Steelers Now
There have been 25 NFL teams that have one a playoff game more recently than the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite the Steelers’ dreaded eight-year playoff win drought, former Steelers outside linebacker Joey Porter Jr. thinks the fanbase is spoiled. He believes fans don’t realize how good they have it with head coach Mike Tomlin, who’s never had a losing season in his 18 years as the Steelers head coach.
“That’s just the price of doing business in Pittsburgh,” Porter said on NFL Network at Super Bowl media row in New Orleans. “I’m sorry that we’re not sorry that we’re spoiled to a point where 10 games ain’t good enough. So he’s been on a hot seat in their mind, the city’s mind. Not Mr. Rooney’s mind. Mr. Rooney know exactly what they have in a good coach in Mike Tomlin. But the city do this to him every year.”
Steelers president Art Rooney II sat down with WTAE’s Ashley Liotus for an interview posted on her X account Thursday. Though the Steelers dropped their final five outings of this season, he’s not sounding the alarm on the team’s ways.
“Look, I’m very comfortable with the culture in this team,” Rooney told Liotus. “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.”
Porter echoed what Rooney said. It was a disappointing end to the season, but it’s not like the Steelers have had success.
“Did we finish the way we want to finish? Absolutely not,” Porter said. “The five-game losing straight hurts. But are we that disappointed? Because I don’t think they had us winning 10 games and being close to winning the division. Because we had a chance to win the division before it was over.”
The Steelers went over their projected 8.5 win total, but just having winning seasons and appearing in a playoff game is not the standard in Pittsburgh.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t finish where we wanted to. But him being on the hot seat is just a Pittsburgh thing. They do this to him every year,” Porter said.
