The evolution to being a perennial winner.

[musicman]

It started in 2018 when Tepper bought the team and he sat back and watched the 2019 season play out. He wanted to see what he had before he did anything, a very smart move. 

Going into 2020 we hired a new HC with a long term rebuilding plan, cleaned house a bit and started over. But a pandemic slowed the rebuilding a little.

In 2021 we hire a new, progressive & talented GM and he takes a much different and analytical approach to the draft we've never seen. Yes, they passed on drafting Fields and IMO did the right thing. Fields got talent and maybe they weren't as high on him as were other teams that didn't take him (Bears were desperate) and we worked on building a complete team. We are still another year away from competing for a championship but maybe getting to 9 wins this year starts a winning tradition. 

If you look at what they're doing, they are taking positive steps towards building a perennial winner. Fans want flash and big leaps forward. But getting the cap in order to have sustained success is needed. Getting the right QB is very important, but at what costs. Taking a very calculated risk with a high reward on Darnold is smart. If he works out we just sped up the process and built a team around him in the process. if it doesn't, we still have a solid team that's a QB & 1 or 2 players away from a SB run. But at least we're winning 9 maybe 10 games a year, not 4 or 5. 

Every move in the NFL is a chance. An injury can derail a team, especially to a star (like a CMC). But having a complete team is more important (see Chiefs tackles in SB). Having great depth with young talent (with a great coaching staff) and the right mix of vets that can sustain winning every year, not every other year or every 3 years is what we should all want. That's how you build football tradition like in GB, Buffalo, NE, Sea, KC and heck even Dallas, NY, Chi (the fans come out no matter what). They support football because it's tradition and we need to build that since we don't have the 40-50+ year history those teams have. 

If we can put together 3 winning seasons in a row, you watch the fan base become stronger and more supportive, especially at games. On this board, everybody has so many opinions because the team is up and down every year. There's no rhythm and no obvious path to be good year in and year out.... until now. 

Hang in there and let's see it develop. Every move may not work out but if 5 or 6 draft picks work and maybe 2 or 3 FA signing play like they should, we'll be better for a long time. 

[Khyber53]

Good post OP. Patience will pay off. Gotta believe!

 

[OldhamA]

The only real annoyance I have with Tepper so far is that he sat back that first year.

If I'd just spent $2bn on a football team I'd be coming in with a new team and ideas. I wouldn't be assessing what was already going on - we knew what was already going on wasn't working. Especially considering I was a minor owner of the Steelers for years so I had first hand knowledge of how things should be run.

[KatsAzz]

Tips to prepare for a winning season and building a successful football program

 

Create a culture of open communication and constructive feedback. ...

 

Establish a belief system and buy-in. ...

 

Empower your players. ...

 

Build Team Chemistry. ...

 

Create Excitement and Motivation.

 

You Want to Improve Your Skills. ...

 

Coaches Should Understand and Motivate Players. ...

 

Coaches Should Be Tough But Fair. ...

 

Coaches Should Teach Life Skills Along With Sports Skills. ...

 

Coaches Should Make It a Team Effort. ...

 

Bad Coaches Focus on Only a Few Players. ...

 

Coaches Shouldn't Yell or Put Players Down.

[TheRumGone]

I agree you build up the team, have a plan and a culture but notice that the teams you mentioned who have sustained success have franchise qbs.  We desperately need one. They passed on fields and took Jaycee.  time will tell if that was correct move. But overall I agree about not rushing and building the right way, not reaching and being methodical so I’m not upset or anything. I like the direction we’re heading overall.

Edited May 15, 2021 by TheRumGone

[Zod]

Top notch post, thanks

[musicman]

1 hour ago, OldhamA said:

The only real annoyance I have with Tepper so far is that he sat back that first year.

If I'd just spent $2bn on a football team I'd be coming in with a new team and ideas. I wouldn't be assessing what was already going on - we knew what was already going on wasn't working. Especially considering I was a minor owner of the Steelers for years so I had first hand knowledge of how things should be run.

How does he know the FO people or the business side of stadium ops did good things right? He doesn't know if they're good people or not. Some parts of the operation needed to be fixed, he evaluated and then started making moves. 

[kungfoodude]

Not many franchises get razed to the foundation quite like ours, especially in terms of the roster. 

I hope it works out. It has to. The alternative is pretty scary for we the fans.

[SmokinwithWilly]

1 hour ago, kungfoodude said:

Not many franchises get razed to the foundation quite like ours, especially in terms of the roster. 

I hope it works out. It has to. The alternative is pretty scary for we the fans.

It's less scary than being led into the future by Hurney or Nipplrshorts. 

[kungfoodude]

48 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

It's less scary than being led into the future by Hurney or Nipplrshorts. 

I don't know about that. The alternative I am talking about is this rebuild not working out for us. That alternative is vintage Bengals, Browns, etc. That is genuinely scary. 

I don't THINK we are trending that way, but remember that all those fans had hoped every offseason too. It's possible/likely we are gonna be looking at a fourth straight season without a winning record. That would be the second longest losing streak in franchise history. It would also result in only 7 of 28 seasons of existence without a winning record. I guess the question is, if we extend to much further down that road, how AREN'T we the Browns/Bengals/etc?

That is why I was very nervous about this process from moment one. There is just as much upside as downside to what we decided to do.

[PantherOnTheProwl1523]

4 hours ago, OldhamA said:

The only real annoyance I have with Tepper so far is that he sat back that first year.

If I'd just spent $2bn on a football team I'd be coming in with a new team and ideas. I wouldn't be assessing what was already going on - we knew what was already going on wasn't working. Especially considering I was a minor owner of the Steelers for years so I had first hand knowledge of how things should be run.

 After Tepper spent that kind of money on the team he should sit back and see how things go and make the tweaks and adjustments needed to make us better during the first season as owner. 

Edited May 15, 2021 by PantherOnTheProwl1523

[KSpan]

My only real gripe is that he prides himself on being an analytics/data guy and yet left Rivera and Hurney in place for 2019 even with 20+ years of data between them showing what they were. Beyond that though IMO he gets the benefit of the doubt and seems to be making smart decisions on the whole. With this being year 4 and the second year of his regime really being in full swing time I think a lot will be learned in 2021.

[Sgt Schultz]

1 hour ago, KSpan said:

My only real gripe is that he prides himself on being an analytics/data guy and yet left Rivera and Hurney in place for 2019 even with 20+ years of data between them showing what they were. Beyond that though IMO he gets the benefit of the doubt and seems to be making smart decisions on the whole. With this being year 4 and the second year of his regime really being in full swing time I think a lot will be learned in 2021.

In his defense on retaining Rivera and Hurney, he probably had some questions about how much of the buffoonery was them vs. his predecessor as an owner.  Rivera is not nearly the chameleon Hurney is, so it became obvious what he ceiling was fairly quickly. 

I'm sure Hurney could say "yessir, you sure are a genius sir.  I've always thought the same thing.....did you want sugar in that, sir?" with the best of them, although one would think Tepper has seen that out of people before.

[DaveThePanther2008]

5 hours ago, TheRumGone said:

I agree you build up the team, have a plan and a culture but notice that the teams you mentioned who have sustained success have franchise qbs.  We desperately need one. They passed on fields and took Jaycee.  time will tell if that was correct move. But overall I agree about not rushing and building the right way, not reaching and being methodical so I’m not upset or anything. I like the direction we’re heading overall.

Even with all the question marks around Field you are implying he is a franchise QB.

I think that is stretching it a bit.  He might turn out to be a Franchise QB but he may also be an average QB as well.  

I like Darnold's chance of being a franchise QB more than I believe Fields will be one.