Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger Blasts Cowboys And Jerry Jones For Seriously Hurting Mike McCarthy's Reputation

The Pittsburgh Steelers have officially hired Mike McCarthy to be the next head coach, even though many fans have been very vocal about their disdain for this decision. The hope is that he can come in and develop a quarterback for the long-term future for the first time in 20+ years, but the fear among Steeler Nation is that his recent track record of losing in big games will result in the same frustrations and mediocrity that have plagued the team over the previous nine seasons -- and that this is not a real change. 

Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was confused about why everyone was so upset with the team for hiring McCarthy, but as his show went on this week, he came up with a theory and directed blame elsewhere. He explained that while hosting Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger.

"I think [the Cowboys] are hindered by ownership," Roethlisberger said. "No offense to Jerry Jones, but some of the stuff there, I think you're hindered there. That's not a lack of [McCarthy]."

Jerry Jones is easily the most powerful owner in the NFL, as he is the only one that openly acts as his own general manager. Nearly every single decision made on that team goes through him first, which is not the case for most other teams, if not all of them. That is expected to be the case for his Dallas Cowboys for as long as he is around, as he has shown no willingness to give up any control. 

While Roethlisberger said, "no disrespect," that is still a clear and obvious shot towards Jones. He believes that McCarthy was held back by him and couldn't actually run the team the right way. There is definitely some merit to that whole line of thinking, as Dallas has the longest drought of making the NFC Championship Game out of any other team in that conference. It's not completely off base.

However, McCarthy's teams have always been very up-and-down on both sides of the ball. The offense could be the best or worst unit in the NFL. The defense is the same, even though he rarely does anything on that front, but it emphasizes a glaring issue with the Steelers: they have been consistently inconsistent on a game-by-game basis, but for their new head coach, it's season-by-season. 

In reality, both men were probably at fault. Jones' insanely high influence on the team did not help matters much while McCarthy seemed to struggle with certain in-game decisions amid his hot and cold streaks. Pinning all the failure on just one guy likely is not the right move, especially with how the coach was fired from the team he won a Super Bowl on just two seasons prior to taking the job. 

During McCarthy's time in Dallas, he did win a playoff game, even if many people would put an asterisk on it. It was a Wild Card game against the 8-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had Tom Brady that was finally losing his battle to Father Time. He was 1-3 in the playoffs overall with the Cowboys and has not beaten a team over .500 in the postseason in a decade, which includes a couple losing seasons with the Green Bay Packers.

Steelers May Have Their Own Concerns With Ownership Interference

While in Dallas, McCarthy said that he embraced analytics more, which required a larger staff to help him out on that front. Meanwhile, the Steelers' ownership has repeatedly been called out for being cheap, so it's to be determined if the 62-year-old will be allowed to have as big of a coaching / analytics staff as he wants. If not, Jones won't be the only owner getting in his way.

What do you think about Roethlisberger blaming Jones and the Cowboys for McCarthy's bad reputation among fans? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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