Steelers’ dynasty legacy in ruins after Mike Tomlin gave Aaron Rodgers too much power

Feb 27, 2026 - 14:30

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the NFL’s ‘legacy’ teams.

That legacy has been shattered — if the latest round of player report cards is correct.

Aaron Rodgers might not want to come back to the 'failing' Steelers — Aaron Rodgers might not want to come back to the ‘failing’ Steelers

Why did the Steelers get slammed by players?

The first thing to know about the annual NFL Players Association reports: The Miami Dolphins were reportedly ranked No. 1, which makes the final results look a little shaky.

The Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since 2000, Mike McDaniel was fired as head coach, the team spent the 2025 season surrounded by weekly drama … and Miami finished 7-10.

So receiving a bunch of A’s and A-plusses on survey results is effectively meaningless on a real-world NFL level.

Right now, the only thing that matters for the Dolphins is finding a quarterback to replace the absurdly overpaid Tua Tagovailoa ($212 million), and it’s easy to imagine that players ‘love’ Miami because of off-the-field creature comforts and the Dolphins’ soft, player-friendly atmosphere.

Nothing about that creates wins, while 99 percent of NFL athletes would have rather played for the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks or runner-up New England Patriots last season, instead of living the good life in sunny Miami.

But the Steelers receiving an ugly collection of F’s, F-minuses and D’s is telling.

Something hasn’t been right in Pittsburgh during recent years, and being ranked No. 32 out of 32 teams follows Mike Tomlin‘s odd departure as head coach.

One week, Tomlin was the longest-tenured HC in the NFL, and national reporters were adamant that he wasn’t going anywhere.

The next week, Tomlin was done with the Steelers, and Pittsburgh was left again to wait and wait on an another critical Aaron Rodgers decision.

Pittsburgh was knocked for not being family friendly

According to ESPN, the Steelers received poor grades in everything from treatment of families (ouch!) and home field to locker room, travel, ownership and training room.

The Steelers' stadium took a big hit in player report cards — The Steelers’ stadium took a big hit in player report cards

The Pittsburgh Steelers were rated by players as the worst team in the NFL — Mike Tomlin and Rodgers only spent one year together

That teases serious player discontent and it reflects badly on the Rooney family, who have long been associated with a franchise that has won six Super Bowls.

This was the first time that Pittsburgh has ranked last in player report cards.

But the Steelers finished a weak 28th in 2024, when Tomlin coached Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, which hints at a real problem that undercuts the ‘blue-collar’ life that is supposed to be the foundation of the organization.

The New York Jets — widely viewed as one of the most dysfunctional teams in the NFL — were 18th on the latest player reports.

The Cleveland Browns, who are often Jets-like, were 30th.

Hurts to see Steelers worse than Browns

The Steelers were worse than the embarrassing Browns — who also fired their head coach — which means that Pittsburgh has an internal image problem with the athletes who represent the Steelers on the field.

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“The Steelers organization should be so much better,” one fan tweeted. “Start investing in your franchise.”

“As a 50+ year season-ticket holder, they are correct about the Steelers organization,” a second fan posted.

“Maybe ownership tries to improve the TEAM for once,” a third fan wrote.

“Rooneys are a joke. It’s sad,” a fourth fan said. “Once historic franchise ruined by nepotism.”

Did the Steelers give Rodgers too much power and end up with nothing to show for it?

Certainly.

Pittsburgh went 10-7 with both Rodgers and Wilson/Fields, and the Steelers were blown out of AFC Wild Card playoff games in both seasons.

But F after F after F tells everyone that this organizational failure wasn’t specifically on Rodgers or Tomlin.

The Steelers have a Steelers problem.

One of the most famous NFL teams in the world should at least be good enough for a B-minus.

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