Aditi Kinkhabwala of CBS Sports appeared on a recent episode of The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. She has extensive experience covering the AFC North and the Steelers for the NFL Network. One of the hosts made the claim throughout the show that the Cleveland Browns receive less negative press in that city than either the Cavaliers or the Guardians.
“It’s the same in Pittsburgh,” Kinkhabwala retorted. “Compared to, say, the Pens and the Pirates, the fans are much kinder and more supportive of the Steelers organization and players.”
As some of you may have heard, “Tomlin has never had a losing season,” so many in the national media actually feel that they have to be guardians at the gate to shield coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers organization from a local media contingent and fan base that they frequently deem to be too harsh.
On the other hand, my perspective on this dynamic is very different. The Steelers’ supporters are just as irrational as those of the Penguins or Pirates, in my opinion.
To be fair to Kinkhabwala’s position, do the Steelers have hallowed players that the public and media never question, meaning that they are celebrities who are untouchable even when they don’t perform well?
At the moment, Cameron Heyward, T.J. Watt, and Minkah Fitzpatrick immediately come to mind. If you want to travel back to Acrisure Stadium’s early years, Troy Polamalu, James Farrior, Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward, Heath Miller, and early Ben Roethlisberger do as well.
The issue is that the team hasn’t experienced a winning postseason series since 2018. Since 2005 or 2006, Sidney Crosby has resided in this town. It will be the first major setback he faces. Because the team’s aged core has been so beloved by the fan base for so long, many fans and media here agreed with the choice made a few years ago to keep them together.
