Steelers Ben Roethlisberger is to blame for the team’s woes, not…
In 2023, the Pittsburgh Steelers experienced a roller coaster journey.
They defeated the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens with Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson, respectively. They’ve also dropped three straight home games to clubs with a losing record. The saddest part for Steeler Nation is that the majority of the national media is protecting Mike Tomlin, who bears no blame for the current situation.
Rich Eisen of NFL Network was one of the most egregious violators.Before the New England Patriots game, Eisen scolded Steelers fans on The Rich Eisen Show. When Eisen delivered his original opinion, Chris Mueller from The PM Team w/Poni & Mueller responded viciously and mercilessly criticized him on the show immediately following the loss.
Eisen will call the Steelers’ game against the Indianapolis Colts on NFL Network on Saturday. To his credit, The Rich Eisen Show host agreed to appear on the 93.7 afternoon drive show. Mueller, the less aggressive PM Team member than his partner Andrew Fillipponi, listened to Eisen’s customary apologies to Steelers supporters before posing a question from a listener Eisen had singled out.
Mueller repeated the above-mentioned question, wondering why Steelers supporters are so crazy to want to fire a coach who hasn’t won a playoff game in six years and has only three playoff wins since Super Bowl XLVI. Mueller also asked a follow up about how long it would take before Eisen felt it appropriate to question Tomlin. The answer was astounding.
“I get it. I understand it’s been awhile for Steelers fans to be Steelers fans like the 90s and aughts when Big Ben [Ben Roethlisberger] was throwing as many yards in a game as they were struggling to get for 58 straight games. By the way, Big Ben saying the old Steelers are dead, he had a lot to do with that. Big Ben transitioned them from Jerome Bettis running people over to winging it all over the lot.”
After Jerome Bettis departed and Willie Parker’s career waned, the Steelers went through a transition period. However, blaming Roethlisberger for the Steelers’ offensive adjustment to accommodate a franchise quarterback is absurd. Todd Haley took over as offensive coordinator after Bruce Arians, the last Pittsburgh offensive coordinator to win a Super Bowl. According to reports, the move was made specifically because Arians and Roethlisberger were too close.
Eisen and Roethlisberger aren’t done pointing fingers at the future Hall of Fame quarterback. He reiterated his absurd claim that Roethlisberger is to blame for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ current situation.
“The way his career started and then nearly got derailed,” Eisen continued. “I mean, honestly, he had a lot to do with the Steelers no longer being the Steelers of your grandparents or your parents, or uncle or aunt. So, let’s just leave that there.”
The NFL Network host seems to be referencing Roethlisberger’s suspension in 2010 over allegations of sexual misconduct in the state of Georgia. He was not charged with a crime and endured endless taunts for the rest of his career. Eisen is conveniently forgetting that the Steelers appeared in Super Bowl XLVI after the suspension that Roger Goodell shortened. If he genuinely believes Roethlisberger and not his friend Tomlin is responsible, why did the head coach continue allowing bad behavior for over a decade?
Former Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Has Harsh Criticism For Mike Tomlin
This is the pivot that many in the media have made since Roethlisberger openly criticized Tomlin during the most recent episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger. It is a shameless attempt to frame the former quarterback as the villain for daring to call out his former coach. Eisen, who had already set his credibility on fire, broke out a gas can when he defended Tomlin.
“The reason why many in the media love him, if you ever met him and had time talking to him, he is transfixing. He is somebody who loves ball and just exudes the type of mentality that you’d want to run through a brick wall for. Some of the players you talk to feel that he cares about them and he lets them be themselves and things of that nature. It is intoxicating when you talk to him.”
It is hard to fathom the sheer gall it takes to correct a local media member in this fashion. Is Eisen seriously suggesting that Mueller and the other local reporters have not had the opportunity to speak with the Steelers’ head coach? It is the opposite; the media members who have caught Tomlin’s act for the last decade are no longer “intoxicated” by him. It is safe to say that many are sick to death of hearing the same old “Tomlinisms” to explain shortfalls.
“As I said on my show, Tomlin is a guy, go ahead and make David Tepper’s day,” Eisen concludes. “You don’t think he wants Mike Tomlin in Carolina? This guy was part of the Steelers’ ownership before he bought the Panthers. He would love that. The question is what would Tomlin want?”
David Tepper is firing coaches at an alarming rate at this point. Is that the new standard for the Steelers? The Carolina Panthers might hire Tomlin if they fire him or trade him. The idea that the franchise that drastically overpaid for Bryce Young can somehow give up the requisite draft capital to trade for Tomlin is, at best, ill-informed. The Steelers’ asking price for Tomlin will be commensurate with what Sean Payton cost the Denver Broncos. Although many fans might settle for less at this point, Omar Khan and Art Rooney II will not.
Eisen’s answers are a valuable insight into how out-of-touch national commentators like Jay Glazer, Stephen A Smith, and Skip Bayless, to name just a few, are when it comes to the Steelers’ head coach. They are having fun piling on Bill Belichick and speaking his termination by the New England Patriots into existence.
It boils down to the founder of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio’s observation earlier this season. The national media likes Tomlin, and they don’t like Belichick. Professional football should be about results, but it is about feelings in 2023. Eisen gets a good feeling from Tomlin, so local media and fans of the team are wrong. Blame the retired quarterback. Do you remember when he was a bad guy? It is a new low for Eisen and a disgusting attempt to deflect blame.
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