I could breathe.I have been around for all of the Super Bowls and experienced the joys and pains of losing them as well. As Chuck Noll headed down the homestretch of his coaching career it was evident that the game had passed “The Emperor” by.
In comes Bill Cowher. Fiery leader who essentially no one had heard of. Cowher consistently had his teams playing with the same passion that he displayed as a coach. Cowher always made sure he developed men to lead his locker room. Guys that would hold the team accountable. Guys who had the M.O. to win Super Bowls or die trying. Guys who like Chuck Noll coached players who exemplified toughness, grit and unwavering desire to win championships. Both Noll and Cowher also had losing seasons, they dropped the ball on #1 draft picks and basically brought in guys to coach that they adapted to.
Fast forward 18 years into the Mike Tomlin era. Having a regular season winning record or rather a non-losing season is his calling card. Mike Tomlin has no coaching tree with his assistants going on to lead other teams in any capacity, his players who lead are silent and almost to a fault “me first” guys who lead through example. It is painful to think this once proud organization had a calling card of players wanting to be on their roster but now, they don’t even want to make the visit to Art Rooney Way. Speaking of Art Rooney, AR2, the “Chief's” grandson and Dan’s son, is making those poor men roll over in their graves. He is not a hands on owner but rather one who tries to speak into existence a championship pedigree. He needs to go and take Tomlin and his cronies with him.
This all boils down to 2021, Ben Roethlisberger's final season by demand from the owner and coaching staff. A marginal effort by a decrepit long in the tooth Quarterback who was well past his prime. The 2025 season will bring the 5th starting quarterback since Ben has moved on to the podcast culture. The problem is Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields were not good enough. So what does the Steeler organization do, they let everyone walk, Wilson, Fields and Allen and hit the reset button. Waiting for 41 year old Aaron Rodgers is comical. For a team that has an already immature George Pickens and adding DK Metcalf to the mix, Rodgers would be the icing on the cake. Tomlin loves this dude though. He doesn’t care how old he is. He will spin all his cliches and make you believe that he is going to turn the clock back to 2010 when he defeated the Steelers in the Super Bowl. For goodness sake Tomlin, just play your reacquired Mason Rudolph, you owe him that much and draft, hopefully, the future in Jaxon Dart or Tyler Shough and let the cards fall were they may. Better yet, put the fan base and the city of Pittsburgh out of its misery and go join the booth for the 2026 season. NFL fans need to hear how “the Standard is the Standard” from the originator of mediocrity.
-Mark Maradei
