Paul Zeise: Steelers have a long way to go to regain their mythical status

Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr 6, 2025

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — I hear these things about where the Steelers fit in the NFL and how much they are still the envy of the rest of the league. I hear about their way, their aura, their stability and how they are the model franchise, and then I read these stories about how everyone wants to play for them and Mike Tomlin.

Are some of you people out of your minds, and what does living in Fantasyland feel like?

The only people who care about six Lombardis, the eight AFC titles, the stories of the Steel Curtain and the big bad Steelers of 2004-10 are people who don't want to live in reality. I get it — fantasy is a lot more fun than reality, but it is time for the Steelers and their fan base to stop living in fantasy.

The Steelers are no longer the big bad Steelers everyone is afraid of. They are no longer the team nobody wants to play against. They are no longer the team everybody wants to play for. I get it — we all want to grab a Lombardi trophy and yell, "From my cold, dead hands!" But the thing is you will have to wipe off a lot of dust from any of them because they are becoming ancient history.

I am not trying to be mean; I am just being realistic. And I am laughing at all of these people who think Aaron Rodgers is somehow disrespecting the Steelers brand because he is taking his good old time to figure out if he wants to play for them.

The Steelers are now just another franchise but one that seems to be stuck in a time and place no longer in existence. The Steelers, despite the best efforts of forward-thinking guys like Omar Khan and Andy Weidl, still want to do things the way they did them in the "Super Steelers" era of the 1970s.

The model is no longer working. The idea they can stay the course and continue to do things with the same philosophies of the past is not working. The Steelers brand no longer dominates the landscape.

Rodgers is taking his time to make sure he makes the right decision, and quite frankly, the Steelers have no choice but to wait for him at this point. He is probably contemplating retirement and just wants to be sure he is really ready to play another year, and the Steelers are probably his only option, as well.

Beyond the quarterback, the Steelers have made some decent moves in free agency, but they haven't made a single real change to the coaching staff. They will run it back with the same stale philosophy that has led them to — checks notes — zero playoff wins in eight years. Do you realize how bad that is, especially for the Steelers?

Enough is enough. The Steelers need to face reality, and reality is they are just another team, just another organization and have been for quite some time. Nobody fears playing against them. Nobody fears playing them in the playoffs. That is always a lot of hot air that turns into, well, more hot air. They just aren't good enough and don't do things well enough to be that team.

I don't know if it was right or wrong to bring Mike Tomlin back, and I have heard and made arguments on both sides of that discussion. I lean toward "he absolutely should be on the hot seat this year," but it is a moot point because Pittsburgh is the one town where that doesn't exist. And it doesn't matter what team, either, as all of our local teams seem to have convinced themselves that staying the course is the best way to go despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.

So the Tomlin discussion is one thing, but please explain to me how and why the coaching staff and even some of the front office wasn't blown up, torn down and completely rebuilt this offseason? I just don't get it. There needs to be an entirely new philosophy with the Steelers, and they need to break away from this idea that there are no new voices and ideas that can bring an end to this long playoff drought.

Rodgers will make his decision soon, and when he does, I am sure there will be many who think he is going to bring the Steelers back to the glory days. There will be some who think he is going to bring the aura, the rizz, the fire back to the Steelers and they will become the big bad Steelers again and the envy of the NFL.

Others might think he is a waste of a lot of money and won't lead them anywhere they haven't been over the last eight years. And they will be mad he made the Steelers wait so long because that is dissing the most iconic brand in football.

I am sorry. I don't see it that way. I see an organization that needs to wake up and realize they are no longer who they think they are, and thus they better find a way to do the things necessary to getting back on top where they belong.

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