Week 8 was another disappointing outing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They lost to the Green Bay Packers, 35-25, not being competitive in the second half. The Steelers’ defense continues to underperform, and their offense has been disjointed as well. However, the team wasn’t the only discouraging part about the Packers game. The game was played in Pittsburgh, but at times, that would’ve been tough to tell. Packers fans showed up in droves at Acrisure Stadium, and that’s left Mike Florio scratching his head.
“I don’t know what’s up with this fan base,” Florio said Monday on his Pro Football Talk podcast. “This is a far different fan base than what I’m used to. I don’t know if they’ve just been worn down by years of crap from the Pirates and the Penguins have receded to being nothing. Are they just content that the Steelers have an above .500 record?
“I sense complacency from the fan base. The Steelers fans were not nearly as loud. When they did Renegade, we didn’t hear it outside. Steelers fans, wake up. I don’t know what your deal is, but you’ve gotta wake up. They let the Packers fans take the place over. They let the Packers fans run the night.”
Florio grew up in West Virginia, near the Pennsylvania border, during the 1970s when the Steelers dominated the league. He also graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, which is in Pittsburgh. Therefore, he’s got a lot of experience with that fan base.
He’s correct that it’s not often that the Steelers’ stadium gets taken over by an opposing team’s fans. More often than not, it’s Steelers fans who travel well and dominate other venues.
That’s why it was so surprising to see so many Packers fans at Acrisure. The Steelers’ offense even needed to use a silent count. That speaks to just how many Packers fans were in Pittsburgh.
A big part of that was probably because it was Aaron Rodgers’ first, and potentially only, game playing against the Packers. He built a Hall of Fame legacy with that franchise. As a result, many Packers fans likely had this game circled as one worth attending.
Additionally, the game felt out of hand in the fourth quarter. The Steelers felt like they had lost all of their momentum. Some defenders talked about how they felt like they didn’t have any fight. That attitude might have bled over into the fans.
That helps explain why so many Green Bay fans were in Pittsburgh. Fans certainly don’t seem complacent. There have been plenty of fans who have voiced their displeasure with the Steelers’ mediocrity. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season. That’s not up to the team’s standard, and fans haven’t been quiet about that.
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