Steelers obtained what they needed, even when many followers are dismayed

The Steelers wanted him. Their fans weren’t quite as committed.

While plenty of Steelers fans surely support whatever the team chooses to do, a sense of dismay emerged from more than a few Terrible Towel wavers. Whether they regard Rodgers as a barnstorming opportunist who is hoping to exit the NFL with a better final chapter or whether they resent his failure to pounce on the team’s interest in signing him (Cam Heyward’s words resonated in Steelers Nation) or whether they simply don’t like him, the anti-Aaron sentiment has been palpable.

Beyond the anecdotal evidence of fans complaining about Rodgers, we posted a couple of polls that posed a simple question. The first one, in late March, generated a 55.9-percent “no” vote. The second, a day after he appeared with Pat McAfee and aired grievances and spewed conspiracy theories, saw the negative response spike to 70 percent.

If the Steelers play well, the naysayers will change their tune. But if the Steelers struggle and/or if Rodgers doesn’t play dramatically better than the team’s quarterbacks in recent years (the bar is fairly low), the fans will not keep quiet.

For the team, the stakes are high. They’ve changed their ways in an effort to alter the outcome of the past eight seasons, which have featured zero playoff wins. That’s the longest the Steelers have gone between playoff wins since the first time they won a postseason contest on December 23, 1972 — better known as the Immaculate Reception game.