Rooney’s promise to fans unkept, so what’s next for Steelers?
Before the 2024 NFL regular season kicked off, Pittsburgh Steelers team president Art Rooney II made a promise to fans that the season was going to have different results. He was public in saying that the organization had “resolve” and “determination” to win and do so in the postseason, ending the team’s playoff drought.
“And I think I said before, I think all of us that have been around for a little while are anxious to take this next step — and getting a little impatient — and we need to see the kind of improvement we all want to see. Mike (Tomlin) believes that as firmly as anybody else in the building,” Rooney said at the time.
That promise fell flat when Pittsburgh was throttled by the Baltimore Ravens in the wild card round game on the road over the past weekend.
Steelers fans experienced a range of emotion after the loss that followed a four-game regular season skid that saw the team fall apart after posting a 10-3 record. Coaching appeared subpar, as did play. Some individual players appeared locked-in while others looked like they weren’t on the same page. Another one-and-out playoff appearance has the fanbase questioning moves made ahead of the season as much as the end result.
So, the widespread question that is being asked now is this: what’s next?
“Next steps” were not successfully taken
Going back to Rooney, he said, “We’ve had enough of this. It’s time to get some wins; it’s time to take these next steps.”
The team brought in an entirely new quarterback group – Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen – to work with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith in his first season with the team. Their receiving corps opposite George Pickens and Calvin Austin were comprised mainly of new players to the team. While Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren remained, Cordarrelle Patterson was added at running back. Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, and Connor Heyward at tight end were joined by MyCole Pruitt, who played his first season with the team.
On defense, it was a similarly mixed bag. T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Alex Highsmith – they all returned – and were mixed in with new additions like Cameron Sutton (in his second stint with the team), Donte Jackson, Patrick Queen, and DeShon Elliott.
If the “next steps” were to fill-out the roster with players Arthur Smith was familiar with on offense and a smattering of free agent adds to fill holes in the defense, it was only marginally successful. The Steelers still had to rely on rookies like Payton Wilson, Mason McCormick, Beanie Bishop, and Zach Frazier almost immediately; they broke them in early and played them often.
Whether there developed a personality issue, or conflict, among personnel or not, it was apparent throughout the season that communication was a constant issue that had to be addressed. There were wins during the season, but very few games where the team appeared to be working as one.
In other words, the Steelers’ success only went so far. Those promised next steps didn’t get taken successfully. The team stumbled, instead.
What’s next?
The lack of energy on the field in the final two weeks of the regular season and in the playoff loss to Baltimore appears to have displayed that the team was no longer impatient to get back to winning ways, as Rooney suggested; they were deflated.
The work of figuring out how to keep the promise made for 2024 starts anew for Rooney. He didn’t keep it, so he’s going to hear about it from the fanbase until he makes things right.
In exit interviews, players are likely to be candid about what went wrong. Coaching staff will be having tough discussions. A lot of looking in the mirror is expected.
The Steelers have a fairly large list of players who will be exiting the team. The staff may be looking at releasing or trading others they once had high hopes in. The turnaround could be a major one and no one is completely safe in the current atmosphere. The staff aren’t completely safe, either. There aren’t any laurels left to rest on.
To win back the fanbase as well as take the steps promised, Rooney has to make some serious decisions. Will he abandon the demands that the Steelers’ identity will be based on the run game? Will he redefine what “the standard” is now that the team has struggled to even be able to show what that is? Can he rebuild the legacy without tearing everything down?
These are all legitimate questions as Pittsburgh once again watches other teams continue postseason play, knowing that all they can do is wait for the beginning of a new league year with a bad taste in their mouths.
