A majority of athletes playing at the highest level of high school, college and professional football thrive on, and in many cases, rely on structure, routine, accountability, chain of command and other infrastructural dynamics, to the point where they could be justifiably described as being 'institutionally programmed', almost like a colony of ants. Every day of their lives exists around a schedule, and anything that throws it off results in some level of dysfunction. No matter how small, when a pebble hits the pond, there's a ripple effect. When external and peripheral things start to have a negative effect and disrupt the continuity of these dynamics, the effect can be, and sometimes is, exponential. You mess with the hill, the ants go nuts, and their efficiency goes right out the window to some degree, until some kind of order is restored. Thursday Night football is a case study in this. So are bye weeks - a buddy of mine was on the Redskins' staff for about 10 years through the late 00's to the mid teens, and the schedule the coaches and players were on during the bye resembled a game week schedule as much as possible, just to keep the routine in place, so chaos wouldn't ensue.
While the Tomlin/Roethlisberger dynamic may have it's own issues, and is far from flawless...from the standpoint of structural dynamics, with AB and LBell out of town, there is absolutely NO QUESTION to the rest of the ant colony that is the Steelers: who's in charge, who's who in the pecking order, and where the poop generates from, and how it flows downhill from there, and what's going to happen if you're a foot soldier and don't toe the line. Whether it's liked or not, is far less important than that order has been restored...and it's clearly defined so that even a dummy can see it. That locker room is going to be the best football environment it's been, in years, and with that piece nailed down, this is going to be an incredibly football focused group going forward, IMHO.
I think I've used this example somewhere before: if you notice the behavior of a group of herd animals, say zebras, they behave in a markedly dysfunctional manner when in the high grass and there's confusion regarding the lions: are they around, how many lions, and where they are located, what are they doing...although the optics might look bad for the zebras if we see a pride of lions in their general vicinity, in reality, as long as the zebras are out on the plain, and can clearly see them and know the distance, #'s, etc., the zebras remain focused and calm, exhibit normal social behaviors, and function very efficiently as a herd. Football players who have been institutionally programmed behave very much the same way.
Massive 'intangibles' upgrade for the Steelers going into 2019.