Tim Benz: Debunking the theory that Pittsburgh couldn't handle a Steelers' losing season

A common refrain from defenders of head coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers franchise is that Pittsburgh should be more grateful for the team’s current situation.

I frequently hear that Pittsburgh fans and media members couldn’t handle a four- or five-win season if that’s what it took for the Steelers to get into draft position to select a quality quarterback.

The suggestion is that kind of existence for a year or two would be so bad that we should just enjoy the 9-10 wins and non-existent or non-competitive playoff results we keep getting in the city.

The theory is that if you are of legal drinking age, you don’t know what a Steelers’ losing season looks like. Hence, our spoiled little Black-and-Gold lizard brains would short-circuit if the team had a season bad enough that they ended up drafting in the top 10.

I couldn’t disagree more.

First off, you don’t have to be a Pittsburgh sports historian to know that the drafting of Ben Roethlisberger in 2004 turned the franchise’s fortunes around. That selection was made possible by the Steelers having the No. 11 overall pick as a result of finishing 6-10 in 2003.

Indeed, that season was tough to get through. But I don’t remember being on the verge of tying cinder blocks to my ankles and jumping off the Fort Duquesne bridge while clutching my Terrible Towel.

In part, because at least I knew the Steelers were going to get a high pick. Also, I knew that’s how the Steelers of the 1970s were built.

Like many in their late 40s or older, I survived through four losing seasons from 1985-91. If you are in your late 30s, you can at least remember the difficult losing seasons of 1998 and 1999.

Not only that, but a lot of Steelers fans are also Penguins fans, Pitt fans and Pirates fans. We are plenty familiar with the concept of sticking out losing seasons in hopes of a better tomorrow.

I think we’ll make it.

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On a slightly more esoteric level, for all those saying Pittsburgh would hate life so much based on enduring a four- or five-win season, I’ve got to ask, how much do you think we are really enjoying the way the Steelers have been constructing these recent eight-to-10-win campaigns?

• Missing the playoffs at 8-8 in 2012-13.

• Needing the Jets to gag at the end of the regular season in 2015 to make the playoffs.

• Starting 7-2-1 only to miss the playoffs after choking down the stretch of 2018 to finish 9-6-1.

• Starting 1-4 (partially with Roethlisberger before his injury) in 2019, then losing three in a row to miss the playoffs at 8-8 again in 2019.

• Losing five of six to close out 2020 in the coronavirus year after starting 11-0.

• Starting 2-6 in 2022, the first year after Roethlisberger retired, only to miss out on the playoffs the last week of the regular season at 9-8.

• Losing three in a row to non-playoff teams in December of 2023 to sink to 7-7 before handing things over to Mason Rudolph to bail out the season.

• Losing five in a row to end 2024.

Yeah. It’s been a blast. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Not to mention all of the playoff humiliations that have taken place in first-round exits since the start of 2017. Not to mention the painfully bad offense and frequently inept quarterback play that we have seen since Roethlisberger blew out his elbow early in 2019.

A lot of people outside of Pittsburgh think that it has been a barrel full of monkeys around here because the Steelers have always managed to be above .500. I’d argue that not all winning seas… sorry … not all non-losing seasons are built the same way.

Unfortunately for the Steelers, all of their playoff results have been built the same way since the start of 2017: Done in the first round (if they make it all) while losing ugly on the way out.

If eight wins or less over the next year or two is what’s necessary to find a quarterback and start rebuilding a legit contender, I could live with it.

However, I fear that Art Rooney II, Omar Khan and Tomlin can’t. They’ll always strive to be in the nine- or 10-win middle of the pack just so that they can always be “playoff relevant.”

Who wants to be the one in Pittsburgh to tell the rest of the world that the Steelers really haven’t even been that the past few years?