Time For a Change?

"No organization is stronger than the quality of its leadership, or ever extends its constituency far beyond the degree to which its leadership is representative." - Edgar Powell

Before I get into this week's piece, I'd like to preface it with a little disclaimer. I am, and always have been, a big Steeler fan. I'm not one of the bandwagon folks that have only started liking them in the past couple years. I was there in 1992 when Barry Foster ran for 190 yards against the Jets. I saw Randy Fuller break up Jim Harbaugh's Hail Mary in the '95 AFC Championship. I was also there in '99 when the expansion Browns beat the Steelers, and later that year when our boys beat the Panthers in blinding snow in an absolutely meaningless game for either team. I know that Courtney Hawkins owns the team record for catches in a game. Yes, unlike most of the recent casual fans, I can name Steeler receivers other than Hines Ward. I didn't buy a jersey or Terrible Towel because it would make me look cool. By the same token, I think those pink Steeler jerseys are an abomination, and anyone wearing them should be slapped silly. Now, on with the show...

I have always been a Bill Cowher fan, and anytime KDKA or those other channels would interview some drunk buffoon in a restaurant after a loss and that person would say, "Duh, they should fire Cowher cause he stinks and they lost and I have no idea what I'm talking about," I would get pissed. People around here have such ridiculously high expectations, and they really don't know how lucky we are to have Cowher as a coach. In fourteen years, they have only missed the playoffs four times. He's the longest-tenured coach in the league, and since his hiring in 1992 there have been about a zillion coaching changes in the NFL. Through it all, we've had Cowher, and the Steeler organization is much better off for it.

However, things have become much different this year, and the future of the team is up in the air. After winning the Super Bowl last year, the Steelers are 2-5 this year, with the most recent loss occurring this past Sunday at the hands of the hilariously awful Oakland Raiders. Despite only getting 98 yards of offense, the Raiders beat the Steelers, 20-13, thanks to two Ben Roethlisberger interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. As bad as the Raiders looked, the Steelers were worse, looking confused and at times like they just didn't give a damn.

If the ho-hum performance of the team wasn't bad enough, Cowher's reaction on the field and with the media has been even more troubling. The young Cowher of the early 90s was not afraid to snap at a player on the sideline, showering him with spit. It didn't matter who it was, from the rookie to the superstar to the veteran that was only a couple years younger than Cowher was; if you messed up you would hear about it, and it wouldn't be pretty. The Steelers of that era were disciplined, successful, and they knew who ran the team: Bill freaking Cowher.

Fast forward to the past couple years. Fumbles, interceptions, and blown coverages are no longer followed by an explosion on the part of Cowher, but rather a shot of him standing on the sideline, arms folded, shaking his head. Remember that press conference in 1998 after a loss to the Titans when Cowher forced Ed Bouchette to ask him if he was going to bench Kordell just so he could yell "NO!"? That's now replaced by a calm, quiet, "We tried. We left it all out on the field. We now have to concentrate on the next game. (Insert coaching cliche here)." Maybe it's maturity, or maybe it's the wear and tear of 15 years of being the head coach for the same team, but the fire and intensity that once endeared Cowher to both players and fans are gone.

Now, I don't claim to be an expert on coaching styles. I don't know if yelling and throwing stuff really makes a difference when it comes to a team's performance, but it's obvious that Cowher has lost touch with his team. A few weeks ago, Willie Parker, Verron Haynes, and Mike Logan committed moronic unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a loss to the Bengals. After the game Cowher assured the press that such a thing would never happen again. Last week against the Falcons, Hines Ward decided to join Nate Washington's touchdown dance troupe. Since the NFL banned multi-player celebrations this past offseason, this little ballet led to another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. In essence, Ward was completely disobeying his coach's edict, and since he's the top receiver and a media darling, there isn't much Cowher can do about it.

This lack of discipline has even spread to the management. After that Falcons game, Dan Rooney earned himself a $25,000 fine by calling the false start penalty on Washington "ridiculous", and basically whining like a kid that didn't get his way. I don't know what he was trying to accomplish by doing this, but unless it was to make himself look stupid and not like the well-respected figure in the NFL that he is, it didn't work.

So what needs to be done? Does Cowher need to find that old spark he had in 1992, or should he just give up, retire, and move to North Carolina like everyone is predicting? Does Rooney need to step in and either put a foot in Cowher's ass or give him the boot? And what about the players? They certainly deserve some of the blame for this mess, but how much? After all, we deify them to the point that their egos have to swell no matter how humble they may be. When you are treated like you can do no wrong, eventually you start to believe it, and you act accordingly. Perhaps a bad season is what they need. The fairweather fans will disappear and less attention will be showered upon them. Then maybe they'll realize they're making money to play football and win, not dance around or taunt or appear on commercials.

Until something changes, expect the fall of the empire to continue, especially this weekend against Denver.