The Pittsburgh Steelers are not having a very good start to the 2022 season. The Steelers were embarrassed by the Buffalo Bills 38-3 and now they are an 8.5-point underdog to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at home. Mike Tomlin and Matt Canada have come under fire this week for the state of the black and gold and the fans want an organizational scalp so they can assess blame.
Steelers Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada during practice / Credit: Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review
Mike Florio who hosts Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports, joined the popular 93.7-afternoon radio show PM Team w/Poni & Mueller Wednesday afternoon and advanced a different theory. Florio proposed that Tomlin was an easy target and something, or more specifically, someone else in Pittsburgh is to blame.
“I still believe that Art Rooney is far more involved in everything than we realize,” Florio began. “Jerry Jones does it in Dallas, he just puts it out there. Art Rooney has never done that, maybe it’s humility or maybe it’s so he has others to blame if it goes sideways.”
Art Rooney (1901 - 1988), founder and chairman of the American football team the Pittsburgh Steelers, October 1982 / Credit: Photo by Nancy R. Schiff/Getty Images
Art Rooney “The Chief” did start his tenure with the Steelers going 39 years before the franchise got a playoff win courtesy of the Immaculate Reception in 1972, but then went on to preside over perhaps the greatest team in the Super Bowl era, the 1970s Steelers. His son Dan Rooney is responsible for the transition to Bill Cowher, the Rooney rule and two more Super Bowl trophies. Both men are spoken about with reverence by anyone who played for them.
“It’s a collaboration,” Florio continued. “The problem with a collaboration is somebody has ultimately got to be the one. Who is leading the charge to consensus? It doesn’t organically happen, because there will be disagreements and disputes and then someone will break the tie. Unless they are very good at trading out positions, it’s always been difficult to see who is running that organization. I believe Art Rooney has a lot more sway and a lot more power than anyone realizes at every level of the decision making.”
Art Rooney II has been president of the Steelers organization since 2003. At the time he held a 20% ownership stake in the team and upon his father’s passing in 2017, it is believed he inherited the other 30% ownership stake in the team. He is the majority owner of the team and does likely have the final say over all things Steelers, like his father and grandfather before him.
“The Steelers are held up as this platinum standard for stability and consistency for good reason,” Florio said. “Three coaches since 1969. The Rooneys owned the team before that and they were firing coaches every other year because they stunk. It’s very easy to keep your coaches when the team is good. It makes it a lot easier to stick with your plan of never firing your coach, almost where it becomes your identity.”
Credit: Tribune-Review
Florio does make a solid point about the Steelers organization. Art Rooney was not patient with loss during the early years. The Steelers had 13 coaches in 33 years prior to hiring Chuck Noll and since 1969 they have only had three. However, Joe Bach and Walt Kiesling served five terms as head coaches between them, and 12 of the 16 coaches spent their entire professional careers in Pittsburgh. The team’s best chance for success was Jock Sutherland who got the team to the playoffs in 1947 but he, unfortunately, died prior to the 1948 season.
“The limited partners a few years ago,” Florio shared. “They were making noises about changing coaches and Art Rooney just ignores it. To the extent that quietly, Art Rooney is Jerry Jonesing the Steelers, you need people to go along with that, and the next coach might not go along with it. You introduce a new personality into that mix and it might change, but one bad year isn’t going to do that.”
Florio, who was also an attorney before turning to football commentary full-time, has often said he is not a fan of the Steelers. He lives in nearby West Virginia and part of the vitriol for the organization might be the steel curtain that envelops the back office dealings of the team, and his lack of access to them. The Rooney image is carefully crafted and unlike the Dallas Cowboys owner who started at the top, he has been working in the organization since 1989.
“I go back to the throwing overboard of Bruce Arians,” Florio speculated. “Which happened after Tomlin told him I got you taken care of, I got you a new contract. Arians has said that on the record. So it’s either Mike Tomlin being two faced or he didn’t have the juice. I choose to say the latter. Todd Haley then becomes this shotgun marriage that I don’t think Tomlin wanted. I just don’t think Mike Tomlin has the juice.”
At this point, the incredulous team of Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller interrupted the rant by the veteran NFL insider. The pair asked if he were insinuating that not only could Tomlin not fire Canada, but he may not even have been responsible for the hires of his own staff.
“Yep,” Florio replied bluntly. “Rooney has been able to maintain this façade where nobody ever calls him out. That’s why he would do it. You stay removed from the criticism because it’s never you. If it goes sideways someone else takes the fall. As long as the team is competitive every year it never becomes an issue.”
Credit: ESPN.com
The accusations are stunning and smack of an attempt at stirring up a hornet's nest within the organization. Players appear to be revolting and the younger fans who only know the Ben Roethlisberger Steelers, are upset with the state of the team. The Rooneys are a third-generation operation and if Art Rooney II has been meddling behind the scenes since he became president of the team in 2003, he has had a pretty successful run at doing it.
Unlike the Dallas Cowboys owner, who named himself GM of the team at one point.
The Steelers have made three Super Bowl appearances this century under the current Rooney regime and are in their first-year post Hall of Fame quarterback. Unlike when Terry Bradshaw retired, the Steelers actually seem to have a succession plan in place with Kenny Pickett. If he is meddling, he is doing a good job.
What do you think Steeler Nation? Are you shocked to hear Florio blame Mr. Rooney for the Steelers' issues? Comment below or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
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