Pittsburgh Steleers: An Unhappy Bunch?

The hiring of Todd Haley as the new offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers has some pieces of the organization not too happy about the change. Of course one of them being quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who has played under a passer friendly spread offense with Bruce Arians since 2007. Roethlisberger of course, was not happy when the organization decided not to bring Arians back and has said that he personally heard "good and bad things" about Haley as the new offensive coordinator.

Let's be honest, the hardest marriage is between the quarterback and the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh. Big Ben has had control of the offense for years with more passing in the offense opposed to the smash mouth, running game that has defined the Steelers since the 1970's. Art Rooney II took it upon himself to go out and hire a new offensive coordinator without talking to Head Coach Mike Tomlin and General Manager Kevin Colbert, creating an arranged marriage for Roethlisberger and Tomlin in which Rooney II expects them to all get along quick.

Is Rooney II trying to send a message and attempting to change the mentality of the Steelers offense? Of course, the Rooney's have owned the team since Art the first started the team up in 1933. For the almost 80 years the team has existed, there has not been much interference in the way the coaching staff has functioned. The Rooney's have never been like Jerry Jones, or even the late Al Davis and even baseball's George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees. Not consulting Tomlin in this case may have been a wrong move to make. The Rooney's have control of the team and are respected, so there will be little backlash against any decision from the higher ups, but a very unorthodox move by the ownership. 

A part from the move to bring in Haley, is this creating a divide in how the coaching staff and management will get along in the Steel City? Nothing is worse than a divided organization. It's hard to see it happening with the Steelers, but Rooney II may have crossed the line by going out and hiring Haley without talking to Tomlin. Haley's resume shows that he is qualified to run the Steelers offense. The problem is, you have a quarterback like Roethlisberger who is less than thrilled about the departure of Arians and has mixed feelings on the arrival of Haley and a head coach who is out of the loop in this situation.

But if we have learned anything from these past few weeks is this. The Rooney's want to see a change, they seem to want and control Roethlisberger, who has voiced his opinion and have tried to make it clear that his opinion in the organizations moves is little to not important. Some feel that Big Ben got too comfortable with Arians and add more pressure to the veteran quarterback who will make over $100 million by the time his contract is up. They expect him to perform and the mentality in Pittsburgh every year is "Super Bowl or Bust!"

There are a lot of issues that the Steelers are going to address this off-season. This is just the beginning. Hopefully, Haley, Tomlin and of course, Roethlisberger, can get along and not create drama. Football is a business, sometimes moves need to be made.