Cam Heyward’s contractual situation is still sticky. The Pittsburgh Steelers did very little in the preseason to assure fans that 2025 is going to be much different than recent years past, and hope for the future with the upcoming crop of draft-eligible quarterbacks took a dent in Week 1.
This is your safe space to vent about all of it. Welcome to the final “U mad, bro?” before the start of the regular season.
Consider this the last tune-up.
We open with a comment about the Steelers from someone posting on our Mike’s Beer Bar “Friday Football” show.
“This WHOLE team is a huge question mark. The oline is not developing. This season will be a 8-8-1 disaster.”
Disaster? At 8-8-1? If it’s going to be a disaster, let’s talk about 5-12 or something like that.
The only disaster about 8-8-1 is that we’ll all have to keep hearing that Mike Tomlin has still never had a losing season.
Rob wants to comment on Cameron Heyward’s contractual situation.
Why is anyone other than him worried about this? Its not yours or anyone else’s situation.
— Rob Halsaver (@HalsaverRob) September 3, 2025
If Heyward is suggesting he may not play Sunday, he’s making it a very public situation on his own.
I think you know that. Stop pandering and sucking up online to an athlete who has no idea who you are and couldn’t care less if you are on his side.
T.J. in San Diego replied to my column that took umbrage with people making (what I believe to be) false equivalencies between the Savannah Bananas’ success with baseball fans and the Pittsburgh Pirates’ failures with them.
“The Bananas invest in the fan experience and they invest in the team to make them enjoyable to watch. If Nutting would do the same kind of thing by investing in the club and actually spending some money on long-term players to help the talent (Skenes, Cruz) around them, the fans would come.”
In theory, yeah, sure. Of course.
But the quality of the Bananas’ shows directly impacts the bottom line. Bob Nutting’s bottom line comes from lots of other places, such as TV/radio rights and revenue sharing. For him, the direct equation of performance quality, plus customer satisfaction, equals profit … doesn’t exist.
Again, “Banana Ball” is not a comp to “Bucco Ball.”
And the Bananas should be happy about that.
In a recent “First Call” post, I mentioned Mykal Walker signing with the Jets, Robert Spillane being named captain in New England and Najee Harris’ injury recovery in Los Angeles. This was Kurt’s response:
Why so much focus on ex Steelers?
— KO (@KurtOlson2) September 2, 2025
Because few things in life give me greater joy than readers like you getting agitated by me acknowledging that these players still exist and haven’t evaporated into thin air just because they no longer play for the mighty Black and Gold.
Plus, I know you’ll click on the story, read it, and feign your disinterest immediately thereafter.
Mission accomplished.
Mike clearly enjoyed this week’s “Madden Monday” post about Justin Fields in New York.
“Although I have no aspirations for the Steelers to win a Super Bowl anytime soon, I try to remain positive about them because I want to have a good time during the season.
“We don’t know what Rodgers will bring us. Is it going to be like Brady in Tampa? Don’t think so? But who really does know. But seriously Tim, you and Madden can’t get yourselves to write a positive Steelers column if your jobs depended on it. Wait … That’s it, your jobs are to write negative stories about the Steelers.”
First of all, the last time I was positive about the Steelers, I picked them to beat the Bengals in last year’s regular-season home finale.
How did that work for all of us?
Second, you’re wrong. My job isn’t to write “negative” columns about the Steelers. But my job is also not to write “positive” columns about the Steelers. My job is to tell the truth about the Steelers and give opinions about them.
There are some people who are paid to write about rainbows and sunshine and come up with warm, feel-good, happy endings all the time.
They write what is called “fiction.” But, Mike, you’ve inspired me. I think I’m going to write my first novel about the training camp that led to the Steelers’ 2025 Super Bowl championship.
I’m going to call it: “The Summer They Turned Pretty.”
I bet Amazon Prime will turn it into a streaming series!
Jim has thoughts on the first weekend of “NCAA QB Draft Watch” for the Steelers.
As if anybody knows which, if any, of these massively hyped QBs will be a difference maker in the pros.
Anybody still in line to tank for Arch?
— Jim Garland (@jimbog33) August 30, 2025
Yeah. The Browns. They are always tanking for someone.
Finally, someone called “TheFantasyMadhouse” posted in this week’s “Madden-Benz: Unfiltered” comments section.
“As much as I dislike Tomlin, and the Steelers are a wreck, I also think it’s (crummy) how Benz tends to over-dramatize how some Steelers fans act just to get Mark to lay the figurative smack down.”
Look, you can accuse me of a lot. But I think it’s nearly impossible to suggest that anyone is capable of “over-dramatizing” the reactions of Steelers fans.
Sir, I once posted an email from someone saying that Kyle Allen should be the Steelers’ starting quarterback because of that one completion he threw against Dallas in Week 5 last year.
Your honor, the defense rests.
Listen: Tim Benz previews the Steelers-Jets game with ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
