Steelers President Art Rooney II doesn’t speak often. And when he does, he says little. And chooses his words very carefully. In the wake of a Steelers 2024 season that eerily mimicked the arc of Game of Thrones, last week Rooney did his round of press conferences and interviews.
- He’s followed the same pattern for several years.
He does a press conference with a select group of “print” reporters. He does TV one-on-ones with Pittsburgh TV stations and with Steelers.com. Despite Rooney’s minimalist strategy (or perhaps because of it) there are several clear take aways:
1. The Steelers won’t be making coaching changes for the sake of change
2. Defensive line is a weakness that Rooney wants to address
3. The Steelers need an elite quarterback, but won’t to reach for one
4. 2nd contracts for George Pickens and Najee Harris are unlikely
5. Rooney does not see Pittsburgh’s small coaching staff as an issue
Those are all valuable insights, even if the majority of fans and commentators object to his resistance for change.
Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II. Photo Credit: Buffalo News
Rooney’s post-season press engagements had been going along more or less on script until he did a sit down with WTAE’s Ashley Liotus, there when challenged on the team’s culture this was Rooney’s response:
Look, I’m very comfortable with the culture in this team. I think it is a winning culture. You know, I think people need to keep it in perspective here. Even though we haven’t kind of reached our goal of winning a Super Bowl, we’ve had winning teams. We’ve been making the playoffs. And I understand the disappointment in terms of not succeeding in the postseason and that, you know, that’s what we have to do.
But, it’s not like we haven’t had some success around here. We just need to continue to build on the culture that we have and players like T.J. [Watt] and Cam Heyward, those kind of players help. [Emphasis added.]
To quote Steel City Insider’s Jim Wexell, “Not that I disagree, but that was the LAST thing the person at the top should’ve said.”
- Wexell’s right. And for the second year in a row, Art Rooney II has put his foot into his mouth.
A year ago, when challenged about the Steelers then 7-year playoff drought, Rooney declared, “It’s time to get some [playoff] wins.” I said then and have stood by it since then, that was a mistake.
It was a mistake for two reasons. First, because it lowered the bar for success. Bill Cowher reestablished the standard on the day he arrived in 1992, by declaring that the team’s objective was to add a Lombardi to the trophy case. Cowher reaffirmed that every season. Mike Tomlin has followed suit.
- The second reason is that it created a faux rhetorical ultimatum for the team.
Even when the Steelers stood at 10-3 with a lead in the AFC North, they remained cloaked in the “…but they still haven’t won a playoff game” shadow. Commentators would have continued to cast that shadow regardless, but Rooney’s comments darkened and deepened that shadow.
- Just about everything in Rooney’s remarks are on point, save for the portions in italics.
Even if Rooney has clearly reaffirmed the goal of winning the Super Bowl, his other comments beg to be taken out of context – as they surely will be. “…it’s not like we haven’t had some success here” is the only thing that many fans will hear, and it’s the only portion of his quote the reporters will recycle from now until next January.
And, absent other visible concrete changes, even taken in context, these comments appear to endorse the status quo.
- It is the wrong message to send.
What might he have said instead?
Fair question. The Steelers are in a tricky spot. And there’s an inconvenient truth that frustrated fans certainly don’t want to hear, and reporters who depend on clicks to make a living certainly won’t say.
And that truth is this: Objectively speaking, the Steelers have probably overachieved relative to the talent on their roster since Ben Roethlisberger’s elbow injury.
Rolling your eyes? Fair enough. But consider this:
This is a team that went into the final week of the 2019 season with Devlin Hodges as its starting quarterback with a shot at making the playoffs. It made the playoffs in 2021 with a franchise QB on his last legs and an offensive line built with spit, bubble gum and duct tape. It’s a team that started 3 quarterbacks in 2023 and was within a touchdown of tying the Bills on the road deep into the 4th quarter in the playoffs.
- Art Rooney II cannot and absolutely should not acknowledge this publicly.
So what should he say instead? I’m no PR professional, but if Burt Lauten is reading this (as he surely is not reading this) here’s a freebie in case his boss has further interviews scheduled:
First, to all of our fans, let me say this, I understand your frustration, because I feel it. No one is more frustrated at our playoff drought than me, except for perhaps Mike Tomlin. But we may operate here a little differently in Pittsburgh. Our focus is on fielding the most competitive team we can field every season, without sacrificing our ability to win long-term.
By that I mean, we won’t mortgage our future the way we did when Buddy Parker was here, but at the same time, when we have a chance to add talents that can help us win as we did with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields this last off season, we’re going to take them.
And there are pro’s and con’s to that approach, just like any approach. So when you run into those con’s, you’ve commit yourself to not getting caught up in them. And by that I mean, the goal we have every season is to win the Super Bowl. In order to do that, you’ve got to make the playoffs. And you’ve got to win there.
And this year we fell short, yet again. So asking ourselves why, and focusing our efforts on fixing that. And that’s what we’re doing.
At this point Rooney could then make his comments about the need for the Steelers to find a quarterback, doubling down on winning in the trenches on offense and the imperative of getting younger and stronger on the defensive line.
Would that satisfy those who want to see a house cleaning akin to what the Chicago Bears do every 2-3 years or what the Cleveland Browns did for two decades prior to hiring Kevin Stefanski?
Nope.
But it would have been an honest, realistic take on where the Steelers are, how they got there, and how they hope to break out of the vicious cycle they’re in.
So Burt, if you’ve read this, feel free to use it. No extra charge.
