We continue to hear from Steelers fans who aren’t thrilled with the prospect of the Steelers signing quarterback Aaron Rodgers. While much of the pushback focuses on the perception that Rodgers no longer has high-end skills (we disagree), an email that arrived overnight points to a different concern.
The question is whether Rodgers fits with the city’s culture, where there’s a stubborn commitment to tradition and family.
“How can you root for your QB when they have no regard for tradition or family?” the reader argued. “Winning is nice, yes, but for a Steeler fan there is more to it.”
The NFL has changed dramatically in the past 30 years, with players constantly changing teams and teams constantly changing players. The Steelers, however, have typically not made massive investments in outsiders to the organization, opting instead to make players they drafted and developed the centerpiece of the team.
They recently broke from that history in a major way, with the trade and massive contract that brought receiver D.K. Metcalf to town. With news of Rodgers’s presence on the radar screen emerging the very next morning, Metcalf’s arrival quickly became a footnote. The focal point was and is Rodgers.
“My 81-year-old father said that if Aaron Rodgers comes to the Steelers, he will ruin the heart and soul of the team and it will never be the same again,” the reader wrote. “Now maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but he’s talking about the honor a player should feel for the privilege of donning a Steeler uniform and representing a team that has a history that is intertwined with the citizens of Pittsburgh.”
It’s definitely an outdated way of thinking about pro sports generally. But it’s part of the way the Steelers specifically have been doing things, for decades.
No sudden moves. No big swings. No carpetbaggers. No high-priced scraps from other teams.
Last year, the bargain-basement salaries for Russell Wilson and Justin Fields — coupled with the unmistakable and unwavering position that they wanted to be in Pittsburgh — made the moves easier to stomach. This year, the appearance that the Steelers are lowering themselves to throw cash at a reject from the Jets isn’t meshing with the reputation the Steelers have developed over the past 50 years.
It’s why last week’s comments from Cam Heyward resonated with Steelers fans. “Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t,” Heyward said. “That’s simple, that’s the pitch.”
That’s the attitude the fans have. Being a Steeler is special. If the Steelers want you, anything other than an immediate and enthusiastic “yes” is “no.”
At the core, that’s why some fans seem to be against it. If Rodgers wanted to be a Steeler, it would have already happened. The delay makes it seem calculated and cold. It seems to some that Rodgers is trying to help himself, not the team.
That makes him not fit, in their view, with the way things work in Pittsburgh.
As someone who has spent nearly 60 years within 100 miles of Pittsburgh, I can relate. Either you want to be Pittsburgh or you don’t. And some fans are thinking that Rodgers’s arrival would be less about embracing Pittsburgh and more about settling for it.
Rodgers needs to understand this, if it’s going to work. He needs to convince the fans he wants to be there. That he’s honored to be there. That he plans to fully immerse himself in the Primanti’s and pierogies culture — in a way that seems genuine and authentic and not at all convenient or contrived.
For some Steelers fans, it’s already too late for that. Because if he really wanted to be in Pittsburgh he’d already be there.
