PITTSBURGH — As recruiting pitches go, I probably wouldn't recommend the following as your deal clincher: "If you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don't, no skin off my back."

That was Cam Heyward — the most prominent voice in the Steelers' locker room — on whether he'd help recruit Aaron Rodgers here.

Heyward was speaking on his "Not Just Football" podcast earlier this week when the unavoidable Rodgers topic arose. The recruiting question was especially pertinent because Heyward was so prominent in selling Russell Wilson on Pittsburgh last March. The two even FaceTimed for an hour leading up to Wilson's decision. Defensive mates T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick joined Heyward's PR pursuit of Wilson.

That is decidedly not the case with Rodgers, as the quote above demonstrates. It almost sounds as if Heyward is offended by the notion of Rodgers taking his sweet time in deciding among the New York Giants and the Steelers.

It actually seemed like Rodgers is waiting on the Vikings, and if they don't want him — as a report Wednesday morning indicated — he'd choose from the leftovers or retire. I don't necessarily blame Rodgers here. It's a big decision. But the Steelers look terrible. They look like desperate losers. They look like leftovers. Maybe Heyward is embarrassed. Maybe this was him defending the Steelers' honor, or what's left of it.

And come to think of it, maybe they should have made Heyward their lead negotiator with Rodgers, who can't be feeling all that coveted by his possible future teammates at the moment.

Truth is, the Steelers are desperate, having lost out on Plan A, which was Justin Fields — a former Ohio State star, just like Heyward. I can't help but wonder how losing Fields and waiting on a soon-to-be 42-year-old drama king sits with the Steelers vets (and yes, I know, based on their recent history, it probably shouldn't matter).

I'm sure they'll all claim to be on board if Rodgers signs, but they aren't exactly rolling out the red carpet, as they did for Wilson.

It's more like an old porch rug with pet stains.

"Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don't," Heyward said. "That's simple, that's the pitch. If you want me to recruit, that's the recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers."

And that, unfortunately, brings us to another side of this. The name "Pittsburgh Steelers" just doesn't have the juice it once did. The mystique is missing.

The "Pittsburgh Steelers" haven't come close to winning a playoff game in eight years. Television analyst Kirk Herbstreit accused them of quitting in their hideous playoff loss to the Ravens. There are kids entering high school who have no conscious memory of the Steelers being competitive in a playoff game.

The Steelers have missed the playoffs nearly 40% of the time over the past eight years and the average margin of defeat in their six-game playoff losing streak is 15.7 points. They'll go into next season regarded as a bottom-third team expected to win about eight games (and then when they slightly barely that low bar, nobody will ask why the expectations are always so low in the first place; they'll rave about how the coach got them all the way to the edge of the playoff picture or even to a first-round blowout loss).

I'm not sure the Steelers are the destination spot some think they are. Maybe for Rodgers it's different. Maybe he can't wait to come here and play for Mike Tomlin. But he sure has a funny way of showing it.

Could it be that he's as leery of them as Heyward apparently is of him?

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