As I sit here at my desk with a cup of coffee at the ready, I think about the 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers which seem to be dissolving in front of our very eyes. It’s hard to believe this team was once 6-3. Following their dismal performance in the 30-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, fans everywhere are left shaking their heads, wondering what’s going on.

Well, to answer that question I’d be putting thousands of words into an article(s) which hardly anyone would want to read.

Or, as Jimmy Buffett once said when asked if he goes to confession…

“Well, Father, do you have the rest of the week?”

No, to me there are aspects of this team which are extremely telling, and none of which happen between the white lines on game day. Character can be revealed in a multitude of ways, and I have always found that the true test of a man’s character can be found when things aren’t going his way.

When the team is winning you can be jubilant and dance in front of cameras talking about “taking over your trap”. But when the team has lost three in a row, all in embarrassing fashion, that is when you see true character revealed. So, in that regard, what have we learned from this team?

Try an offensive captain in 2022, Najee Harris, refusing to answer questions after his own poor performance which included a back-breaking fumble in the early moments of the third quarter.

Najee Harris has declined comment postgame once again. I’m starting to lose track of the times he has declined.

— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) December 17, 2023

This isn’t to pile on Harris, but certainly typifies the issues surrounding the team.

When I was a high school varsity boys lacrosse coach for 13 years in the state of Maryland, a far cry from the NFL and their responsibilities, there were plenty of seasons which went south in a hurry. There were games when you got absolutely beat in every sense of the word, and after addressing the team post-game you look and see a reporter there waiting to talk to you.

Did you want to answer questions on how your team failed to show up? Did you want to answer questions on what is ailing your team? Did you want to answer questions about the direction of your program?

Absolutely not, but I still had to do the job. I had to answer the questions. I had to face the music.

Of course it is easy to answer questions when your team comes from six goals down with 4 minutes left and wins the game in double overtime, true story, but when you get beat 21-2 in your first ever game as a head coach, another true story, you have to face the music.

Harris avoided it yet again. To me, there is nothing more cowardly than running from the uncomfortable nature of the job. Quietly hiding behind the guise of public relations and saying you won’t talk. Again, not to pile on Harris, but this is who the 2023 Steelers are. It’s “look at us!” when they are winning, and “don’t talk to me” when things aren’t going their way.

This is just a glimpse of the immaturity surrounding the Steelers, and it goes all the way to the top. The leader of those men, and that’s Mike Tomlin. For the first time since he took over in 2007, it feels as though he is either losing, or has lost, the locker room. That the men who once would kill to play for Tomlin wouldn’t run through a wet paper bag for him, let alone a wall.

It’s a sad state of affairs for the Steelers, and sadly there is no real end in sight outside of the season’s end in three weeks. Then let the offseason of turmoil begin…