The Pittsburgh Steelers used to be known for their tradition of excellence and greatness. Now, they are known by "The Standard": having a winning season and maybe making the playoffs, but nothing more. Head Coach Mike Tomlin and Owner Art Rooney II have caught a lot of heat lately for that mindset, as they seem to be content with this style of football. They are ok with not chasing rings, but chasing meaningless regular season awards. As long as they go at least .500, fans speculate that ownership will call the season a success.
AP Photo
Steelers Team President Art Rooney II and Head Coach Mike Tomlin oversee practice during the 2021 minicamp in Pittsburgh.
While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, Mike Florio listened to Jim Rooney's explanation of the state of the team. He spent his whole time there going off on him and the Rooney family for the standard that he clearly set: outperforming the mean. To top it off, he also brought up the real losers in this scenario: Steeler Nation, for investing time and money into this pyramid scheme.
"The key to success in the NFL -- financial success, because only one team gets the Super Bowl [each year], but every team wants to have more money in than money out every single year. That's where the business creeps in -- so if you have a team that competes through the regular season and into the postseason ever year, you're going to be profitable. People are going to come to your late-season games; they're going to buy your jerseys for their kids for Christmas. You're going to be a popular team locally because every year, you're dangling that carrot just enough to get people to open the wallets. That's long-term financial success and stability."
The Steelers aren't the small-market team that doesn't care about the on-field product like many MLB teams, but they still aren't apparently worried about winning in January and February.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers owner, Art Rooney II walks the sideline during a Steelers game.
The Steelers arguably have the largest fan base in the NFL, as shown by their ability to take over opposing stadiums all over the country. It's hard to go to any town and not see someone walking around while wearing black and gold, even in rival cities. Ownership is aware of this, and they take advantage of the community that was built by its family before Rooney II took power.
That's why Tomlin is allowed to stick around, despite not winning a playoff game since the 2016 season. That's why they run a barebones operation in the front office and the analytics department. Those cost-cutting measures have not sunk the team to 8-9 yet, so there is no reason to spend more money for things like that according to pundits.
Are The Steelers Striving To Just Be Slightly Better Than Pittsburgh Pirates?
The Pittsburgh Pirates of the MLB are the typical small-market team: make a couple moves here and there to maybe bring fans to the stadium, cash in on the league's revenue sharing, and call it a day. Bob Nutting makes plenty of money off of that method, so why should he go out and spend New York Yankees-level money to build a competitive team?
Matt Freed / Post-Gazette
Canaan Smith-Njigba, outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, is showing off his impressive strength in spring training.
The Steelers don't go that far into greed, but they're not exactly saints themselves. The NFL has a salary cap and a soft salary floor, meaning that they have to spend a certain amount of money on players. The real question is if ownership would be willing to give out some of these contracts if they don't have to?
The standard is the standard, and Rooney made sure to set the record straight on that standard. It may be time to start "sell the team" chants at Acrisure Stadium if this effort continues and this theory of just being mediocre ends up holding true.
What do you think about Rooney's intentions with the Steelers? Let us know in the comments.
#SteelerNation
