Side note - I was actually in Pittsburgh when the suspension was announced. Sports radio out there certainly had a lot of Steeler fans who were tired of hearing/dealing with Ben and his off the field issues.
Furthermore, front page of the paper the following day had a downtown (by PNC) office building with "C-U-T B-E-N" in the windows.
Obviously those aren't fully representative of all steeler fans nor is it safe from bias, but it is somewhat telling. Sometimes, regardless of how good the talent is, it just gets old to have someone constantly in trouble. And then it starts to hurt the team (ie - suspension), it's not impossible to think their fan base would want to go in another direction even if it means not winning a super bowl for a couple of years while the transition away from the troubled star takes place.
Furthermore, front page of the paper the following day had a downtown (by PNC) office building with "C-U-T B-E-N" in the windows.
Obviously those aren't fully representative of all steeler fans nor is it safe from bias, but it is somewhat telling. Sometimes, regardless of how good the talent is, it just gets old to have someone constantly in trouble. And then it starts to hurt the team (ie - suspension), it's not impossible to think their fan base would want to go in another direction even if it means not winning a super bowl for a couple of years while the transition away from the troubled star takes place.