Point/counterpoint: Why Steelers' 2010s were more disappointing than 1990s

HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- Time for some honesty.

During a recent Zoom meeting yesterday with the boss man, Dejan Kovacevic, he mentioned a reader question -- from NE_JOE -- he had just received for his Live Qs at 5. It was about the Steelers, and which team of two decades was the most disappointing.

The 1990s or the 2010s?

I chimed in immediately with an answer I thought would be unanimous -- the 2010s, but I was wrong. Since the Zoom meeting was about baseball, and not football, we tabled the conversation. But after the meeting, Dejan brought up an idea Dave Molinari had pitched him in the past: What about a point/counterpoint article?

You needed two people to truly believe in their side of the debate, and within the next two minutes of the conversation we had planned out this idea. It is my job to state the case why the Steelers of the 2010s were the most disappointing, and Dejan gladly took the Steelers of the 1990s.

He's wrong. Let me tell you why...

Throughout the course of the most recent decade, the Steelers averaged just over 10 wins a season, 10.2 to be exact. Just think about that for a second. Averaging double-digit wins is no easy feat over the course of ten years. Mike Tomlin has been extremely successful, regardless what some might suggest, but there is so much more to the disappointment of these teams than just their win-loss totals.

When I think about disappointments, I think about teams who were poised to win it all, but failed to do so. Both the teams of the 90s and the teams of the 2010s can say they went to a Super Bowl, an AFC Championship Game and multiple playoff berths.

But no hardware to show for it.

Throughout the decade the Steelers won the AFC North four times, coming in second five times. They had a top-10 offense, as it pertains to points scored, five out of the ten seasons. Defensively, they finished in the top 10 of points allowed six out of those ten seasons.

Again, there is more to this debate than just numbers. Look at the list of players who were a part of that decade. Some were in the waning years of their career, while others reached their prime and became household names during this decade:

James Harrison
Troy Polamalu
Ike Taylor
Lawrence Timmons
Casey Hampton
Mike Wallace
Ben Roethlisberger
Heath Miller
Antonio Brown
Le'Veon Bell

The list could go on, but you can see how stacked those teams were during this time. It wasn't just a few great seasons where the team over achieved. No, this was a team destined to win multiple championships, but failed when it mattered most. The 1990s were filled with different quarterbacks, but Roethlisberger was the franchise quarterback who long eluded Bill Cowher until his final years with the team.

There is one Steelers game I have only seen one time, and refuse to watch again. That would be Super Bowl 45. I have no interest in watching Aaron Rodgers and the Packers discount-double-check their way to a Super Bowl win. I don't want to watch Rashard Mendenhall's fumble at the 22-yard line when David Johnson whiffed on his block on Clay Matthews.

The game still makes me sick just to think about it.

The thought of the 2017 season might be what infuriates me the most about the decade. The team was 13-3, had a first round bye and watched the Jaguars come in on that frigid January day and run the football right down the Steelers' teeth. But there was more to that season than just the divisional round loss. That was the year Ryan Shazier went down in Cincinnati. It was also the Jesse James catch/non-catch game in Week 15. When the team turned to Sean Spence off his couch, literally, fans should have known the season was doomed.

But let's not let the 2016 season off the hook. That team finished 11-5, and had a home game against the Dolphins in the wild card round. Bud Dupree almost killed Matt Moore, Brown and Bell ran wild, and it was off to Kansas City. Chris Boswell single-handedly beat the Chiefs in the divisional round, but what followed was Brown's Facebook Live fiasco. A distracted team was demolished by Tom Brady and the Patriots in the championship game, again, and you started to feel the wheels wobbling on the cart.

Not every team was great during the 2010s. 2012 was average at best, but the 8-8 season was magical in its own right. Who can forget the near impossible scenario in Week 17 for Pittsburgh to make the playoffs, only to have Ryan Succop of the Chiefs squash those dreams after missing a 40 yard field goal.

When it comes down to it, the Steelers in the 2010s were always competitive. Sometimes they were in the driver seat, and sometimes they were hanging onto a prayer, but they always had a pulse. It makes it interesting for fans, but disheartening as you see so much talent and promise slip away without another Lombardi trophy added to the the trophy case.

I remember the 1990s teams well, even though I was young. But, in my opinion, there was never a doubt as to which decade was more disappointing. Those teams of the 2010s ripped the heart out of the fan base more than anyone would like to let on.

Disagree? Make sure you check out Dejan's counterpoint Monday morning.