When Art Rooney II sat down with reporters in January, it followed a loss that extended the Steelers' longest streak of seasons without a playoff win since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Thus, it came as little surprise that the headline from that day was him saying, "We've had enough of this."
That urgency set forth by Rooney has since been echoed by many in the organization. And, from what I gather in my daily observations in the locker room and of practice, the urgency is real for the players, too.
"When the owner of the team says that, it creates a sense of urgency," Pat Freiermuth told me this week. "But, for the guys that have been here, we've all felt that, our lack of success in the playoffs. We've all felt that. It sucks. The guys that have been here, we're really engrained in Pittsburgh. We understand that. You get paid to win those playoff games. Anything we can do to get to that level again, we're going to do."
The daily vibe around this team definitely feels different this season. It doesn't mean the season will have a happy ending. There are still nine games to go. And, the much tougher half of the schedule is on its way, beginning with Sunday's game on the road against the 7-2 Commanders.
To their credit, the Steelers are 6-2 and atop the AFC North. That's not where many thought this team would be.
"We're winning games. I think this is the best start since I've been here," Freiermuth said. "The more times we can win games, put ourselves in these situations, the vibes are going to be a lot better. But, when we lost those two games, there wasn't a lot of panic."
What Freiermuth said at the end there, that's what I'm talking about. It's not the 6-2 record. Sure, that always helps. But, those two losses in a row were not pretty. They played terribly against the Colts and Cowboys, and deserved the two defeats.
In recent seasons, we've seen the Steelers team go into a tailspin. In 2022, the 2-6 start to the season was a horrific stretch. As was the three straight losses to the Cardinals, Patriots and Colts a season ago. Those stretches got to them, whether anyone in that locker room admits it or not.
That wasn't the case this year. Not just in terms of results, but how they've gone about their work. They haven't ridden the highs too high, and they didn't blink when they lost back-to-back games in which they played pretty terribly. The team has been overwhelmingly consistent every single day on the South Side. No matter what happened the previous day, it's all about tackling that day's work. Regardless of what's going on around them, whether it be wins, losses or anything written or said in the media, their focus is 100% internal. Nothing's ever said about what anyone else does. It's on them and only them.
"I think the simple thing is we're focused on getting better every day," Russell Wilson told me. "That's how you grow. That's how you progress. I've been fortunate to be on a lot of great teams, and we're one of them. But we've gotta prove it week in and week out. More importantly, it's every practice. That's the mentality that great teams have and great players have. We're growing in that every day."
Wilson even told me this team has "elite-level" focus. And, I don't think he's just blowing smoke, either. This team isn't searching for answers anywhere else. They only look to each other and what they can do in the meeting rooms and on the football field.
Maybe this mentality and the urgency set forth by Rooney go hand in hand. After all, the front office and Mike Tomlin helped set that urgency by upgrading the quarterback position, which meant possibly alienating a first-round pick taken just two years prior. That also meant going outside the organization and bringing in an offensive coordinator who had recent success in this league, breaking the status quo of yet again promoting the next guy in line.
But, Freiermuth's point shouldn't be forgotten in this, either. The players feel it. Not just because the owner said so. But because they're the ones on the field trying to win.
All of this coalesces together into one common goal: Competing for a Super Bowl. It's not just a pie-in-the-sky feeling. They have taken concrete steps toward making it happen. And through the struggles of previous seasons, they're galvanized in their approach.
"I think we're a lot closer of a team," Freiermuth said. "Guys like myself, (George Pickens), Connor [Heyward], and other guys like Darnell [Washington], we've all been here another year together. Obviously, chemistry, camaraderie, all that kind of stuff. I think the quarterbacks have been great. We're all on the same page. Arthur Smith, a lot of new faces on the offensive staff, it was kind of like a fresh start, a new standard."
Whoa. "New standard?" That word carries weight around these parts.
That's when it clicked for me. From what I've seen of this team, gone are the days in which they ride the emotional roller coaster. I've never seen the level of consistency that's gone into each day's approach. No players sitting and sulking after losses. And, they found a way to course correct when they lost two straight, without any sense of panic.
Who knows what this team's ceiling actually is. What I do know is we haven't seen it yet. And until they realize it, they're just going to keep working.
"We all believe in each other. We worked our asses off in Latrobe. Coach T did that," Freiermuth said. "The type of mentality we have is we're going to do whatever it takes to get over that hump, make the playoffs and win some games."
MORE STEELERS
• The reaction over Ryan McCollum's play while Zach Frazier was sidelined, including from fans, has been overwhelmingly positive. McCollum stepped in during the win over the Raiders, which included a 32-point output, and the offense kept humming over the next two games.
One person you can thank for McCollum's presence here: Pat Meyer. I have it on good authority that the only reason McCollum was ever on the Steelers this season was because Meyer pounded the table to keep him in Pittsburgh. McCollum has spent the past two seasons on the team's practice squad and hadn't played an NFL game since 2021 when he was with the Lions.
Unlike the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Steelers had a lot more depth on the offensive line and some in the front office viewed McCollum as expendable. But McCollum was ultimately retained and kept on the practice squad, and Meyer's lobbying for him absolutely played a role in it.
• The Steelers are getting healthier, but are still lacking depth at nose tackle with Montravius Adams sidelined with a knee injury. However, there's some good news regarding Adams, who was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 22.
According to team sources, Adams underwent surgery for a torn meniscus after he left the win over the Jets in Week 7. His original prognosis from the time of surgery was four to six weeks. However, there is optimism that Adams is ahead of schedule and may be able to get back on the practice field in two weeks, following the Thursday night matchup against the Browns in Week 12. That has yet to be seen, but the Steelers seem to have dodged a bullet here.
Because Adams is on IR, he has to miss a total of four games, making the Week 13 matchup in Cincinnati the first game in which he can possibly play.
• In some of my discussions with players about the attitude of the locker room, which there were many more off the record, I asked several players about the bye week. And the overwhelming majority was a clean break from football. Coaches urged them to not think about football at all.
Some guys went on mini-vacations. Other guys stayed in Pittsburgh and didn't do anything. One player told me he went back home and spent a couple of nights with his parents, something he hadn't done since college.
It's an interesting approach, but understandable. These guys aren't just worn down physically throughout the season, but mentally, as well. Having that four-day break to reset could help in a number of ways. I'm not sure if this is the typical approach to the bye week, but Tomlin is 12-4 with a six-game winning streak coming out of the bye. So, it's difficult to question any methods here.
• Tying a bow on the trade deadline stuff and the Steelers' long pursuit of a receiver, winding up with acquiring Mike Williams: Throughout this whole process, the Steelers made calls about every receiver imaginable. Some receivers, they were willing to trade away some assets that would have made them a tad uncomfortable, but they never considered trading a first-round pick. If they did, I truly believe, at one point or another, Brandon Aiyuk would have ended up here.
It's great to have that saga in the past. Now, let's just focus on football.
