Jan 11, 2017 3 min read

There’s been this quaint notion for many years – largely debunked but still held by some – that there is such a thing as the “Steelers’ Way.” It’s the idea that the Steelers have the highest expectations that those wearing the black and gold will be paragons of morality, decency and good citizenship, or else.

Forget about the “Steelers’ Way.” It seems as if some players, and at least one coach, have gone out of their way in recent years to put themselves in positions in which bad things happened.

The latest incident involved outside linebackers coach and former star player Joey Porter, who in the hours after the Steelers’ first-round playoff victory on Sunday found himself accused of struggling with a Pittsburgh police officer during an altercation outside a South Side bar. At this point, Porter is charged with assault, resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly conduct.

It’s not the first time he’s been in trouble, and his case is just the latest in which Steelers players – and now a coach – have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

To wit:

• Undersized backup running back and kick returner Chris Rainey was cut from the team hours after his 2013 arrest for allegedly smacking his girlfriend in the face during a dispute over a cellphone. The Steelers had drafted him despite knowing that while in college at Florida, he had been charged with aggravated stalking, charges that later were reduced in a plea deal. According to authorities, his actions had included texting a woman the following: “Time to die, b—-.”

• A year earlier, defensive lineman Alameda Ta’amu went on a drunken rampage on the South Side during which he drove into a bunch of parked cars during a chase, then struggled with police who were trying to subdue him. He had a drunken driving conviction in college.

• Then, in 2013, we heard the news that Steelers offensive lineman Mike Adams, who was drafted despite flunking a drug test at the NFL Scouting Combine, had been stabbed in a South Side altercation. His alleged assailants claimed it was a drunken Adams who started the fight. They were acquitted.

• We all remember back in 2010, when future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was accused of raping a woman in the bathroom of a Georgia bar. Many Steelers fans took a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil approach to that one.

• Going back a couple more years, to 2008, middling wide receiver Cedrick Wilson was charged with punching his estranged girlfriend in the face. He was kicked off the team almost immediately.

• Not kicked off the team, or even punished, was star linebacker James Harrison, who just days before the Wilson incident had busted down a door, broken a cellphone in half and smacked the mother of his child in the face.

You might wonder why two players who both hit women in the face were treated so differently.

The answer is easy. The team needed James Harrison. Wilson? Not so much.

The Steelers have put Porter on ice for the time being. He might even lose his job. After all, he’s just an outside linebackers coach. But you can bet the house that if Porter were still a Pro Bowl linebacker, he’d be suiting up to play this Sunday in Kansas City.

The Steelers really have no higher standards than any other NFL franchise.

The supposed commitment to personal integrity and refusal to accept grievous misdeeds exist only so long as they don’t affect the team’s chances of winning.