Biggest mistake Steelers ever made?

So, I'm watching old football footage on the NFL network with my 12 year old son and told him that cutting Johnny Unitas was the biggest mistake the steelers ever made.

Letting Rod Woodson walk ranks right up there.

Not drafting Marino another huge blunder..


So what actually is the biggest mistake the Steelers ever made?

Letting Slash become a QB? Haley coordinating with Big Ben? Holding onto Lebeau too long?

 

It's a tough call between Unitas and Marino but I'll go with not drafting Marino. The Steelers were still a competetive team with guys like David Woodley and Mark Malone. With Marino and our defense I think that we would have won at least 2 more Superbowls.

 

10 Years Dan Marino and that Defense. 2 SB's easily.

 

Would they have beaten the cowboys?

 

Can't every other team out their say they made a mistake in not drafting Marino? It is not like we were the only team that passed on Marino!

Why aren't you mad at the Steelers for not drafting Brady? How many more Superbowls would we have won if we drafted Brady?

Can't blame the Steelers for Woodson; as he would not change his position to Safety and demanded to be played at CB while still in Pittsburgh. They told him he would need to move to Safety to continue to play in the NFL; and they were right.

Say what you want about Haley, but he kept the offense united in the Hatred of him. We did not have any problems with Bell or Brown when Haley was here. Think Lee Marvin's character in the Dirty Dozen... Everyone on the offense was united together because of their hatred of Hailey. Makes you wonder what this team would look like today if Haily was still the O.C.

 

It was worse for us not drafting Marino because he was in our backyard and the Chief really wanted him on the team. However Dan and Noll wanted to move in another direction with Gabe Rivera.
As for not drafting Brady, the question is how good would Brady have been without Belichick?

 

That Cowboy team of the 90's was great no doubt about that, but we outplayed them and should have beaten them in the Superbowl except for you know who at QB. You put Marino in place of NOD in that game and I think we would have won.

 

Yes

 

drafting Jarvis Jones when he was clearly a chump in that draft...u had to be absolutely blind to see he wasn't a worthy prospect.........it''s so stupid it is crazy.

 

That is a bit of revisionist history. Plenty of people had Jones as a first-round pick.

To me, the worst is Unitas. They had one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history in camp and let him go for nothing. They didn't even give him a chance.

Marino is right there. It was a devastating mistake in terms of its impact and they should have known better. The only reason I rate Unitas as slightly worse is they drafted a player instead who could have made a positive impact. By all accounts, that was bad luck, not the drafting of a bad player.

 

Not drafting Dan Marino cost the Steelers at least 2 Super Bowls. The question is, does Chuck Noll still retire in 1991 if Marino is playing for him?

 

letting Rod Woodsen leave? Why was there the fall out?
Rod was still good for several years after? Sometimes both sides
have to compromise and it just didn't happen?

 

Yes.

 

They cut hall of famer Len Dawson as well.

 

Do I remember right, or was the final reason they cut him because he couldn't return punts while serving as a back up? Or was that someone else?

 

Biggest mistake: Barry Foster not turning a step earlier for O'Donnell's pass in 1994.

 

If you take away the 20/20 hindsight, "not drafting" a guy is a tough call but when you have a guy on your practice field and let him go, like Unitas, that's a hard pill to swallow.

 

I'm surprised that no one has Tomlin as their worst mistake yet, according to half the board.

Didn't they have the great championship winning Bobby Layne when they cut Unitas & Dawson?

My pick as biggest blunder would be the continuing hiring of Walt Keisling or bubbleyum.


Edit: fun fact: Bobby Layne was drafted by the Steelers out of Texas but didn't want to play in their offensive scheme. He orchestrated a trade to the Bears & went on to win championships for the Lions.

 

Not drafting Dan Marino, Steeler's biggest blunder. The crazy thing is he was available at our drafting time and not picked yet by another team. Agree with others about 2 more super bowl wins.

 

[QUOTE="Roonatic, post: 769564, member: 2657"]I'm surprised that no one has Tomlin as their worst mistake yet, according to half the board.

Didn't they have the great championship winning Bobby Layne when they cut Unitas & Dawson?

My pick as biggest blunder would be the continuing hiring of Walt Keisling or bubbleyum.


Edit: fun fact: Bobby Layne was drafted by the Steelers out of Texas but didn't want to play in their offensive scheme. He orchestrated a trade to the Bears & went on to win championships for the Lions.[/QUOTE]

I think this thread is about past mistakes. That mistake won't be eligible for discussion until five years after Tomlin retires from the Steelers

 

The bad thing too about Unitas is he was born and raised in Pittsburgh. He went to St. Justin's High in the Bloomfield section of the city.

 

Well besides not having hot young chicks in tiny black and gold outfits cheering us on I'll go with Central Catholic's own Danny Marino. We would have 8 SB's!!

 

I kinda like that we don't have bimbets on the sideline but I think a few SB's is possible with Marino as opposed to the crap we had at QB then. But then, we wouldn't have been a position to draft Ben and would probably not have gotten the two with him?

 

When he is in the HOF?