• Please be aware we've switched the forums to their own URL. (again) You'll find the new website address to be www.steelernationforum.com Thanks
  • Please clear your private messages. Your inbox is close to being full.

What defines a successful season??

johngaenzler

Well-known member
Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2015
Messages
624
Reaction score
456
Points
63
So, that was an awful way to end the season last night and I’m as angry as anyone that Ben can’t ever seem to play mistake-free football.

My question is; how do we all define what a successful season is? One one team out of 32 wins the Super Bowl.

Personally, I didn’t expect this team to win 12 games this year nor did I think we’d win the division. Most teams in the league would probably think this was a very successful year.

My personal definition of a successful year is to beat every team that you are clearly better than with the talent you have and beat a few that you’re not. If you lose to teams with better player personnel and coaching, so be it.

Cleveland has far more talent all around per skill position and so does Buffalo, Baltimore and KC. We now have the worst QB in our division (yes I believe Burrow is already probably better than Ben which we will determine next year) and we have the worst running game in the entire league. We have a ton of talent on the defense when healthy and some young talent at receiver, but really what else?

As far as I’m concerned, this was a successful season overall but it sucked how it started great and ended so awful. It doesn’t make sense to blame the disappointment we all feel on Tomlin because we all know you don’t fire a coach who goes 12-4 and wins the division with a team no one thought would.

How do you define a successful season?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
What defines a successful season?

A none losing season. Obviously.

Did you know? Tomlin has the world record.
 
Not that. I mean I think the overall definition changes depending on the year, the team, expectations, etc. Making the playoffs and winning the division was a plus but I’ll always remember the team blowing this game


Sent from my iPhone using Steeler Nation mobile app
 
Every premise in this post is wrong and that’s a disgraceful answer. Sorry. “Winning” seasons don’t cut it when you are loaded with talent, good teams figure your schemes out midway, you swan dive at the end and are bounced out of playoff game #1 regularly by questionable teams, bad rookies, and the like.

Tomlin needs to be fired this morning for the lack of preparation, game planning, and adjustments that is the standard for this team over the past season, the last 10 years, and certainly the absolute garbage we saw last night. If I were the owner, that would already have been done as of the end of the game. Every decision, who to start and who to sit, who to practice and who to let off, when to force coordinators to change their plans and schemes, when to take over the playcalling or move in another direction, how to manage the clock and the game, they ALL rest with the head coach. When asked the question last night, this head coach refused to take responsibility for a debacle of a game the way his QB does routinely, even when things aren’t his fault, which by the way is in most cases _including_ last night. It’s just unacceptable and it has been long enough.

If Andy Reid can be fired by the Eagles and Marty Schottenheiner can be fired after a 14-2 season with his overall record, Mike Tomlin can and should be fired here. There is a precedent, the only question: is ownership brave enough to do what right.
 
Last edited:
Every premise in this post is wrong and that’s a disgraceful answer. Sorry. “Winning” seasons don’t cut it when you are loaded with talent, good teams figure your schemes out midway, you swan dive at the end and are bounced out of playoff game #1 regularly by questionable teams, bad rookies, and the like.

Tomlin needs to be fired this morning for the lack of preparation, game planning, and adjustments that is the standard for this team over the past season, the last 10 years, and certainly the absolute garbage we saw last night. If I were the owner, that would already have been done as of the end of the game. Every decision, who to start and who to sit, who to practice and who to let off, when to force coordinators to change their plans and schemes, when to take over the playcalling or move in another direction, how to manage the clock and the game, they ALL rest with the head coach. When asked the question last night, this head coach refused to take responsibility last night for a debacle of a game the way his QB does routinely, even when things aren’t his fault, which by the way is in most cases _including_ last night. It’s just unacceptable and it has been long enough.

If Andy Reid can be fired by the Eagles and Marty Schottenheiner can be fired after a 14-2 season with his overall record, Mike Tomlin can and should be fired here. There is a precedent, the only question: is ownership brave enough to do what right.

I don't trust Rooney to do the right thing.


I think he is just happy with winning seasons.
 
Maybe it's just me but I don't think finishing any season 1-5 can ever be considered a successful season.
 
Before the season startd I said that this team, Tomlin's team with all his players / depth / coaching staff / etc....... Needed to make the AFCCG to be successful. that meaNT a couple of playoff wins to get there.

Obviously that didn't happen so I'm calling this season a fail. Parts of it were GREAT b ut overall a fail.





Salute the nation
 
It's different for different teams.

I think for Kansas City and Green Bay, anything short of a championship is a failure. Probably for New Orleans too.

For Buffalo, Baltimore, and definitely New Orleans, they probably at least want to see a Super Bowl appearance.

For the Steelers, I expected a 12-4 season and a deep playoff run, so I had hopes for a conference title game. We fell way short...again.

Cleveland was probably to get to the playoffs. Now they won a game. They've exceeded expectations.
 
When just making the playoffs, or just having a winning season becomes the standard then you have to look at the expectations that ownership has for a team. For the better part of 10 years the Steelers have been one of the most talented teams in the NFL and have NOTHING to show for it. If you celebrate mediocrity you will remain mediocre. When you are mediocre year in and year out, you also draft in the wrong half of the draft. You had better have great scouting and drafting and be able to find late round talent. Outside of WR, what positions have the Steelers consistently excelled at in the draft? Secondly, if your scouts and GM are finding good players and they never develop, who is responsible for that? What we saw yesterday was a microcosm of the past decade.
 
So how have the Steelers had one of the most talented teams if the GM and scouts weren’t doing a good job?
 
Super Bowl. Anything less is unsuccessful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
So how have the Steelers had one of the most talented teams if the GM and scouts weren’t doing a good job?

"Secondly, if your scouts and GM are finding good players and they never develop, who is responsible for that?"
 
If before the season someone said we would be 12-4 i think all of us would have taken that. However the way we got to 12-4 makes it ugly. 1 and done is not successful we should be able to make the AFCC or at least play competitively
 
My bar is a playoff win. The trouble is Tomlin is 3-7 in his last ten playoffs games. To compound matters most of those were not road games. IMO, a fireable offense when you have a franchise QB and a lot of talent.

I'd much rather win a playoff game at 9-7 then be 12-4 and get the crap kicked out of you at home.
 
A team can't win the SB every year, or even make the playoffs, I get that.

A successful season to me is to see team effort, and not coming out flat all too many times.

I'd rather watch an 8-8 with heart, than the pile of dog excrement we've been witnessing.
 
This season to me, was all about Ben and his return from elbow surgery. A surgery that no one has ever had, let alone returned from. I am disappointed in the result of our last month, but I am happy our franchise QB was able to make a run. I don't want to have to see him throw close to 70 passes in a game, but dammit, after he was injured last year and has this surgery, it was a miracle that he went the whole season throwing as much as he did. Start drafting road graders and get us a running game to help this guy out!
 
I think whether or not it's a successful season has a lot of factors. Expectations, progress, and how the team concludes the season.

Going into this season I didn't know what to expect. Our defense grew by leaps and bounds the previous season. Would that hold up? Our QB needed season ending surgery the previous season. Would he return to form? Add Covid to the equation and nothing was assured.

An 11-0 start was beyond everyone's expectations. However I was never comfortable with it. The defense lived up to expectations from the previous year until injuries hit. Although we seemed to make plays at key times to win games, we didn't really put many complete games together. Our running attack disappeared completely around game 5 and only got worse. Then injuries hit our defense and it was a matter of time. Add to that Tomlin and his staff once again failed miserably to make any adjustments in game or during the season to address our shortcomings and you get what we saw the last 6 games.

There's no way this can remotely be viewed as a successful season. This team regressed as the season went on. Some due to injuries but mostly failure of coaching staff. As many have mentioned the future hasn't looked this bleak for the Steelers in a long time. To top it off last night was a horrendous end to what was a once promising season and likely a Hall of Fame career. The only way I could say this season was in any way successful is if Tomlin and the entire staff was fired so our much needed rebuild would start asap.
 
Success is a sliding scale. Miami had success, Cleveland had success and neither team will win a championship. but with the way the Steelers pushed the chips in this cannot be considered a success. and it was due to the inability to run the ball, forcing Ben to carry the team and the injuries on defense and the inability of the coaching staff to handle both.
 
So the overwhelming response here is that the measure of success of a season isn’t determined by pre-season expectations but rather by a look back at if team achieved what it was capable of or more (or less in our case). I agree and now feel comfortable saying this season was not a successful one for the Steelers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Top