Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls as the Steelers' quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger, the current Pittsburgh quarterback who's on his way to Canton, has half of that total with only a few seasons left in his career.
Bradshaw wonders, however, how much Big Ben will be affected by the team's big early offseason move: promoting Randy Fichtner to replace Todd Haley as offensive coordinator.
"Haley was a great play-caller," Bradshaw explained to Sporting News last week. "They had great success together. For the life of me, I have not figured out why they fired Todd Haley. Didn't they put up 42 points against the Jaguars?
"It would seem to me more like the head coach has to recognize the people he's hiring to run that defense aren't doing the job. Firing Haley made no sense. What did he do wrong? That's why he was hired right away by Cleveland. It will take a while for (Ben) and the new coordinator to get their rhythm together. Each coordinator sees things differently, so it will be a different way of calling plays in the same offense. We'll see how fast they adjust to it."
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To help Roethlisberger and Fichtner find a groove at some point soon, it's imperative for the team to retain running back Le'Veon Bell, a pending free agent.
The Steelers have the option to franchise tag Bell again, but at the cost of $14.5 million for 2018, Bradshaw wonders how much is too much.
"You signed Antonio Brown. You signed Roethlisberger," Bradshaw said. "The problem you're having is that you're drafting these players that become superstars and there's not enough money to keep them all happy. It's hard to find a way.
"The Steelers' scouting department has always done a great job of replacing people. Bell is important to them, certainly, so if you sign him — and he deserves the money, I don't question that — but what's next? What are you going to lose because you sign him? Who are you not going to be able to retain? It's a tough line. It's a hard one for the team to figure out, because if you put all your money into three guys, you're constantly rebuilding elsewhere and it's hard to have any continuity."
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Bradshaw, 69, now on a break from his commentary at FOX, is back for Super Bowl commercial fun coming off a role in the movie comedy "Father Figures" and having more made-for-TV travel adventures on NBC's "Better Late Than Never."
Once again, Bradshaw has partnered with one of his favorite products, Tide — America's No. 1 laundry detergent — for a spot that will air during Super Bowl 52.
This time Bradshaw won't just need to deal with a stain trying to steal the show, but also David Harbour, star of Netflx's "Stranger Things."
"I had fun with it last year, which was my very first Super Bowl commercial," said Bradshaw, who spoke to SN on behalf of Tide. "That it fooled a lot of people — to think that I really went to work with a stain on my shirt — that was classic.
"Then you have a commercial that does well and then they hire this really great actor to replace you in the spot. I try to help David with the pressure of being in it and there are some words of encouragement I give him, but I take some shots at him because I'm jealous. I enjoyed the heck of it. To be brought back, it was really cool. When I walk in there with a real actor, I can get a little intimidated. But hats off to David, he was super nice and fun."
Harbour, 27 years Bradshaw's junior, made sense as a stand-in, standing at about 6-3, 215 pounds — or how Bradshaw was listed during his playing days. But Bradshaw thinks someone else is better equipped to play him in a movie about his life.
"He doesn't have the athletic ability I have. He doesn't have the chiseled features of a Greek god. So I would have to have Brad Pitt play me," Bradshaw said. "I don't want to hurt David's feelings, but he's a soft 215 and I'm rock solid. So only Brad Pitt can play me."
While Bradshaw waits for that happen with Pitt, here's a sneak peek of him giving Harbour the funny business in the Tide spot.
