PG poll: The Steelers Super Bowl window has closed, and the Steeler fans’ love affair with its QB has ended: “Nearly 60% of fans ready for Steelers to move on from Ben Roethlisberger”

Has the Super Bowl window closed?


… let’s move on from Ben


The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette paid for a post-season poll that indicated how much frustration Steeler fans felt after the 2020 season, one that started so propitiously with 11 consecutive victories.


The most interesting number for me in the poll is the one that fans care about most, and one that I pointed out a few weeks ago: “An overwhelming majority of 85% believe the team’s Super Bowl window is now closed.”


I said that the Steelers may not win a Super Bowl until 2034, basing that on the drought that the team went through from 1979 until 2006. With the number of free agents this year and the aging of the team as a whole, that is more likely than not.


What the fans are saying, in other words, is that it is time to rebuild and get rid of most of the current players who have big contracts. That is not surprising for a team that lost four of its last five games, the final one an embarrassing debacle to the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the AFC playoffs, one in which they fell behind 28-0 in the first quarter. 


Poll results


The PG thought that the number about fans turning on Roethlisberger was the one that was most revealing, but if you have been reading any of the Steeler blogs, these numbers are not surprising at all. The glory days of Ben are gone. He has been very unproductive in the playoffs, and very inconsistent during the season,


Polling for the Post-Gazette by CivicScience conducted from Monday through Friday of this week has found broad dissatisfaction with the coaching staff, quarterback and other key players, as well as a general lack of hope in the team’s future following the playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns this past Sunday.


The most eye-catching finding? A strong majority of fans are ready to move on from two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Fully 58% do not want management to stick with him as the starter should he decide to return for 2021.


1647421f-614e-47c5-bb42-27f3c0ac1202.png

(CivicScience)

A combined 70% also gave him a grade of “C” or worse when asked to evaluate his performance in 2020. Just 4% gave him an “A” while the remainder gave him a “B.”


“Poll: Nearly 60% of fans ready for Steelers to move on from Ben Roethlisberger,” Post-Gazette, January 15, 2021


What about the coaches?


Almost 50 percent of the respondents blamed Coach Mike Tomlin for the debacle to Cleveland in which they had arguably the worst quarter in history, falling behind 28-0, and none of the coaches received very high marks. They were as bad as Roethlisberger’s when the Cleveland game was analyzed, 


Tomlin’s report card was just as ugly. A 51% majority gave him a grade of “D” or “F,” even after a 12-4 campaign that saw his team start 11-0. “C” proved to be the most popular choice, while 15% gave him a favorable mark of “A” or “B.”

29890773-ee27-4a36-ad7f-1bc05cd09364.png

If there’s a saving grace for the long-time coach, it’s that many people still believe he can succeed. A 53% majority said they feel Tomlin is a good coach who needs to start producing better results soon. Just 32% called for his firing, while 15% feel his job should be secure.


“Poll: Nearly 60% of fans ready for Steelers to move on from Ben Roethlisberger,” Post-Gazette, January 15, 2021


Winning 64 percent of your games is commendable, but his lack of discipline has brought the franchise to the point of going downhill after this season.


The coordinators also received poor grades, but the poll did not grade the person most responsible for this debacle: Steeler CEO/President Art Rooney, II. 


That is the next topic for consideration, one that the other owners, who now have about 70 percent of the shares, must confront. Can they improve without a change at the top?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dr. Chet Beres, M.D., the quarterback who gave of himself to so many people: Some Lilly Raiders who will not be with us on Saturday

Image
Chet Beres was a special human being … The 1968 championship QB is calling audibles from heaven On a few nights in late October 2010, I slept overnight at the Conemaugh Hospital palliative care unit. My brother, Father Jim, was clinging to life at the end of a long battle with cancer, and this unit was designed to make life easier for those in the final stages of disease — and for the families who wanted to spend their last days with their loved ones. It was at that time that while wandering through the hall, I noticed a plaque on the wall that warmed my heart, albeit in a sad way.  The palliative care unit was dedicated to Dr. Chet Beres, M.D., an advocate for those in hospice care. My mind flashed back to the Lilly Raider quarterback on the 1968 championship team, a young man who was bright, exuberant, and so popular with his teammates.  Chet went on to college at Pitt and to medical school after graduating from Penn Cambria. We knew that he was bright, but we also knew that he had c
Read more

Why did Tennessee-Chattanooga hire trainer Tim Bream despite his role in the alcohol-induced death of Tim Piazza at a Penn State frat?

Image
… was a live-in advisor at the fraternity On paper, Tim Bream has an impressive resume. Actually, very impressive — up to a point. That seems to be when Bream’s life appears to careen out of control. Bream, who resigned as Penn State trainer in Feb.,  was a graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, specializing in athletic training. He then attended West Virginia as a grad assistant trainer, where he received a master’s degree in Physical Education with an emphasis on Sports Science. All of this information is from his bio on the Penn State athletic site. He then worked his way up the ladder impressively, working at Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and finally at the University of Richmond, where he was the Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Trainer. Then he received his big break, being name as Assistant Athletic Trainer for the Chicago Bears in 1993, and four years later, Head Athletic Trainer. He was with the Bears for 19 years when inexplicably, he
Read more

Remembering the toughest loss I ever experienced in approximately a quarter-century of coaching football. George Pasierb was a great coaching adversary.

Image
R.I.P. George Pasierb, 1946-2020 Shade-Central City High School football coach Photo: Tribune-Democrat No high school football fan could ask for anything better than this. On a beautiful sunny, warm afternoon on Saturday, October 30, 1982, in Nanty Glory, Pa., the battle featured a clash of two undefeated titans of the Appalachian Conference.  One was the preseason unanimous favorite to win the title, the other a veritable surprise that season, one that had built an 8-0 record entering that game.  This battle lived up to the pre-game hype, ending in a one-point decision that was not certain until the final play of the game.  I thought of this because the coach of the powerful Shade-Central City High School Panthers, George Pasierb, passed away earlier this week. He coached the Panthers for 20 years, but his best team was arguably that 1982 team that battled the Blacklick Valley Vikings on that Saturday afternoon before more than 3,000 ebullient fans.  And, the one-point loss was the to
Read more