Bruce Arians ended the year in a very different way then the Pittsburgh Steelers this year as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach recalled on Tuesday that he was fired from the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator position in 2011 because of his loyalty to the veteran quarterback.
Arians told The Los Angeles Times that his “loyalty” to players he’s coached has been considered a “fault” in the past.
“I’ve been accused that that is a fault,” he said. “Got fired in Pittsburgh because I was too loyal to Ben [Roethlisberger]. If that’s a problem, you’ve got the problem. I don’t have a problem. I get very close to my quarterbacks. My dad taught me one thing: You have your name and your loyalty, and those are the most important things you have.”
Arians said in another interview with the Times that the former New England Patriots quarterback was the “missing ingredient” in the Bucs success.
“I told Tom, ‘If you come here, we’ll win the Super Bowl. You’re the missing ingredient. We’re a very talented team, but they just don’t know it.”
Arians came to Pittsburgh in 2003 as the wide receivers’ coach, and would then become the team’s offensive coordinator under Mike Tomlin in 2007.
Now, eleven years after he was fired, Arians has his first Super Bowl championship with Tom Brady.
