Ben Roethlisberger says Pittsburgh offense totally lacks ‘Steeler toughness’

We all knew it would happen someday, but it doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking. The current state of the Pittsburgh Steelers is something we’re not entirely used to seeing.

After Ben Roethlisberger retired, things started to shift. That will happen when a tenured future Hall of Famer leaves a team after nearly 20 years. But it’s hurting the team internally and the product on the field. And it doesn’t seem like there’s an answer in sight.

“When I retired, I felt like certain guys aren’t in it for the team, they’re in it for themselves, Roethlisberger said on the Dec. 11 episode of his “Footbahlin” podcast. “Well, now some of the guys on the team are saying the same thing, so maybe I wasn’t too far off when I said that.”

“I know that I’m retired, I’m not in the locker room. I get it. But it just feels like that something’s that’s kind of been lost on this team a little bit. It feels like the Steeler Way is just not … listen, you’ve got some great leaders on defense, don’t get me wrong… T.J. [Watt] and Minkah [Fitzpatrick], but you’ve got two sides of a football.

Pittsburgh sees it’s not as easy as bringing in a veteran to become an instant leader. They’re tried, but it’s not the same as being drafted by the organization and growing with the team into a leadership role. Even then, that step hasn’t happened. Najee Harris isn’t a leader. Diontae Johnson isn’t a leader.

The Steeler Way should be part of your soul from the moment a rookie puts on the Black and Gold. It just hasn’t happened.

“You don’t have it on offense,” Roethlisberger said. “You can bring a veteran football player in, Mason Cole, Isaac [Seumalo], but just because they’re … a veteran football player doesn’t mean that they’re a Steeler, like they know what it is to be a Pittsburgh Steeler.”

Roethlisberger was the last of the true Pittsburgh Steelers on the offensive side of the ball, and no one has stepped up to be that guy.

“When I left, I was kind of the last guard there. [Maurkice] Pouncey left the year before, Dave [DeCastro], like those guys left and it was like I was the last one.”

“There was such an age gap for me and everybody else on offense that there just wasn’t that Steeler tradition passed down. You have it on defense, but you don’t have it on offense right now, and it’s making it really hard. You’re not seeing, in my opinion, the toughness on offense. And I say toughness in the sense of a Steeler toughness, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with, like, ‘This guy’s soft.’ Like, who’s grabbing someone by the face mask and being like, ‘Uh-uh, that’s not what we do.’

“Yes, you have guys on defense doing, but you need guys on both sides of the ball doing because when you’re in offensive meetings, when you’re in offensive huddles, when you’re doing that, you’re meeting separately, you need someone to stand up in that room on offense and be like, ‘Hey, this isn’t what it means to wear the Black and Gold.’ ”

The Steeler Way can be preached, but unless you live it, it’s not really there. And that’s what’s been missing.

Story originally appeared on Steelers Wire