Originally Posted by
steelreserve
I think when you're talking about these big-picture things - what is the legacy of this team for a whole decade - a lot of it almost HAS to be subjective. What memorable things did they accomplish in ten years? How will they be remembered in the history of the game? Those are the kinds of things that define a whole decade.
A lot of that is championships, or at least being a strong contender for a championship year in and year out, and unfortunately we had neither of those things going for us. Part of it is especially memorable players, games, or individual seasons, but usually that also goes along with some kind of sustained success.
Objectively, the L.A. Rams were one of the strongest teams of the 1980s, and the Browns were top 10 in wins and made the playoffs seven times. But you don't remember them, you remember the 49ers, the '85 Bears, the Giants and Redskins, maybe the Raiders, maybe the Dolphins. The Vikings and Chiefs were arguably both among the top 5 teams of the 1990s, but you hardly think of them at all. You don't have any defining accomplishments, and that's just what happens, you become a footnote.
It is mentioned often that getting to the Super Bowl is hard. Yes, it definitely IS hard. However, from the perspective of history, you don't get any slack because making the Super Bowl is hard. Did you or didn't you, that's the question. Or at worst, how close were you. Did you accomplish anything else important? The 2010s Steelers just don't check those boxes. Won a lot of regular-season games, but ultimately were like a slightly worse version of the 1990s Vikings. Which is disappointing when you are coming off a run of multiple championships with several all-time great players, and you replaced many of them with other players who were arguably generational talents themselves, but didn't get anything to show for it.
If you asked a random fan whether they'd like their team to be as good as the '90s Vikings or the '80s Rams, you might get some who say "Sure, I'd take that in a second" ... but I bet if you asked a Vikings fan or a Rams fan (are there any Rams fans?) what they thought of those years, I bet it would be a "yeah BUT" with a strong undertone of disappointment. You can get a lot of wins and "objective" success and still have it be disappointing.