Steelers 2023-2024 Season Thread

[robbiestoupe]

Yeah, it's interesting. I was a huge Bubby Brister fan as a kid and never really saw him play, his starter years were done by the time I got here in '92.

I was looking into see how good my memory was of those years where it seemed like a grab bag of Tomczak/Miller/Stewart/Maddox. This era kind of feels that way if you include Ben's fill-ins due to his spotty availability at the end.

That season Jim Miller won the starting job out of camp. Yikes.

I got into the Steelers during the Mark Malone era. So I witnessed quite a lot of suck. Enough so that I thought Kordell Stewart was the missing piece.

Drafting Roethlisberger was and still is my favorite Steelers draft moment. Couldn’t believe he fell to them.

[tifosi77]

The earliest memories I have that don't exclusively involve family are of Steelers camp in the mid-70s.

[Pavel Bure]

Bubby **** Brister and Yancy Thigpen are my earliest Steeler memories.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

I wonder if Kenny is going to pull a bubby and refuse to come into the game if mason struggles.

“ I don’t mop for anybody”

[Joegap]

Bubby **** Brister and Yancy Thigpen are my earliest Steeler memories.

Mine was going to a Mark Bruner autograph signing at Kmart

[nocera]

Earliest memories are Bubby and Louis Lipps. I didn’t actually start watching until Neil O’Donnell though.

[NTP66]

I had a Bam Morris jersey.

[shafnutz05]

Conditions are going to be a mess in Baltimore tomorrow. Cold with a mixed bag of precip changing to heavy rain.

[dodint]

My first year of school in PA was 4th grade and there was a picture of Dwight Stone in the classroom.

[Morkle]

This is where the no-losing seasons is farcical to me. Tomorrow is the 8th time over the past 15 years that the Steelers needed to win AND get help to get into playoffs.

[faftorial]

This is where the no-losing seasons is farcical to me. Tomorrow is the 8th time over the past 15 years that the Steelers needed to win AND get help to get into playoffs.

For every time someone touts his non losing seasons, there are 25 people complaining about it.

[tifosi77]

It's a bananas accomplishment, and it shows how jaded Steelers fans have become that it gets pooh-poohed out of hand so much. The only coaches in the history of the game with longer streaks are Tom Landry and Bill Belichick, although in both of those cases the streaks started later in their careers.

Mediocrity isn't just the norm in the NFL, it's the intended purpose of things like salary caps and scheduling matchups. The Browns rejoined the NFL in 1999, and they have yet to finish a single regular season with the best record in the AFC North; being the opposite of that - even if it's a prolonged championship drought - is preferred.

[King Colby]

Having a winning record, or "non-losing" record rather, doesn't mean much in this league if you don't go anywhere. It'd mean something if the down years were 8-8 or 9-7 or i guess 9-8 yet as they retooled and then were back to the 11+ range and a legitimate playoff threat.

But if you have 8-10 wins every year and do nothing of value in the post season, it's just a streak of being "mid"

[willeyeam]

i think people would be happier if they went 5-12 in their down years. kinda weird, but whatever

[count2infinity]

I probably didn't have a finger on the pulse of the average yinzer in the mid 2000's, but were people growing tired of Cowher by the end?

I do think 17 years as a head coach in the league and never having a year with more losses than wins is remarkable. And if you take the Tomlin era plus that last three of Cowher, that's 2 decades where you saw at least as many wins as losses. The streak is second only to the 21 season run of the Cowboys from 65-85, in a time where it was arguably easier to sustain success.

Anyways, 20 years, 2 super bowls, that's not a terrible run. Could there have been more? Probably. Could it have been a worse two decades? Absolutely.

That said, I'm not going to harp on Tomlin for the streak, but some of his comments post losses this year and some of the decisions he's made the past few years regarding personel have been extremely questionable.

[Morkle]

It's just a sour-taste imo. That's really great that they've had multiple years in a row of no losing seasons, it IS exciting from a fans perspective - but then you would figure, "well they have to be successful in the postseason if we had 15 years of non losing or whatever? Oh we needed help 8 years to get in? Oh they usually got their doors blown off or lose in awful fashion? Oh, OK.jpg."

I'm not saying it's not exciting for fans, being in it to the end brings the joy/pain. It just also sucks from the bigger picture of how futile those seasons have been.

[dodint]

People were tired of Cowher losing AFC Championship games. Then were annoyed when he left right after getting over the hump.

[Morkle]

Actually Madden posted a great post on it:

[count2infinity]

Losing 4 AFC Championships is "a much better record" than Losing only 1 AFC championship? I mean... I guess? The only thing on that Tomlin hasn't done in a comparable manner is bring in a franchise/HOF QB. Mostly because he already had one.

[nocera]

Losing 4 AFC Championships is "a much better record" than Losing only 1 AFC championship? I mean... I guess? The only thing on that Tomlin hasn't done in a comparable manner is bring in a franchise/HOF QB. Mostly because he already had one.

[Morkle]

Losing 4 AFC Championships is "a much better record" than Losing only 1 AFC championship? I mean... I guess? The only thing on that Tomlin hasn't done in a comparable manner is bring in a franchise/HOF QB. Mostly because he already had one.

If the expectations is "Super Bowl or bust" like literally everyone ever always talks about. I'd rather give a guy **** for losing before the big game, over a guy only making it once and needing complex math equations to even get a chance to enter the tournament.

[nocera]

But Tomlin made it to the Super Bowl twice as a head coach.

[count2infinity]

Right. Tomlin and Cowher are both 1-1 in Super Bowls. If getting there is the measuring stick, things are equal.

[Morkle]

If getting there is a measuring stick, Cowher got "closer" multiple times more than Tomlin.

And if getting there is a measuring stick, the non-losing seasons is even less-important.

[Morkle]

Tomlin:



Cowher: