U mad, bro? Steelers fans hate media criticism of 8-0 team, yet torn on Mike Tomlin
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“U mad, bro?”
Never mind. I know the answer to that question already. Everybody is mad. All the time. About everything.
We just had an election. One side is angry about the result. The other side is angry the result is being disputed.
Instead, let’s just talk about something that’ll make everyone happy: the Steelers are 8-0!
I mean, there’s a difference between a perfect record and perfect. So acknowledging a few flaws along the way is fine, right?
Right?
Patrick emailed me. He was not a fan of my Tuesday column, suggesting that the Steelers’ close-shave victory Sunday over the Dallas Cowboys was a reality check for the 8-0 team.
“If they lose a game and win the Super Bowl then your article is mute. Please stop whining like the rest of you reporters and news anchors. You people drum up drama like high school troublemakers. Write a decent article and shut up with your drama. Steelers are the Steelers! Is this your first time watching football?”
Actually, my article would be “moot.”
“Mute” is what I wish I could do to my email like I can do on Twitter.
No, Patrick, this not my first time watching football. Is this your first time watching it since 2016? Because it’s been that long since the “Steelers were the Steelers” and actually won a playoff game.
Also, the 2017 team was 13-3. Before it lost its first playoff game to the Jacksonville Jaguars. With Blake Bortles at quarterback. At home.
That’s not whining. That’s … having a functioning memory of recent events.
Now then, if I can at least remember back to when I was at least a college “troublemaker,” I can also remember when a 12-4 team in 1994 lost a home AFC Championship game to a massive underdog from San Diego.
Or if that memory is also “mute,” the 15-1 Steelers hosted the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game after the 2004 season and …
Never mind. I’m just drumming up drama.
In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, TribLive’s Mark Madden said, “Even at 8-0, I just don’t trust the Steelers. And I certainly do not trust Mike Tomlin.”
Jeff didn’t agree with Mark’s stance.
“I just don’t get the ‘trust’ aspect. What does that mean? You don’t trust them to win? You feel skeptical that they might lose, so you don’t trust them, then it’s easier to say, ‘Told ya so?’
Maybe, just maybe, you should stop and smell the roses and say, ‘8- 0! That is amazing. Never happened before!’
Stop. Enjoy. Have fun. It might not be another couple of decades before there is another 8-0 team.
Trust. It is football, it isn’t life. Just enjoy.”
Very zen, Jeff.
To be clear, it was Mark’s opinion, not mine. Although I hated the fourth-down call late in the Dallas game, too. And dressing Vance McDonald despite his recent illness was dumb. So Mark has a good point.
But as my Tuesday column ended, “My advice would be to just enjoy this Steelers win streak for what it is: Pretty much the only good thing that’s happened in 2020. And don’t go looking too deep as to when or how it’s going to end.
Because those answers may come more quickly than you want.”
So it sounds like we are roughly on the same page. That doesn’t mean we are going to avoid analyzing the games for what they are, though.
I mean, are we supposed to suspend every critical word until they lose? What did you want us to do after that ugly Dallas game? Fawn over them with praise?
This whole “you can’t be critical until they lose” sect of the Steelers fan base is starting to drive me crazy. What would you prefer I do? Just write love notes about them until they lose their first game, and then pretend I’m stunned that it happened?
Never mind, Jeff. Namaste.
Paul S. is surprised that I spent part of last week writing about Antonio Brown’s return to the NFL. He made his debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday night.
“Why are you guys STILL writing about ‘Mr. Big Chest?’ He’s not a Steeler any longer. He’s mentally defective. WHO CARES about what he does in Tampa Bay?”
Paul, the only folks “mentally defective” are those who pretend that “no one cares” about A.B. just because he left Pittsburgh.
Between Oct. 9 and Nov. 9, three of the top four most-read stories at TribLive had the words “Antonio” and “Brown” in the headline.
That span of time includes record pandemic spikes and the small matter of a presidential election.
Did you hear about it?
But you’re probably right. Since you don’t care, no one else cares.
Or we could be honest with each other and admit that everyone in Pittsburgh cares. Because everyone wants to see Brown fall on his face. And if Brown’s three-catch, 31-yard performance during a 35-point loss Sunday night is any indication, that may happen.
And, if it does, Paul, I will write about it. With glee.
Last week, I mentioned that Tomlin had emerged as the gambling favorite to be NFL coach of the year. That was met with the typical polarizing reaction that accompanies any discussion of Tomlin’s success or failure.
For instance, JoJo seems to think the praise is coming a year too late.
He shoulda won it last year!
— JoJo Dancer (@JoJoDan85153031) November 5, 2020
This guy seems to think such applause in 2020 is a bit much.
I was here to say this…when you win 8 games without your HOF QB, and several of those with a fourth string undrafted free agent, then you are COTY material. Winning 7 out of 7 with this defense while impressive, isn't necessarily great coaching.
— Preston Coe (@prestadigitator) November 5, 2020
At 8-0, I’d give Tomlin the award at the halfway point this year. At 8-5, I also would have given him the award at that point in 2019.
After blowing the last three games, though, I would have taken it back and thrown it in the Allegheny River.
So let’s maybe wait to bestow the honor on Tomlin and maybe just take the odds now while they are narrow, instead of waiting to see what they are like if they roll through Thanksgiving at 11-0.
Finally, Paul took umbrage with a passage in last week’s “U mad, bro?” Here’s what I wrote about the Steelers’ propensity to beat good teams under Tomlin, but then lose to dreadful underdogs.
Which almost happened again in Dallas after beating the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans.
“They’ll slay the dragons. Then lose a battle to woodland elves.”
Paul E. sent me an email, calling me out for my inappropriate turn of phrase.
“I came across your needless bashing of wood elves in your analogy about the Steelers beating quality opponents but losing to inferior ones. The shot at wood elves is nonsense!
They are skilled fighters who choose to live a rural and egalitarian lifestyle. They save the day multiple times in Lord of the Rings. They’re no pushovers.
They’re like the Packers. They make their home in a small, out-of-the-way area but they defend it to the teeth and they have some studs who don’t let anybody get by them. So keep your wood elves analogy and pick on an easier target like gnomes.
Also Legolas … Legolas was a wood elf, Tim.”
This email is 100% accurate, and I was guilty of profiling.
My statement was regrettable. And if “U mad, bro?” gets canceled as a result of my close-minded insensitivity, that’s a deserved outcome.
I humbly, and regretfully, apologize.