The ends of eras, at least when it comes to NFL coaches, come from an accumulation of moments. With good teams especially, there is rarely one singular catalyst. And while I imagine the same will be true about Mike Tomlin and the Steelers—should a decision to part ways at the end of the season be reached—watching what occurred Sunday in rapid succession was about as close as one can come to crafting a director’s cut.
Moments after Steelers fans booed the playing of Styx’s “Renegade”—the fans’ rallying song and cultural benchmark as to what year most of them think it still is, based on hairstyle and general aesthetic—the Steelers gave up a run that broke their home stadium’s record for rushing yards allowed. When taken back to back, both the defiance of stadium traditions and a very public puncturing of a team’s signature defensive identity (against a Bills team decimated on its offensive line, no less, running a very small handful of plays repeatedly) was incredibly jarring. It’s expressing out loud what Steelers fans—once believed to be haughty, spoiled and incapable of giving Tomlin his proper due out of some sycophantic obsession with Bill Cowher—have been saying for a couple of seasons now.
