The Pittsburgh Steelers were mostly irrelevant during the first handful of decades following their founding. But things changed in a big way in the 1970s. Pittsburgh won four titles in a decade, remained competitive over the next couple decades, and carried that success into the 2000s as well, winning two more rings. With six Super Bowl championships in eight appearances, the Steelers have cemented themselves as one of the NFL’s flagship franchises and have a massive fan base as a result.
However, you have to keep winning to hold onto a following like that. The Steelers have certainly done so in the regular season. But without a playoff win in nearly a decade, Pittsburgh now owns one of the longest postseason losing streaks in the league. At some point, former NFL GM Doug Whaley thinks the team might see a loss in support if the beginning of Mike McCarthy’s tenure isn’t a positive one.
“With the changing of guards with Mike McCarthy, they haven’t had success lately in the playoffs. Now it’s a whole generation that doesn’t remember those 70s Steelers, or even the Steelers of the 2000s. So that’s starting to wane. So they’re going to have to start winning in the postseason. Think about it. There’s a whole generation of people that haven’t seen a playoff win,” Whaley said Wednesday on 93.7 The Fan. “You’re gonna start bleeding away that fan base, and eroding from that foundation. The popularity is going to start eroding unless you start winning.”
There is something to be said about the Steelers’ loss in relevance this past season. All things considered, it was a wild year for the Steelers. There were plenty of ups and downs, but the team still won the division for the first time since 2020 and was close to ending its playoff losing streak in the Wild Card Round. For a half anyway.
But during the season, there were glaring examples of fan apathy and discontent. In home losses against Green Bay and Buffalo, Acrisure Stadium wasn’t short on visiting fans. And those fans took over with chants in the closing seconds of each loss. In the loss to Buffalo, there were chants to fire Mike Tomlin for the first time. Those are certainly not signs of a team, or a Steelers fan base, being in a good place.
There is some reason behind Whaley’s opinion. The Steelers have remained competitive for years, but sometimes teams to fall off the map. Take the Las Vegas Raiders for example. In the early 2000s, the Raiders were viewed as one of the more iconic teams in the league and had a rabid fan base. Now, things are essentially the opposite in each regard. There are obviously some key differences there. But it’s not a rarity for formerly iconic franchises to go through long down periods.
The Steelers aren’t the same, and we’re a long way away from them being considered one of the NFL’s worst organizations. But the franchise is going through quite a bit of transition right now. Without any fond playoff memories to remember in about a decade, McCarthy really needs to get his Steelers tenure off to a good start. If he doesn’t, maybe Whaley’s fears do start to come to fruition.
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