Despite leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl victories in the 70’s, Terry Bradshaw has always had a strained relationship with the city he played for. Perhaps it was because Chuck Noll did not give him enough hugs when he was the quarterback of his team, as Bradshaw alluded to in the NFL Network’s “A Football Life” documentary, or perhaps it was because he did not feel the love of the city in his early years.

Whatever the reason, Bradshaw has consistently remained distant from the franchise, turning down chances to return to Pittsburgh for events celebrating the Steelers of the Steel Curtain era and even the funeral for Noll back in 2014.

After speaking his mind on “cheerleader” head coach Mike Tomlin recently, Bradshaw tried to downplay those comments on Wednesday at a Fox Sports event to promote the upcoming Super Bowl. Although, in classic Bradshaw style, he managed to dig an even deeper hole for himself when speaking to the media and reported by Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“Listen, I’m in the business of saying things, giving opinions. I’m not going to stop because Mike Tomlin ‑‑ and I played in Pittsburgh. I’m not going to back off. I did it to Ben Roethlisberger when he got the motorcycle crash. My job is not to hide from what I say, you know. Be a little bit better. … Shouldn’t have said the cheerleader part, but life moves on.”

When asked if he thought Tomlin was a great coach, Bradshaw was still not ready to put that tag on him, at least not in any way that was meaningful.

“There’s only one great coach in the NFL, and that’s that coach up in New England. That’s a great coach. If ‘great’ is the word that you’re looking for and I present them the trophy, I promise it will be tongue‑in‑cheek, and you’ll pick up on it: ‘Mike Tomlin, congratulations. You’re a great coach. You just won your second Super Bowl. What do you think? Are we buddies now?’ I don’t think so but, you know ‑‑ maybe I would.”

In what might be the most disappointing part of Bradshaw’s comments, he saved the most hurtful for last. While generations of fans grew up loving “The Blonde Bomber” and the Steelers, the affection is not reciprocated for his old team. Bradshaw makes no effort to hide the fact he is a New Orleans Saints fan, his hometown team.

“I made it clear the Saints are my team, there’s my love interest, and everybody else is fair game if they screw up. … I pull more for people [than teams]. If Pittsburgh loses, I still sleep good.”

Sadly while Steeler Nation bleeds the real black and gold, their hero from the 70’s bleeds a different shade altogether.