My buddy is a jags fan, and he’s used to seeing the Steelers do well enough every year. He told me recently that he’s been waiting for the “belichick and Tomlins” of the league to have their turn at mediocrity. He’s been noticing the ‘fire Canada’ chants and at one point in the season he thought it was a good idea for the Steelers to fire Tomlin (he thinks the tomlin lost the locker room by keeping Canada employed). We got in an argument where I was just defending tomlin and the rooneys since they don’t fire coordinators/coaches mid season and that I’m being patient with the team considering injuries, and Canada still employed. My buddy goes on to say with complete confidence “well the jags fire coordinators/head coaches all the time mid season, it’s not that hard”. This my friend, is why the jags are the jags, and the Steelers are Steelers.
I’d gladly take a losing season or 2 if it got us out of being stuck in the 9-8 cycle of mediocrity. We’re on year 7 of winning seasons with exactly nothing to show for it, and it’s been 20 years since our last losing one. We of all teams can handle a bad year. We already have no realistic shot at contending with this team as currently constructed. Some high end draft picks and the organization realizing it needs to change the formula really wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Well then how come we don’t hear about our fans wanting to “tank” for certain players? The standard for this team is making the playoffs, not high draft picks. This team is always trying to compete for a playoff berth, and I honestly don’t see a problem with that. But with that, I understand it’s hard to build a championship squad with middle draft picks and low cap space from Ben taking up a chunk of it. All we can do now is see how Tomlin responds to Kenny’s slow progression