It’s becoming an ongoing theme to just cast aside anything Terry Bradshaw has to say when he references the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s become a sort of clueless villain in the eyes of many Steelers fans and media. Now granted, Bradshaw may indeed have an agenda versus his former team. He did not end his career on great terms with the team, nor did he ever have a great relationship with his coach Chuck Noll. There are clearly lingering hard feelings on his end, and that’s something both sides should work on fixing.
The real controversies started when Bradshaw made the now infamous “cheerleading” comments about head coach Mike Tomlin. It was a poor choice of words for sure, and ones that national and local media ran with. While it was an over simplification of Mike Tomlin’s coaching style, nobody will ever accuse him of being a master strategist either. Tomlin’s strength is in being a leader, not so much an X’s and O’s type coach. This all stemmed from Bradshaw being asked whether or not he thought Tomlin was a great head coach. To which he answered emphatically “no not a great head coach, a good coach”. So I pose the question was he wrong? You simply can not call Mike Tomlin a great head coach at this juncture. The longer he goes without a championship with this collection of talent isn’t doing coach any favors either.
Recently Bradshaw has again drawn the ire of Steelers nation by saying he disagrees with the dismissal of Todd Haley. Once again people began flocking to Twitter to discredit Bradshaw because he’s biased against the team. Fans and media alike blindly opposing his views just because it’s Terry Bradshaw. After all what does he know, it’s not like he’s a four-time Super Bowl champion or anything. It flies in the face of reason to not at least try to resign a coordinator who’s lead one of the best offenses in football over the past five years. Sure he and the quarterback didn’t get along, but is it really a good practice to let Ben Roethlisberger pick his coordinator? Letting players dictate coaching decisions is never a good idea in the big picture.
So once again I ask where is Terry Bradshaw wrong in this instance? The answer is that in this case and the other, he’s actually spot on. Where and when the piling on started when it comes to the former Steelers hall of famer is a mystery to me. It seems he’s falling victim to the same lack of respect he had as a player. Bradshaw may come across as just a good old boy talking non-sense, but there’s an underlying shrewdness about him. With his lifetime of football knowledge, maybe some would be better to shut up and listen rather than just dismissing a former legend.