Steelers' Bill Cowher Detailed What Happens In A Typical Uncomfortable Meeting With The Rooney Family

The Pittsburgh Steelers have begun their offseason preparations to load up for the 2025 season. There has to be some difficult conversations to be had, as the way that they are doing things just doesn't work anymore. Even if ownership is content with this string of mediocrity, Head Coach Mike Tomlin and General Manager Omar Khan should not be. They should be livid at the fact that their team is seen as a free playoff win for whoever they face each year, if they even make it there in the first place. 

Steelers' Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Cowher has had to have these conversations before, even though that was when the late, great Dan Rooney was the owner of the team. Either way, his teams usually had lots of issues, which meant that he had to hear from his boss about what was wrong and what needed to change.

While making an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Cowher explained what goes into a meeting with the Rooney family after a season ends.

"It's total transparency in the room," explained Cowher. "It's not being hurt by someone's feelings, not being hurt by disagreeing with someone, sitting there and talking about what's in the best interest of your football team, recognizing that there has to be some collaboration between you, which means some sacrifice on everybody's part to walk out of that room with this collective agreement with what that decision may be."

Earlier in the interview, Cowher referred to these meetings as "uncomfortable conversations," as no one really wants to hear the harsh truth about how they failed individually and collectively. However, if the Steelers want to be anything more than a postseason doormat, the people at the top need to let each other know how they truly feel about each other.

Rooney's Standards For Steelers Are Way Too Low

Jim Rooney, the brother of Art Rooney II, recently admitted that they are happy with how they do each season. They keep "outperforming the mean," which means they make good money off the team as it wins more than it loses all the time. Playoff success is secondary in this scenario.

If Tomlin and Khan have any sort of backbone, they will explain to the Rooney family that that's not good enough. Ownership needs to do more to supplement the people that they bring in. The Super Bowl is the real goal, not 9-8 and a bunch of jerseys sold. 

Steelers' Khan Needs To Have A Plan B

Overall, Khan has done a solid job in his short time as a general manager. He has been more aggressive than his former boss, Kevin Colbert. The Steelers have struggled to adapt to the modern game, but Khan has been the main beacon of light in that regard with his free agency and draft acquisitions. 

His biggest failure so far has been the wide receiver room. He put all of his eggs in the Brandon Aiyuk basket in the 2024 offseason, but they were never able to trade for him. Because of that, Van Jefferson was listed as the second starting receiver for most of the season. He had 24 catches during the whole 2024 campaign. Khan struck out and had no other ideas outside of trading for Mike Williams at the deadline.

Steelers Need To Tell Tomlin To Be More Trusting

Obviously, players love Tomlin's ability to motivate and drag his teams out of many different situations, which means ownership is more than happy to keep him around. The Steelers don't want to hurt the locker room morale by telling him to kick rocks. It's hard to find someone that relates to the players as well as he does.

However, Tomlin struggles with game planning and play-calling. Despite that, he refuses to give up control of the defense to his coordinator or let his offensive staff work without him meddling with their plans. 

What do you think about the uncomfortable conversations that may be had between Rooney, Khan, and Tomlin? Let us know in the comments.

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