The Pittsburgh Steelers, who have been a rock-solid example of organizational calm amid the turbulent sea known as the NFL ever since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970, are currently in a tailspin they haven’t seen in the past 45 years: an 0-4 start to their season.
When this last happened in 1968, the Steelers went on to finish 2-11-1 and it cost then-Head Coach Bill Austin his job after three years at the helm of the Black and Gold. Chuck Noll would be hired to coach the team for the 1969 season. The rest, after a bumpy first three years, is the history of the most successful NFL franchise in the post-merger/Super Bowl era.
As the 2013 season approached, cautious optimism was rampant among the Steeler faithful particularly after the team went to defeat in five of their final seven games in the 2012 season.
Yet the Steelers, in the calendar year 2013, have failed to win a single football game (pre-season included for point of emphasis) and many of the fears of Steelers fans everywhere are not only being realized but are being magnified by the revisiting of many of the problems that plagued the team at the end of the previous season.
Much of this has to do not with a single factor, but with a pattern of malfeasance that can be attributed to one man in the Steelers organization: General Manager Kevin Colbert. Let’s examine a few facts about the notorious man in charge of keeping the Pittsburgh Steelers at even keel in the maelstrom known as the NFL:
1) Kevin Colbert is a disaster when it comes to talent evaluation.
Since the departure of Head Coach Bill Cowher in 2006, the evaluation of talent and the procurement of players via the draft has been solely entrusted to the hands of Colbert. And things looked up in the 2007 Draft, as the Steelers would select two players (Lawrence Timmons and Lamarr Woodley) who would help to solidify the middle of the defense to this day.
Yet, the rest of this draft and the entirety of the 2008 and 2009 Drafts have proven to be, or will soon prove to be, complete organizational failures and will yield not a single starting player on either side of the ball. And, if you are the pessimistic type, the draft record since 2009 isn’t a whole lot rosier.
As a casual observer, it would not surprise me if no more than two players out of each of the drafts from 2010 to 2012 were to be anything more than role players or spot starters after the end of this current season.
2) The Steelers now have seven starters on their team that were non-first round draft picks in the Colbert era.
What do Brett Keisel, Lamarr Woodley, Emmanuel Sanders, Antonio Brown, Marcus Gilbert, Cortez Allen and Mike Adams have in common? They are all Steelers starters who were draft selections after the first rounds in their respective drafts in the 14 years since Kevin Colbert took over player procurement for the Steelers.
To be fair, many of those who would have had double digit years of experience have, for one reason or another, fell off of NFL rosters or have been forced into retirement due to any number of factors. And, in fairness again, 7 of Colbert’s 14 1st Round picks have also managed to remain as starters.
Still, based on a percentage of the active roster going into any given game, the reality that only a third of the team’s draft picks over the last 13 years are in the starting lineup absolutely calls into question the Steelers ability to obtain the necessary components to a championship caliber team past the first round of any given draft. Having the ability to not miss with the first pick of the draft is one thing. Having the ability to not miss with the remainder of the draft is what builds championships. The current incarnation of the Pittsburgh Steelers is hell and gone from the incarnation that lost Super Bowl XLV just three years ago.
3) Only 32 Pittsburgh Steelers drafted in the Colbert era are on the current active roster.
This statistic doesn’t look so bad until the consideration is made that 10 of these players (31%) have come over the last two years with the last 18 selections made in the draft. Amazingly, only 56% of the players selected over the last two drafts are even still on the active roster. Comparing this to other teams might level off the expectation by a bit.
However, this is still a paltry number in comparison when considered that that the first 12 Steeler drafts under Colbert have only yielded 22 currently active players, an average of less than two players per year out of an average of just less than 8 picks per draft in that period of time. It is clear to see that the 25% success rate of the average Kevin Colbert draft is a certain contributing factor to the team being in the state that it is in presently.
All three of these facts point to (among other statistics) the alarming reality that the Pittsburgh Steelers, fully one quarter of the way into the current season, have yet to record a takeaway of a single offensive possession from an opponent this year. When coupled with the 11 turnovers committed by the Steelers offense (just shy of 3 per game), this is a true cause for alarm. Assuming the trend continues unabated, the Steelers are poised to have a -44 turnover ratio on the season, even though this would obviously be a classic worst-case scenario. It still does, however, call into question the players on the roster who are seemingly incapable of securing the ball for their offense from the offense of the other team and also makes questionable the person in charge of the present talent secured.
This is also not helped by the prospect that if the Steelers do not right this ship during the bye week and the team continues to lose well into October, the prospect of a top 5 pick in the draft will indeed loom large on the horizon. Knowing Kevin Colbert’s draft record, would the Rooneys feel 100% confident that their general manager was still up to the task of securing the best players to wear their uniforms after 14 years of trial and, mostly, error?
I could go on and on, and this doesn’t really absolve responsibility for those charged with molding the talent obtained into a cohesive and disciplined unit. Messrs. Tomlin, Haley and, yes, even Mr. LeBeau should be ready with an answer should the Rooneys want one.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are going nowhere fast but down to the basement of the AFC North standings. The Rooney family couldn’t have possibly been pleased by the showing of their team on national television at home against Chicago in Week 3. If they were, then the blame should surely go upon their shoulders.
The Steelers are now 2-9 in their last 11 regular season games and this record of futility will equal three different 12 game stretches where they were 2-10: between 1985 and 1986, the start to the 1988 season, and between 1999 and 2000 (ironically, this was when Colbert first took over the player personnel duties for the team) if the Steelers lose to the New York Jets coming out of the bye week. If they were to lose to both the Jets and to the Ravens coming out of the bye week, this would set the record for futility in a 13 game stretch since the NFL and the AFL merged 43 years ago.
Also of note: no Steelers team has won less than 5 games in a season since the merger, and this distinction has only happened twice in the last 43 years and only once with a 16 game schedule. One was the 1970 team (the year of the merger) that only played 14 games that season. The other was the 1988 team. This team, on it's current course, has an outstanding chance to fall south of the 5 win plateau if current trends persist.
Chances are good that no action will be taken during the season. Certainly, if it was to happen during the season, the bye week would be where such a move would likely occur.
Yet, the message must be sent. Kevin Colbert has established enough of a track record, especially in the last 6 years being the general manager of the team, that any future decisions by him or his front office staff have earned a long, stern and skeptical look from the ownership of this particular National Football League franchise.
It is the opinion of this writer that the Steelers have no other choice for the successful future of this franchise than to relieve Mr. Kevin Colbert of his duties at the earliest possible convenience to the team. Any action, or inaction, otherwise potentially jeopardizes the long-range prospects of this proud organization.