Franchise Moments: The Steelers' Top Moment of the Past Decade
The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most notable franchises in the history of the NFL. With a steady stream of Super Bowls in the 70s, all the way to 19 straight winning seasons to this day, there's no doubt they've defined the league. With that being said, the Steelers of today are not the Steelers of the past, so what moment has defined the organization in the modern era?
Let's look back to 2016, when an overturned Jesse James' touchdown versus the Patriots sparked debate on what constitutes a catch. What about in that same season when wide receiver Antonio Brown extended for a touchdown versus the Ravens on Christmas?
Speaking of star players with an attitude problem, could Le'Veon Bell not showing up for Week 1 of the 2018 season top the list? Nah, he doesn't deserve the spotlight.
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Mario PuigSee Mario's personal rankings, tiers, and draft targets.View RankingsFast forward a few years, and you might land on Ben Roethlisberger's interception returned for a touchdown by Karl Joseph vs Browns in the 2021 Wild Card. This play would extend a playoff-winning drought for Pittsburgh that would define them to this day.
How about the tearful goodbye of Roethlisberger in his final home game against, you guessed it, the Browns (Jan 2022). While that was significant, it isn't quite the top moment of the decade.
A season later, T.J. Watt's record-tying 22.5th sack sure was special. Unfortunately, RotoWire runs a tight ship, and special isn't quite enough. That's why this pivotal moment takes the cake for the staff's view of the franchise-defining moment for the Steelers in the modern era.
Top Steelers Moment of the Last Ten Years
The winner: Antonio Brown's Facebook Live of Tomlin's locker room speech (Jan 2017)
The Steelers were coming off a huge 18-16 divisional round road playoff win over the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The momentum was in their direction, so why not ruin it all with a stupid cellphone?
Why Are We Giving Antonio Brown Credit?
This moment didn't force the Steelers to lose 36-17 to the Patriots in the AFC Championship, but it sparked a culture shift that would ignite a period of mediocrity. Antonio Brown was one of those players that Pittsburgh fans loved on the field but hated off of it. A loose cannon, if you will.
I'm not going to link a video as there's too much profanity and there may be kids reading this, so you can find it on your own. You can only guess that this leak caused plenty of controversy, though.
Fans who had clearly never been in a high school locker room were outraged by the way head coach Mike Tomlin spoke. Other fans shamed him for not benching Brown the next week, but who would bench their star wideout?
As NFL fans know, the Steelers never had a losing season under Tomlin. That's impressive on the outside, but not when you look at their later playoff success. While it can't have been the only reason that Pittsburgh didn't win another playoff game in the years to follow, correlation always means causation, right?
Brown leaking this video and continuing to play with just a slap on the wrist name showed that Tomlin and the Steelers wanted to win, and they'd be willing to sacrifice proper discipline. There's no doubt that Tomlin was a great coach, but the argument here is that he let a culture slip farther and farther away from another Super Bowl after this specific instance.
Antonio Brown brought a personality to the Steelers that wasn't cohesive with a true winning culture. His reign of terror started at this moment, and it was unfortunately like a parasite that spread to the playoff-winning abilities of the whole organization.
Will Steelers Playoff Wins Return?
The easy answer is hopefully, but it's hard to tell right now. Aaron Rodgers is set to play just one more year in the NFL, and his pairing with new head coach Mike McCarthy raises a lot of eyebrows. It'd be darn cool if the Steelers could make a push in the last season of one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game, alongside the head coach he won a Super Bowl with.
Still, even if this did happen, it would tell us nothing about the future of Pittsburgh's culture.
So, I think we table this discussion for now and let one of the most iconic NFL franchises figure things out. Steelers fans know that talent alone doesn't win Super Bowls; they've seen plenty of idiots wear that yellow and black. Let's hope that the front office embraces that idea, too, as I know I'd be sick of consistent winning seasons if they amounted to absolutely nothing.
More About The Campaign
The RotoWire expert panel voted to select the single most franchise-defining moment from the last 10 years for all 32 NFL teams. Voting has now closed. The results power a 33-article editorial series published across RotoWire ahead of the NFL season -- one dedicated article per franchise, plus one overarching piece covering the broader trends and standout moments across the league.
