LATROBE, Penn. – Leave it to Mike Tomlin to roll off a rather appropriate metaphor that sums up the challenge for this latest version of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Unpacking.
Tomlin, the energetic Steelers coach, implored his squad during a team meeting in the early stages of training camp to embrace a mindset of settling in with a purpose.
“If we want to maximize these days at a destination camp, you can’t have a ‘temporary stay’ mentality,” Tomlin told USA TODAY Sports. “Part of just feeling the urgency of these days is just really being hyper-focused on today. I think a reflection of that is unpacking.
“Visually, it feels temporary when you see boxes in the hallway and people living out of a suitcase. I think it’s a mindset for the collective. So, I just challenged these guys to unpack.”
It’s fair to wonder: Where in the heck is Tomlin going with this particular theme?
Well, in his 19th season on the job – and let’s repeat it again for the record that Tomlin has never had a losing season with the Steelers – he is still one of the best when it comes to delivering pointed messages that stick. The standard is the standard. Two dogs, one bone. Squeeze eight pounds in a 5-pound bag. Stuff like that.
Yes, Tomlin’s catchphrases are undeniably part of the tradition for the Steelers, who for the 58th summer have come to Saint Vincent’s College, a small Catholic school about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, for training camp. While NFL teams stay home for camp, the Steelers are one of just five teams that still hit the road for a training getaway, which is why you hear so much about the environment enabling team bonding.
Yet for all of that tradition, this iteration of camp clearly bucks some trends.
Start with Aaron Rodgers, the 41-year-old, Hall of Fame-credentialed quarterback now joined at the hip with Tomlin on a mission to potentially chase the championship glory that has eluded them for, well, a long time.
He knows. This has an all-in-or-else type of backdrop about it.
“I think there’s really only six to eight (teams) that really have a legitimate chance,” Rodgers said. “Sometimes, it’s 10 to 12, and there’s teams that surprise you. I would say on paper, we’re probably one of those 10 to 12.”
Then again, check back in January.
In the meantime, look at the revamped secondary, which replaced Minkah Fitzpatrick with the versatile Jalen Ramsey, a major chessboard piece for a unit that also added veteran Darius Slay and Brandin Echols. There are significant new faces on offense, too, including big-play receiver DK Metcalf, crafty veteran wideout Robert Woods and tight end Jonnu Smith – who, like Ramsey, came over from the Miami Dolphins in the Fitzpatrick trade and brings the versatility that will allow him to play a hybrid role in Arthur Smith’s offense.
When the Steelers open the regular season at the New York Jets on Sept. 7, there’s a good chance they will field a lineup with at least 11 new faces among the 22 starters on offense and defense.
Times have definitely changed for a franchise that has long been noted as a draft-and-develop operation, with the new starters generally being players promoted from within.
So, yeah, Tomlin & Co. have a lot of new boxes to unpack.
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“I just think the trends in the game and in the business, they’re ever-changing and it just feels like that’s less of an issue in today’s game,” Tomlin said. “The fluidity in college football the last four or five years, quarterbacks and everybody moving, I’d imagine half the Power 5 football teams can say the same thing. They probably have 11 new starters. I just think that’s a component of something trending in the game and in the business.”
Of course, that’s only part of the deal with the Steelers. For years, they’ve been seeking to replace Ben Roethlisberger at the game’s most important position – while other AFC contenders have been set in recent years with Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen — with Rodgers now trying to fill the void that Russell Wilson and Justin Fields didn’t capitalize on last year.
Add the fact that the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in eight seasons – that’s six consecutive postseason losses dating to a 2016 AFC title game loss – and the ultra-aggressive offseason moves shepherded by Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan reflect a mindset of adapting to a landscape that goes far beyond unpacking boxes.
No, you can’t knock the Steelers for lacking aggressiveness during the offseason. Yet the bottom line is whether the moves will result in the proud franchise becoming a legit championship contender again.
“I think we’re hungry,” Steelers owner Art Rooney II told USA TODAY Sports as he watched practice on Friday, perched outside the dormitories above the fields below. “We’re a hungry group. It’s been a long time since we’ve been back to the Big Game.”
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The Steelers won a Super Bowl in Tomlin’s second season, then won an AFC crown two years later and lost in Super Bowl 45 to, ironically, Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. When they say the standard is the standard, you can’t ignore that it has been so long since the franchise has added to its collection of six Lombardi Trophies.
Last season, the Steelers were 10-3 in mid-December, then collapsed down the stretch in losing their last four regular-season games before bowing out with a first-round playoff loss at Baltimore.
That’s a pattern that underscores the current challenge as much as anything. Sure, they are setting a foundation for another season. Yet the verdict on this new version of the Steelers – and whether the moves will pan out – will be unveiled months from now.
In other words, can they peak down the stretch?
“I honestly feel like we have a legitimate shot,” Cameron Heyward, the all-pro defensive tackle heading into his 15th season, told USA TODAY Sports. “Are we a finished product? No. But I think we have the tools to be a finished product late in the season.”
In addition to typical barometers, such as health, Heyward points to balance and consistency as keys.
“We can’t have those up and down kind of games,” Heyward said. “But I also think all phases have to be in tune with each other. If your defense is playing a lot of plays earlier, toward the end of the season you get worn down, and vice versa. If your offense is taking a lot of plays and not scoring a lot of points, then there’s a trade-off. A lot of times, it was kind of a swing of the pendulum last year. So, you look for that balance. And we have to look to be ever-changing.”
Put another way, as they unpack the boxes the Steelers hope they are settling in for a much longer haul this time around.
“We look good on paper,” Rooney added. “Now we’ve got to become a team. That’s what it’s going to be coming out of here. Keep building that chemistry as we go through the season.”
Rooney has no shortage of feedback from the passionate base regarding the big offseason. But championships, he knows, are not won in March. Or April. Or July.
“I think people see we are working hard,” Rooney said. “At the end of the day, it’s only one thing they care about: Did you win or lose? Where we are now, people see these guys are trying to do something here. I think they appreciate that. But that only lasts until the first game.”
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on social media:
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