Reading a lot more about the Bruce Arians *retirement* today, it’s starting to sound more and more like the OC was forced out, and it wasn’t just Mike Tomlin’s decision.
The Post-Gazette reports that team president Art Rooney II made a rather strong recommendation to Tomlin to not renew Arians’ contract. In other worse, Arians was fired.
It seemed pretty evident from the start that the decision to leave wasn’t Arians’. He had been telling people that he wanted and intended to come back in 2012, that is until he caught wind that his deal was not being renewed.
Also Tomlin told Arians, the media, and other coaches that he was going to bring Arians back.
In the end, seems that public had something to do with the decision, as the constant bashing of Arians could be hear far and wide around Steeler Nation, and Rooney could have finally thought it was time to go in another direction.
The big questions now – who will be brought in, and will that person click with Ben Roethlisberger, who has been a huge Arians supporter over the years.
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Tom S.
January 21, 2012 at 10:10 pm
He was told 2 years ago to get the running game in gear, by Rooney. As Forrest says’ Stupid is as stupid does”
Mark
January 22, 2012 at 8:37 am
Reason doesn’t matter. Arians is gone and its time to move forward with an emphasis on an o-line that can protect an elite QB and a running game that can churn out yards when we need them, not throwing at 4 wide on 3rd and 3.
Mike
January 22, 2012 at 9:37 am
Enough with this whole “How is Ben going to react”!! Ben is a big boy who I am sure will remember how the organization stood by him during all of his issues. He will have no choice but to follow marching orders of whomever is hired. Like it or not. I will say that since his last incident, Ben has been a leader of the team. He has been saying and doing all the right things. He finally matured. He will understand that football is a business and he has to separate personal feelings from it. I think he will be fine and a better QB for it.
George H
January 22, 2012 at 4:59 pm
well said Mike
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DrGeorge
January 22, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Clearly, Arians was forced out by the Rooney family. Dan Rooney II is a very smart guy who knows exactly what ails the team. My guess is that he was persuaded to act less because of public sentiment than the results on the field. Arians seemed to be living on borrowed time even as early as 2010, for the reasons we have discussed here ad infinitum. Tomlin lobbied for and got one extra year of Arians’ aerial circus, and the offensive mishmash of the 2011 season was the result. Management was not willing to endure another year of that.
There are also powerful financial reasons for Arians’ dismissal. The Steelers franchise is highly leveraged from the buy-out a few years back. Dan Rooney needs to keep fans engaged and fannies in the seats while he pays down the debt the family incurred to keep the Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Rooneys took an enormous financial risk to keep the team here, and we should all be grateful for their courage in making it happen. But there are financial consequences that flow from that decision. The Steelers franchise is a very large business with an enviable fan base that can only be maintained by winning and getting into the playoffs. Arians offense produced stats, but not points, especially in the red zone. It appeared, toward the end, that Arians did try to make the offense more balanced, but only because Ben was injured. He never seemed to grasp the strategic need for a more balanced attack, and the offense under-performed as a result. The financial stakes were too great to suffer Arians’ flawed strategy for another year.
The only surprise is that Tomlin failed to see the need for Arians to go much sooner. He seemed more politically astute than that. We said before the season that Tomlin’s decision to keep Arians was a mistake. And we were proved right. To be fair, maybe Tomlin had no choice in 2010 — maybe the available replacements were not acceptable. But by the end of this season, Tomlin should have seen enough and fired Arians himself. That he even considered bringing Arians back for 2012 raises questions about his judgment and suggests that he will get heavy input from above in choosing Arians’ successor.
George H
January 22, 2012 at 5:05 pm
I would disagree with the notion that Arians is gone for financial reasons. The fans made it clear that he had to go, but the fans were still going to show up to the games regardless of the OC. His salary is insignificant compared to the players.
Mike
January 22, 2012 at 7:13 pm
Ha ha Ha ha ha ha…..Ravens are losers again, just like you Crowley…Go fuck yourself and die…
Ben Dover
January 22, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Bwa ha ha ha, the Ravens fall in another AFC Championship Game!!!!!
Who thinks Joe “I look like Frankenstien” Flacco or Billy “Wide left” Cundiff will be back next year? I’m guessing Ray-Ray “Kill a guy” Lewis and Ed Reed aqre done too.
I hate New England and hope they lose to the Giants again, but it was awesome to see John Harbaugh mutter “He missed it.” *sniff sniff*
This is a great day in Steeler Country!
Peter
January 22, 2012 at 7:23 pm
I don’t think the offense needs a drastic overhaul but more of a tweak here or there.
adam
January 23, 2012 at 9:28 am
Input from QB is nice to have but overall lets not forget that Ben is employee of the team and whining is not acceptable. Plus lets not forget that Arians is partly responsible for the whole Georgia debacle as he is the one that told Ben to but a house in his neighborhood down there.