Steelers fan survey: Mike Tomlin approval rating, QB future and more

We live in unreasonable times. So, it seemed fair to assume that the responses to our Steelers fan satisfaction survey would follow suit.

Think about it; we’re stuck at home, under stress with minimal outlets for it. Last season was a disaster. Whether next season even happens is a valid question, and that’s before we discuss the on-field product. There’s not even a first-round pick to distract anybody. If there were ever a time for irrationality, it’s now. It seems like time to vent. It seems like time to get pissed off — or at least emotional.

Is that what happened, though? Nearly 1,100 of you (1,088, in fact) took part in our 32-question poll. The results were interesting. They were fun. In some spots, they were surprising. In every spot, they — and the comments you sent along with them — were illuminating. I learned some stuff. Maybe you will, too.

We’ll start with the big ones.

Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu (George Gojkovich / Getty Images)

Was I shocked to see Polamalu win? Nope. The people who grew up watching him are in their 30s now, and that’s a big part of our audience. Good luck finding a better, more beloved player outside the 70s teams. But, man, this was an absolute cakewalk, audience bias aside. He almost lapped the field twice. Wild.

Shout-out to two voters in particular: the one who compared the exercise to “Sophie’s Choice,” and the other who spelled their favorite Steeler’s last name “Pollumollo.” Maybe we’ll all get that squared away in Canton.

All in all, 63 different players received votes and 14 made it to double-digits. Some of my favorite single vote-getters: John Fiala’s cowboy collar (even though it’s not human and thus not a player); Donte Moncrief; both Erric Pegram and Bam Morris; and Rick Strom, who seems to have the begrudging support of one of his children.

T.J. Watt (Joe Maiorana / USA Today)

Same goes for Watt. I’d have bet big on him leading this list, but jeez. Now, I realize it’s not quite the same question — but it’s still a popularity contest, and all those people who already have Roethlisberger jerseys could’ve still gone with him. The fanbase is nuts about Fitzpatrick, which we’ll get into earlier, so his total here seems a bit low, too. Shout to Zach Banner for managing to pull two votes, though, and the one dude who wrote in “LMAO.”

A couple more quick notes: if there was no Watt specified, I gave the votes to T.J. I also awarded him the three votes cast for J.J. Watt, who does not play for the Steelers. Derek Watt received one on his own, as did a split Watt Bros. jersey.

Also, it’s time to get Cam Heyward’s last name correct. It isn’t “Hayward” or “Haywood.” I’m done wondering when people will get the Conner/Connor thing straightened out. He’s been here the better part of a decade. It’s not gonna happen.

On to the rest of the survey:

Let’s start with some 2020 season stuff; you’re largely optimistic about the outlook, assuming we see football in the fall. On one hand, “7” feels like a reasonable place to put Super Bowl aspirations for a team with a defense on the upswing and a returning star QB. On the other … they still didn’t make the postseason in 2019, and they’re still in a division with the Ravens and a conference with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Winning a playoff game, though? A vote for “8” feels dead-on.

From the comments:

“A rising tide lifts all ships: Roethlisberger returning even at 80% of what he once was will heavily boost the offense including Conner, JuJu, and players who showed promise such as Diontae and Snell. We should invest in depth on defense, much of which we lost this offseason.”

Now, let’s look back. If it’s possible for a decade with a Super Bowl victory to be disappointing — and I’m not sure it is — the Steelers indeed managed it. As for the biggest wash-out in the back half of the 2010s, 2017 should stand alone. And it does.

From the comments:

“The toughest part of this was deciding between season disappointments — each one brought a TON of sadness and anger.”

“While I have been disappointed the last few seasons, I am more worried about the next three…”

Our set of questions about Mike Tomlin elicited the most extra comments. Imagine that.

“I think he took advantage the past few years with the talent he had. After last season he really had to work to figure out ways to win with an incompetent offense. I think that will help him moving forward when he has the talent.”

“Worst Steeler coach ever. Rooney needs to wake up and hire a coach that knows what he is doing.”

“Anyone who thinks Mike Tomlin is a bad coach is an absolute idiot.”

“Yes, we should have won more by now. But I think the vast majority of NFL fans would prefer their team had the Steelers’ level of consistency and success compared to their team, unless they’re Pats fans. I truly feel like since Tomlin’s hire, we have been the second best team. No losing records, consistently contenders, just untimely injuries like Bell in the AFC title game against New England or Brown against the Bengals right before we narrowly lost to Denver.”

“Steeler fans should either: a) appreciate Tomlin & stop glorifying the Cowher era or, b) just admit they don’t want a black guy coaching their team.”

“I have no problem with Tomlin other than the team playing down to their competition sometimes.”

“Look, Tomlin has been a good coach … not great, not bad but the playoff losses to New England, Denver, Jacksonville were, in my opinion, an indictment of the coaching staff. Tomlin is the head coach, that falls on him. Watching a team so ill prepared (not buying they were ill equipped) to play defense and get absolutely blown out of the water is the most frustrating part. There was at least one Super Bowl winning roster in the 2010s and it never happened. That’s on the coach to me.”

“The grass isn’t always greener. There’s not a single coach who’s perfect at in-game management, especially with them multi-tasking everything in real time and us able to sit at home and solely focus on one singular aspect of the game, especially when discussing it after the fact, and say, ‘they should have done this.’ Tomlin is a great leader, people-person, and motivator that has his team ready to contend every year, year after year, and that’s all you can ask for with all of the variance that happens during a football game and in a short 16 game schedule. The run of competitiveness the Steelers have had since drafting Roethlisberger has been incredible with all of the parity in the NFL, and Mike Tomlin is a huge part of that. Don’t run him out of town just because they haven’t been the last team standing at the end of the year as much as you would like, because it can’t really get much better while it can get much, much, much worse.”

There were more. The range in their tone speaks for itself. As for Tomlin, he’s coming off a 13th straight non-losing season to start his career. Don Shula did that. Marty Schottenheimer had 14. That’s the list. And at the end of the day — through all the noise — your approval ratings seem to appreciate that.

On the player personnel side of things, there’s a similar level of satisfaction, minus the sheer volume of comments and smattering of low-end votes. Funny how that works.

Now, we’ve come to the quarterback portion of the survey. Cautious optimism about Roethlisberger (for at least the next two seasons), then real pessimism about Rudolph (at least as the starting quarterback). As for the Jameis Winston question? It was worth seeing how you felt about it, even though it’s not based in much reality. Basically, the people who hate the idea really hate it, with answers spread across the rest of the spectrum.

From the comments:

“Rudolph is not the QB of the future. Any more time spent thinking that is time wasted seeking other options.”

“I’m worried about the end of Ben Roethlisberger’s career. I don’t want a Philip Rivers or Eli-type ending with him. I’m also worried about who replaces him. I’ve always felt optimistic about the team with him at the helm to make the playoffs and be a real contender, but with him retiring someday soon that feeling will change.”

“Wins will be tough without Ben. Better come up with a true successor fast. Don’t think they want to repeat 1983 to 2004 with bang-your-head-against-the-wall QB play. Sure they had success during that time, but no rings. the game has changed since then; you can’t run 51 times and throw 13 times and win consistently anymore.”

“I think that the opportunity to win a Super Bowl is now while Watt, Bush, and Fitzpatrick are on rookie deals. If Winston is out there, and Ben gets hurt again, Colbert has wasted another year of the window. A better backup QB plan needs to happen now.”

Now, let’s check in on your confidence levels with three important players with different varieties of questions surrounding them — JuJu Smith-Schuster’s first rough season in the NFL was also his first as a No. 1 receiver; James Conner couldn’t stay on the field, and Bud Dupree was one of the NFL’s breakout stars on defense.

From the comments:

“Juju is great and could deserve to be highly paid, but after last season he has to prove it first. And hang on to the ball.”

“With Roethlisberger and JuJu healthy this season, and defensive unit another year more familiar, I don’t see any reason why we can’t go deep into the playoffs. Big question mark will be on Conner’s durability.”

“I am highly confident in Conner as a 3 down starting feature back, they just need insurance against injury. I would make JuJu the 5th highest paid WR assuming he puts up another 1,000 yard season. I don’t know that he is the 5th best receiver out there, but free agency generally means a player is getting paid based on who else is available that year and he is sure to be one of the top free agent WRs available.”

“Juju Smith-Schuster is a dynamic mix of power and speed. If he plays well this season, he definitely deserves a big time contract.”

We knew you liked the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade, but nearly 65 percent of you grading it a “10?” Yowza. Tough to argue with, even though it cost them the 18th overall to pick. Now, with their first pick coming at 49, you’re overwhelmingly looking for an offensive skill player. Not a bad year for that.

There were dissenting opinions, though, and they made their case in the comments:

“The Steelers need to start focusing on the long term depth of the Offensive Line. Receivers and running backs who are going to make an immediate impact are better to find other places.”

“Should be best player available, and it’s either going to be a WR or offensive lineman.”

“They should target a safety with their first pick, Edmunds just isn’t a fit. Why waste an early pick on a WR in what is suppose to be the deepest WR class in recent memory?”

Figured we’d take your temperature on the guys who call the games.

From the comments:

“Jim Nantz is good, but I really hate hearing Romo’s calls.”

“I have to say that Tony Romo is incredible. I learn from him every week I watch football. Jim Nantz, however, should stick to golf (due respect).”

“(Tessitore and McFarland are) the two worst football announcers I’ve heard since Dennis Miller.”

“My dislike of Al Michaels/ Collinsworth is all on Collinsworth, Al is one of the best of all time. Nantz/Romo were my favorite by default. Not a fan of Romo, but Nantz is also great, and Romo is better than Collinsworth. Best combo out of these names (sticking with the traditional matchup of play by play, and former player/analyst) would be Michaels and Aikman. Aikman dragged down by Buck. Michaels dragged down by Collinsworth. I don’t even recognize the ESPN crew, they are so irrelevant.”

Figured it couldn’t hurt to see how you all prefer to spend your NFL Sundays. The Heinz Field replacement question is solely out of curiosity on my part. Hopefully, it doesn’t come up for a long time. Your comments there were great, as were the suggestions for alternative stadium sites, which ranged from “somewhere by the airport” to “on barges at the confluence.”

Some more:

“What crazy person would move the Steelers’ stadium anywhere but the North Side? Geez Louise! The Chief would haunt the place in perpetuity.”

“I will never go to a game in Washington County.”

“I’d rather have the Steelers move to London than play in Butler or Washington Counties.”

We also asked for your least favorite and favorite parts of the gameday experience. Drunk fans remain an issue, as does expensive beer. Both had vote totals in the 30s. Go figure. A dozen folks voted for overly long security lines.

As for the stuff people like: Tailgating (73), the game itself (66) and “the fact the team isn’t (owned) by Nutting” (1). All fell in line, though, behind …

Yep. More than 90 of you still have it on top. So, the results here won’t shock you …

It was our second-least surprising set of results. No. 1?

Alas, Jameis-to-AB might be a sports media dream, but it’s not yours.

(Top photo of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Steeles fans: Justin Berl / Getty Images)