The Chief, Art Rooney, Sr., must be turning over in his grave over the state of his beloved Steelers
… franchise used to stand for character, is now a circus
The Steelers were formed in 1933 as a sort of hobby for Art Rooney, Sr., who had earned some good money on his race tracks. He was a popular figure in Pittsburgh, a man who was respected on many levels. The Steelers were never much of a success for decades for one reason: The Chief never took them seriously.
Art Sr. knew that the big money was to be won at the race tracks.
However, in the 1960s, Art decided to turn over his team to his eldest son, Dan. After struggling for a few years in his early years as CEO, Dan hired a coach by the name of Chuck Noll, who promptly drafted a fabulous defensive tackle by the name of Joe Greene, and success followed rather quickly.
From 1972 on, the Steelers achieved success, winning four Super Bowl in six years and six overall from then until today.
Character and integrity
However, what the Steelers used to represent was character. They preached that representing the Steelers was special, that they represented something more than a sports franchise. They represented their city, and they did so with pride. If they did not, there were consequences.
Despite this, the team was also humane. When defensive lineman Ernie Holmes shot at a police helicopter back during the Super Bowl years, the team secured psychological help for him. When Hall of Fame center Mike Webster became homeless as a result of his CTE, Dan Rooney aided him in any way possible, financially and otherwise.
As a result, the Steelers developed a reputation as not just a winning franchise, but one that demanded respect for everyone. They had the reputation of being a classy organization.
Today, they have fallen so far from that echelon that they have become a symbol of dysfunction. It is a far cry from the early days when despite not having little success, they still represented their city and franchise with dignity and class.
Why has the Steelers’ reputation deteriorated?
The word that was being used to describe the Steelers at the end of the last season was “circus.” The other words were “soap opera” or derisively, “As the Steelers turn.”
The Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown sagas, enabled by the unprincipled Mike Tomlin, dragged the reputation further into the muck.
However, this goes back to the end of the Dan Rooney era, when he stepped down as CEO. While he remained on the board, Dan, who had tried to continue the Steelers reputation as an organization based on character, turned it over to his son, Art III.
On Jan. 16, Rooney was asked about the conception that the Steelers had devolved into a circus.
"As far as I'm concerned, that's nonsense,” he bristled.
Rooney is wrong. Under his watch, the franchise has devolved from one of the best reputations in the league to just another one like the Oakland Raiders, who probably have more character than the Steelers do now.
That led the person with the best character in the franchise, line coach Mike Munchak, to bolt the team and take a lateral job with the Broncos, a franchise in trouble.
That led the former Vietnam War vet who overcame his injuries to become a four-time Super Bowl winner, and the epitome of character on that field, Rocky Bleier, to say that he was “finished” with the Steelers.
The Tribune-Review reviewed the list of problems in 2017 that were problematic, only to be exceeded by the soap opera of 2018,
• Martavis Bryant’s in-house social media suspension
• Brown’s Gatorade cooler toss
• Bell’s first training camp absence and ill-advised social media activity before the Jaguars playoff game
• Ben Roethlisberger’s “maybe I don’t have it anymore” routine
• Todd Haley’s “Tequila Cowboy” incident
• Marcus Gilbert’s four-game suspension for a banned substance
• James Harrison’s release for insubordination
• A protest that put the franchise at the center of the entire national anthem firestorm
February 22, 2019
When did this start?
I trace the problems back to the hiring of Art Rooney II as CEO/President in 2003. Art did not want this job. He was a member of a law firm in Pittsburgh and was doing well when the eldest son of Dan was begged by his father to take a job in the Steelers organization.
Ultimately, Art did so, but the organization is not improved because of him. While the hiring of Mike Tomlin as coach to succeed Bill Cowher was hailed in the early years as a “genius.” He won a Super Bowl in his second season and reached the SB two years later in a loss to the Packers.
It was a heady time to be a Steeler fan. However, the foundation upon which the team was built was starting to crumble from within.
I trace the current problems to a number of issues that were never addressed:
- Failure to discipline Ben Roethlisberger for his involvement in two sexual assaults more than a decade ago;
- Failure to exercise discipline by Tomlin
- Failure to discipline running backs Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount for being caught smoking marijuana before a flight to a preseason game at Philadelphia in Bell’s rookie season
- Failure to discipline Antonio Brown for televising a post-game talk with Mike Tomlin prior to the New England AFC Championship game that turned into a debacle in 2016, instead giving him the largest contract in the league
- All of the problems in handling the Le’Veon Bell situation
- Most important, changing the successful mantra of the franchise from the oft-cites “Defense wins championships” to “Offense even if sporadic means more than defense.”
Art II could have required that Roethlisberger serve a stint at a women's help center.
Steeler fans today have tried to forget about the incident in Georgia, but many were very upset by the assault against a young college student [charges were not filed because she was intoxicated and would not have been a credible witness — and because her family wanted to drop it because of the embarrassment.]
Today, rebuilding the reputation will be challenging
So, everything that has occurred over the past ten years has just continued chipping away at that reputation. Tomlin’s unwillingness to discipline players for infractions, including not disciplining linebackers coach Joey Porter for his, have diminished the sterling reputation that Art Rooney built with his team. His early squads were never great on the field, but he demanded that nevertheless, they represent the organization with class and dignity.
The Chief must be turning over in his grave over the current “circus” atmosphere.
The team may improve on the field this year — or it may not. But, whether it can restore its reputation without major surgery — which would require the ownership to force the firing of Tomlin and perhaps Rooney — is going to be tricky.
I am not the Steeler fan I used to be because of the problems of the past decade. I used to become upset at Cowher at times — losing four AFC title games at home — but he still kept the reputation intact as a whole.
Now, they are a circus, one that must change immediately if they are to restore their reputation across the country.
Steeler fans today have tried to forget about the incident in Georgia, but many were very upset by the assault against a young college student [charges were not filed because she was intoxicated and would not have been a credible witness — and because her family wanted to drop it because of the embarrassment.]
Today, rebuilding the reputation will be challenging
So, everything that has occurred over the past ten years has just continued chipping away at that reputation. Tomlin’s unwillingness to discipline players for infractions, including not disciplining linebackers coach Joey Porter for his, have diminished the sterling reputation that Art Rooney built with his team. His early squads were never great on the field, but he demanded that nevertheless, they represent the organization with class and dignity.
The Chief must be turning over in his grave over the current “circus” atmosphere.
The team may improve on the field this year — or it may not. But, whether it can restore its reputation without major surgery — which would require the ownership to force the firing of Tomlin and perhaps Rooney — is going to be tricky.
I am not the Steeler fan I used to be because of the problems of the past decade. I used to become upset at Cowher at times — losing four AFC title games at home — but he still kept the reputation intact as a whole.
Now, they are a circus, one that must change immediately if they are to restore their reputation across the country.
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