Will There Ever Be Any Appreciation For Neil O'Donnell?

I've recently posted some stories about the Steelers playoff teams of the 90's Steelers Authentic Jerseys under Bill Cowher and how awesome I thought those years were. The Steelers had a great run in that decade, making the playoffs six-straight seasons. The starting quarterback in four of those six seasons ('92-'95) was Neil O'Donnell. The Steelers were 43-21 in those four years with him at the helm, advanced to the AFC Championship Game following the '94 and '95 seasons, and appeared in their first Super Bowl since 1979 when theymade it toSuper Bowl XXX in 1995. The Steelers didn't win the championship as they fell short after O'Donnell threw not one, but two very horrible interceptions to Larry Brown in the second half whenPittsburgh had a chance to take the lead. O'Donnell signed with the Jets following the Super Bowl, played there for a few years, bounced around a bit, and then finally retired in 2003 after a few years with the Tennessee Titans. O'Donnell played 14 seasons in the NFL, threw for 21,690 yards, 120 touchdown passes, and only 68 interceptions. In fact, O'Donnell retired with the best interceptions to attempts ratio in the history of the league (2.11 for every 100 attempts). I'm not a stats-guy and can certainly understand that the true measure of any quarterback is winning championships, but that's a pretty decent career right there. And the prime of it was played right here in Pittsburgh. Despite the lackluster performance of O'Donnell in that Super Bowl, he still had a prettyimpressive run as starting quarterback for the Steelers. You would think his time here would be celebrated just a little bit. However, just mention Neil O'Donnell's name to most Steelers fans and you will probably get an overwhelmingly negative reaction. The main reason, of course, is because he came up short in the Super Bowl and then left as a free agent immediately after that. But O'Donnell wasn't awell-liked figure here in Pittsburgh even before those two interceptions. I was watching a replay of Super Bowl XXX recently Troy Polamalu Jersey (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment) and one of the NBC guys mentioned that O'Donnell wasn't the most popular player among Steeler fans. He was right. However, it wasn't that way, initially. I remember watching a Steelersprogram shortly before the start of the 1992 season. It was a pep-rally show similar to what the Jerome Bettis/Hines Ward show would eventually become. O'Donnell was one of the Steelers introduced and the crowd really seemed to love him. The Steelers had an awesome year in 1992 under new Head Coach Bill Cowher and made the playoffs with an 11-5 record. They came up short against the Bills in the playoffs, losing 24-3, and I believe this is where the fans' attitude towards O'Donnell changed forever. Bubby Brister had filled in for O'Donnell at the end of the year while he was recovering from an injury and many people believed Bubby should have started the playoff game against Buffalo. I don't recall the exact details of the game, but the Steelers had several opportunities to jump Hines Ward Jersey on the Bills early and they could never take advantage of them. Following the game, Brister made a comment that if he was the quarterback in those situations, he would have come through with more than 3-points.