He was an Irishman in college and played his first three years in the National Football League at St. Louis, but Jerome “The Bus” Bettis is most definitely a Steeler.
He embodies the hard-nosed, blue-collar attack that has been the franchise’s identity since before even Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain of the 1970’s.
In short Pittsburgh has always been a working-class town and has always admired sports stars cut from that same cloth. They have consistently found that rugged abandon in Bettis during his 10 years in black and gold.
But for all his ability and accomplishments, Bettis has not yet delivered the bomb, so to speak. He has rushed for more yards than all but four people in NFL history, but he has an empty ring finger. No championship. Pittsburgh has not managed to win a championship in 26 years and given the stellar stats of Bettis and company over the last decade, that is an ever-more-glaring failure.
After losing in the playoffs last year to New England, Bettis contemplated retirement. Why hang around? The team was young, and probably not in line for immediate success, and he was not as young as he used to be with chronic leg problems and with his role in the backfield diminishing every season. He had millions in the bank and a full life ahead of him. Maybe it was time to call it a career and forget these delusions of grandeur.
Enter Ben Roethlisberger-the Steelers’ second year quarterback who looked across the locker room at his dejected elder and could not stand the thought of him retiring. Big Ben went over and made him a promise.
“I said, ‘Jerome, if you give me one more year, I promise’-I can’t believe I said it, because I don’t like making promises I can’t keep, and I didn’t know if I could keep it-‘that I’ll get you to a Super Bowl in your hometown,'” Roethlisberger said.
Bettis decided to tempt fate, and 12 months later he is reaping the benefits. Now the Steelers stand on the threshold of greatness, and all past transgressions can be forgotten with one simple victory over the top-seeded team in the NFC, the Seattle Seahawks.
Bettis must come through.
He is now standing on the grandest stage on which an athlete can hope to perform. He is playing for gold in Super Bowl XL. He is playing for a maligned franchise, a huge underdog who had to win three road games to get to this point. He is playing in front of a television crowd of millions and a live crowd of thousand of people who consider him one of their own. He is playing for pride, selflessness and immortality all at the same time.
This is an appointment viewing if there ever was such a thing; do not miss The Bus.