Dunlap: Brian Hoyer Laughing At Steelers Is Rock Bottom
There's rock bottom.
Then there's Brian Hoyer poking fun at your organization.
Try to swallow that down --- Brian Hoyer, a guy who before this season never threw more than 100 passes in a professional year or started more than three games in a season, was making fun of the Steelers.
Yes, Brian Hoyer --- a guy who threw one solitary pass in 2011 as a member of the Patriots --- felt the need (and had every right) to play funny guy after Sunday's game.
According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Hoyer said after Sunday's dismantling of the Steelers that he was "a little bored at the end" of his side's 31-10 victory over the visiting club from Pittsburgh.
How embarrassing.
How humiliating.
How degrading.
This wasn't Brady or Manning, Luck or Brees having a good time ribbing you after the game; this was Brian freaking Hoyer.
How's that hit you Mike Tomlin?
How's that hit you Dick LeBeau?
How's that hit you Todd Haley?
How's that hit you Kevin Colbert?
How's that hit you anyone with the surname Rooney?
Hoyer needed only eight completions (he threw 21 times) to roar to 217 yards passing as the Browns beat the Steelers for just the third time in the last 23 tries and most definitively since that 51-0 hammering in 1989.
As Hoyer spent the last few minutes of game time admittedly being bored, it might have served Tomlin, LeBeau and Haley well to spend that same span contemplating a new way to do things.
If not, then thinking about their job security.
As the last few moments flickered away on Sunday, it might have served Colbert well to think about tinkering with the way he and his staff rate and procure talent.
If not, then thinking about their job security.
And if the powers at the top with the surname Rooney begin to strengthen their backbone a bit, perhaps they would have used that same time as the clock was ticking off to think about how secure the general manager, head coach, coordinators and all staff should be moving forward.
I mean, that's if they don't want a guy like Brian Hoyer cracking jokes about their organization moving forward.
You see, as the Steelers fell to 3-3 on the season, last in the AFC North and 19-19 in their past 38 games, there is no portion of this organization that seems without deep flaws.
The Steelers have missed on several draft picks, given Cortez Allen what looks like a premature enormous sum, are bereft of discipline on the field --- and somewhat off it --- and have looked out of sorts offensively, defensively and on special teams at times this season.
That's on everyone, not just one man.
The players bear a portion on the responsibility, but if the results haven't changed since January of 2012 when this team lost to the Broncos in the playoffs, at some point it's time to contemplate changing the hierarchy.
To me, we've reached that time.
It's time for the Rooneys to start laying down ultimatums and stipulations with 10 games left this season, the next of which coming up next Monday against the Texans.
The Rooneys should specify --- to the people in question --- a hard-lined win total, a watermarked delineation that this team needs to reach in order for men such as Colbert, Tomlin, LeBeau and Haley to keep jobs next season.
It's very simply. Someone named Rooney needs to tell them, "You win [X] games and you keep your jobs; you don't and we're going in a different direction."
That might seem harsh to some. To me, it's perfectly sensible and not only tells the football staff they aren't producing at a level that's acceptable now, but gives them exactly what that acceptable level is.
I'm tired of hearing all about what LeBeau and Colbert have done in the past --- this is now a .500 organization.
I'm tired of hearing all about Todd Haley's wizardry on the offensive side of the ball or his past with Arizona --- this is a .500 organization at his offensive command.
I'm tired of hearing all about Mike Tomlin's two trips to the Super Bowl --- his teams have been .500 since his staff couldn't find a way to stop Tim Tebow in a playoff game.
We have reached, make no mistake, rock bottom of the Mike Tomlin tenure here in Pittsburgh with Sunday's humiliation in Cleveland.
The Rooney family has the chance to plainly tell some men what they need to do to keep their jobs.
Or, they can keep allowing men like Brian Hoyer to publicly make fun of them.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weeknights from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
You May Also Be Interested In These Colin Dunlap Columns
Like The Fan On Facebook
Follow The Fan On Twitter
