Why the Steelers of 2022 resemble the Steelers of the ’80s

Steelers dynasty ends

Watching them play every Sunday was like watching art come to life. The destroyed teams they faced. Sure, you can go back and watch the games on youtube, which gives you a flavor of how good they were. Yet those of us that lived through the era know how good they were. Men like Lambert, Greene, Ham, Iron Mike, and Franco were the gods we worshipped every Sunday.

Yet, as in any football era, we eventually found out our Gods were mere mortals. They aged and retired. As that occurred, we had to endure the Steelers of the ’80s. We saw our heroes grow old and watch Pittsburgh replace them with marginal players like Mark Malone or Bubby Brister.

We saw the game evolve while passing by Chuck Noll, whose version of football was from the ’50s. It may have worked in the 70s but had become outdated by the mid-80s. They never fully began prepping for when those stars would ride off into the sunset. It was painful, but the true Pittsburgh faithful endured. The Steelers had never had a winning team of any sort except in 1984.

The Steelers botched the 1983 NFL draft. We saw our best players go to the USFL. We saw a head coach trying to pretend the game was not evolving when it obviously was. Once in the 80s, the Browns destroyed the Steelers on opening day in 1989. That was a painful day to live through if you remember it.

Perhaps one of the darkest days of living through the Steelers of the ’80s. Some fans had put up a dartboard in 1984, putting Dan Marino’s picture on the dartboard, hoping to bring him bad luck in the 1984 AFC championship game. Yet, that game did not end well for us. Much as the ’80s did not end well for the Steelers.