Importance of a Franchise Quarterback to the Steelers Success

Since 1974, the Steelers have been to eight Super Bowls, winning 6 of them. Over the course of these last 40 years, the Steelers have had exactly two franchise quarterbacks. Terry Bradshaw went 4-0 in Super Bowls. Then, there was a long gap with one Super Bowl loss in between Ben Roethlisberger taking the team to three Super Bowls and winning two of them.

Roethlisberger and Bradshaw Are Franchise Quarterbacks

The point here is that it hasn't mattered that the Steelers have had some of best defenses over those 40 years. The also team went to an additional six AFC Championship games without advancing to the Super Bowl. Mark Malone, Neil O'Donnell, and Kordell Stewart were certainly not franchise quarterbacks and could not get that elusive fifth ring for the team. The franchise QB is important to success!

Some might argue that Roethlisberger is not a franchise QB. However, his overall record and two Super Bowl rings speak for themselves. He deserves the franchise QB moniker. While, there's still a few more years left for a productive Roethlisberger, the team really needs to start thinking about what's next or really loading up for a couple of more runs with him. This year's team may only be as good as a make-it-to-the-playoffs team. Our fan base really doesn't want to see another long drought of championships and years of mediocrity. It's time to start looking for and grooming that next franchise QB.

Bell and Blount...A Storm on the Horizon?

There's no denying the stupidity of what these two knucklehead running backs did last week. Do they not understand the cascading impact of what this could do to the team. If Le'Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount want to smoke some weed, don't do it in your car on McKnight Road, one of the busiest roads in Pittsburgh. Do it at home! While it doesn't sound like a suspension will be coming any time soon, here's what could get interesting once the league dishes out its discipline.

If they get more than a one game suspension, what will the players and owners think about that when comparing it to Ray Rice's two game suspension for beating the tar out of his wife. Would this show that league is more concerned over players smoking marijuana, which is being legalized in more and more places, rather than players involved in domestic violence incidents? Matt Prater already got a 4 game suspension for drinking a few beers after an initial substance abuse issue.

For anybody who saw the video evidence of Ray Rice dragging his unconscious wife out of the elevator, how could he only get two games? Now, don't get me wrong on this...Ben Roethlisberger is certainly no saint here, but there was no where near the evidence in his case of what the league had on Rice, and he got suspended for six games initially (later reduced to four). May have been the best thing to happen to Big Ben as he seems to gotten things together since then. 

So, what's next? The league needs to figure out its player discipline strategy before its inconsistencies cause major issues.