We spend a lot of time talking about when a player should move on. We also talk a lot – especially in Pittsburgh the last several years – about when coaches should move on too. Perhaps we have come to the moment when an owner should move on as well.
It’s never been a secret that Art Rooney II is not a “football guy.” He’s a lawyer born into a football family. I’m not going to suggest that he doesn’t know anything about football but compared to his father Dan? Well, there isn’t much of a comparison. In recent years, questions have been asked about just what the direction of the organization is and if ARII were here to answer I would guess that he would say “the goal is to always be competitive.”
That makes sense for the most part. His job is after all to make money. Money for the league, money for himself and money for his minority owners. A non-competitive team doesn’t put butts in seats and doesn’t sell merchandise either. But there’s also a football side to this. The one where you still have to be the guy in charge rather than the one who sits up high in the office and rarely shows his face. One could do that I suppose if you have the right people running your day to day operations. That’s a question I’m not really confident about.
The fact that it took Mike Tomlin to resign after a decade of postseason futility is the first major concern we should have with ARII. I get it to a point; he’s trying to be patient like his father and grandfather. He doesn’t want to be Cleveland where they change head coaches more often than you change your underwear. At the same time however how did he not see what so many of us could? Tomlin’s tenure had run its course and everyone seemed to know it but him. Even Mike knew it!
The Rodgers’ Saga
Now we find ourselves at the mercy of a 42-year old quarterback. It sure seemed, from comments by Mike McCarthy, Omar Khan and ARII himself, that Rodgers coming back was going to happen. But when they slapped the little used free agent tender on him last week, that told us they were still in limbo. Worse yet, was that it seemed like Rodgers was dictating everything and that’s a horrible look for a proud franchise.
Gerry Dulac of the Post-Gazette and often the mouthpiece of the franchise hinted today that Rooney has gotten fed up waiting for Rodgers to make his decision. It’s about damn time! The honest truth is that he should have been feeling this way at the end of March. If Rodgers truly needs this much time to decide then that tells me his heart isn’t 100% committed to playing. Volunteers not hostages right? Or do we not say that anymore?
Art Rooney II oversaw the end of the Ben Roethlisberger era which should have ended sooner than it did. He then oversaw the Kenny Pickett era which was a disaster and now he finds himself hitching his wagon to Rodgers. The one thing that ARII should have learned from The Chief and from his father is that sometimes you have to rip off the band-aid and deal with a little discomfort. There is far more to be gained from a 5-12 season than there is from 9-8 or 10-7 every, single year.
The McCarthy Hire
That brings us to Mike McCarthy. For all of the patience that ARII showed in recent years it seems as though he was destined to follow the pattern set forth by Art and Dan. Hire a young, energetic coordinator type who can build something and be here for 15 years or more. Instead he went with the 62- year old McCarthy. If you’ve paid any attention then this really shouldn’t have been a surprise. Art Rooney II clearly believes that being competitive every year – whether that means first round blowouts or not doesn’t matter – is the best path forward.
I have every expectation that McCarthy will do well here especially if he can find the right quarterback. Whether that guy is on the roster or not is unknown but we know it isn’t Rodgers. His performance in the postseason loss to Houston should have been the end of that relationship.
And that takes me back to the idea of knowing when to move on. Danny Rooney, Art Rooney II’s son, appears to be the next in line to run the franchise. Still in his 30’s, he’s thought to be too young to be given the keys just yet. He was however given a lot of responsibility for both the NFL Draft preparation and the team’s trip to Ireland last season. I think it’s fair to say that both of those endeavors were big successes.
Just as important however is that Danny appears to also be a ‘football guy’ having played at Dartmouth. That of course is no guarantee of anything but it feels like a nice start. While I don’t see ARII stepping down just yet, he should be thinking about it. If we’re going accuse Mike Tomlin of things “getting stale” then the same should be said of Rooney II. The organization had a great opportunity for change yet he snubbed it by going with McCarthy. That decision in itself proved to me anyway that it’s time for change at the top in Pittsburgh.
