The 2023 NFL offseason has only been in full affect for one week. Although many teams have been taking care of their offseason issues for some time, the final game is now behind us and the 2024 offseason is here for all 32 teams. The Steelers have already done major moves, especially with her coaching staff, in just over a month since their final game was played. And there will be plenty more to come.

Even though Monday will be only five weeks since the Steelers last game, I’m already exhausted by the offseason takes.

I had to choose my words of wisely there. I’m not tired of Steelers talk. I love talking Steelers! With multiple podcasts each week, it’s what I do and I look forward to it. But instead I went with the word “takes.”

This word could be taken in many ways. First, it can be the various narratives brought on mainly by national sports media that constantly bring up the Pittsburgh Steelers. Why do they do this? Because there is a reaction. It moves the needle. I don’t know if other fan bases do it as much as the Steelers, but I know it definitely happens with the Black-and-Gold faithful. For this reason, it’s wise to get more people talking about their shows and various things when they are saying things about the Steelers.

But it’s not just the national sports media who can make money off of takes about the Steelers. The odds makers (formerly simply referred to as Vegas) do the same thing. Why are there multiple big free agents or players available via trade at the quarterback position who their top odds to land in Pittsburgh? It’s because they can get people to place the money. There’s no way multiple quarterbacks of their level are going to be signed/acquired, but it further pushes the talking points and the action.

While these takes can get exhausting, it’s also the fan takes that can make me pull out what little hair I have remaining. It’s not that fans shouldn’t have takes, but it’s the surely absurd level that some take them to. I’ll give an example… in looking at the reaction of SCN’s Jeremy Betz putting out a list of quarterbacks and how he felt the Steelers would be this year if each was their starter, there were some very interesting replies. What I don’t understand is how when fans take things to absurd level it’s actually viewed as taking a stance and not the utter foolishness it is portraying.

One of the responses, not to quote it exactly, was saying that if the Steelers went into the season with certain of these options that they “were not interested in winning.”

Really? The Pittsburgh Steelers, whose sole purpose is to win football games as it drives their revenue and ups their brand, isn’t actually interested in winning? I’d be very interested to see any evidence of this ever being the case since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. But because they might go with a quarterback that you don’t like, they are no longer a franchise who wants to win? This is the epitome of foolishness.

This is just one example of many different things that can just drive me crazy and has me completely exhausted and ready for actual Steelers football. I know I’m six months away from preseason games, and because of my responsibilities here I can’t check out from these things entirely, but it’s just exhausting.

”This player ain’t it.”

”So-and-so has to go.”

”The Steelers blew their chance to actually get better.”

These are the things I’m bombarded with if I don’t stay very narrowly focused on strictly acquiring only Steelers news. In Steelers’ Nations’ social media climate, these things are everywhere. And, if you actually decide to get involved in the conversation, then the name-calling begins. And whatever you do, don’t bring facts or numbers into the “discussion.” This is why I avoid the arguments altogether.

Maybe you are not as exhausted with the Steelers hot takes at this time. Maybe you have been able to avoid it much more than I have. If so, you should count your blessings. One thing I feel very blessed about is that, for the most part, those here participating in the discussions at Steel Curtain Network do not take these sorts of things to the extreme cases. While not every idea that’s thrown out is a good idea, at least you’re not saying the Steelers are trying to go 0–17 if they don’t do exactly what you think.

I will do my very best to continue to bring either the facts, or opinions based on sound data, into my Steelers talk. And if I ever start sounding like those I was complaining about because I’ve just been worn down by it too much, please call me out on it. The last thing I want to do is to exhaust you.