Steelers fans briefly preferred Duce Staley over 'The Bus'

By Tony Defeo

There’s no question the relationship between Steelers fans and Jerome Bettis, the legendary running back who will be inducted into Pro Football’s Hall of Fame next month, was one that was made in Heaven.

With his rotund physique and propensity for running over opponents that earned him the perfect nickname: “The Bus,” Bettis personified what Steelers fans loved in their football players—he was tough, unyielding and liked to get down and dirty. And this was especially the case during his prime years in Pittsburgh after being acquired from the Rams in 1996 thanks to a trade during the NFL Draft.

Bettis rushed for 7,785 yards from 1996-2001, averaging nearly 1,300 yards a season. He eclipsed the thousand yard mark six-consecutive years, and was clearly the engine that drove the Steelers offense in the pre-Roethlisberger days.

But most relationships—even the ones that are conceived by the football gods—often suffer through some rough patches. And, unfortunately, they don’t always stand the test of time.

It appeared that such would be the case for Steelers fans and Bettis. In 2002, Bettis only rushed for 666 yards, but Amos Zereoue, a third round pick in 1999, picked up the slack, starting five games and actually leading the team in rushing, with 762 yards. Zereoue, 26, was four years younger than Bettis and, perhaps, looked to be his heir apparent. In fact, there was a growing sentiment among Steelers fans and the media in Pittsburgh that the legendary Bus had seen his best days.

That sentiment was reinforced in 2003, when Bill Cowher, the Steelers head coach at the time and a long-time supporter of Bettis, named Zereoue his starting running back before the start of the regular season.

While making his announcement, Cowher cited a “gut decision” as his reason for naming Zereoue his starter but said both backs would play extensively. Regardless, the decision was seen as a landmark moment by Steelers fans and experts alike and not one that was taken lightly.

Unfortunately for Cowher, his gut decision didn’t work out very well, as Zereoue only started six games and rushed for 433 yards. Bettis would start 10 games and lead the team in rushing, with 811 yards. Vindication? Perhaps, but the Steelers finished 6-10 in ’03 and 31st in rushing yards. Certainly, few starting jobs were guaranteed—and that was especially the case for an aging running back.

The morale was pretty low after the disastrous ’03 campaign, and that feeling didn’t change early on in the offseason when the biggest free-agent signing was that of Dan Kreider, the team’s starting fullback.

But…

The excitement quickly picked up on March 9, 2004, when Pittsburgh signed veteran Eagles running back Duce Staley to a five year, $14 million contract. Even though it was reported that Bettis was promised a chance to compete with Staley, then 29-years-old, for the starting spot, the Steelers, who rarely made a free agent splash, weren’t going to pay that kind of money for a reserve running back.

It was clear that Staley was going to be the new man in Pittsburgh’s backfield, and, not surprisingly, he got the starting nod out of training camp.

The Steelers Week 1 game against Oakland at Heinz Field on September 12—a 24-21 victory—was perhaps one of the most surreal days in franchise history. Staley was the workhorse on offense, carrying the football 24 times for 91 yards. However, even though Staley beat out Bettis for the top running back spot, Cowher, again, a long-time supporter of Bettis, gave the veteran back the role as a short-yardage and goal line specialist. And, on three separate occasions, after Staley had helped the offense set up shop inside the Raiders’ five-yard line, Bettis replaced him on goal line plays.

Bettis’ box score for the day: Five carries for one yard and three touchdowns.

But the box score wasn’t the most surreal part of that day. Each time Staley was lifted in-favor of Bettis, the crowd at Heinz Field showered Bettis with boos. They felt that he was taking hard-earned touchdowns away from Staley, the new kid in town and—even more so than the drafting of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft—the reason for so much preseason optimism.

Staley did appear to justify the optimism and his rich contract, as he rushed for 830 yards. However, Staley had some injury problems in ’04, and it was Bettis, who started six games and led the team in rushing with 941 yards. He also added 13 touchdowns on the ground—the most in his career.

Bettis was the starter down the stretch and in the playoffs, even contributing another 100-yard effort in the dramatic overtime victory over the Jets in the divisional round. And by the end of the season, the love-affair was back on between Steelers fans and Bettis.

That was fortunate, too, because Bettis came back to Pittsburgh for one more year in 2005. Bettis was a reserve once again, but this time to Willie Parker, as Staley couldn’t shake the injury-bug from ’04 and spent most of 2005 standing on the sidelines in gray sweats. Even though Bettis only gained 368 yards, he was still a team leader and an emotional catalyst for his teammates, as they rallied to get him back to Detroit, his hometown, for Super Bowl XL. The team did get Bettis back to Detroit, and Pittsburgh triumphed over the Seahawks, 21-10, on February 5, 2006.

But a month earlier, on January 1, at Heinz Field, Steelers fans, well, they got to write one last love letter to Bettis during his final regular season game (a 35-21 victory over the Lions). As Bettis walked off the field that day, the fans, with their Terrible Towels twirling in the cold Pittsburgh air, chanted: “One more year! One more year! One more year!”

Thankfully for Steelers fans and Jerome Bettis, theirs was a love that did, indeed, stand the test of time.

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