I remember the Pirates had some great teams in the early ‘90s.
They sure did. For the combined three seasons prior to the beginning of the losing seasons streak the Pirates had the best regular season W-L record (289-197) in all of MLB (the Athletics were second at 283-203).
Individual regular season two best W-L records for 1990-1992:
1990 Athletics 103-59 ... Pirates 95-67
1991 Pirates 98-64 ....... Minnesota 95-67
1992 Atlanta 98-64 ....... Pirates, Athletics and BlueJays 96-66
Each of those three Pirate teams lost the NLCS and never made it to the World Series, partly because Barry Bonds bat went silent in each series.
... then ownership dismantled the team and in the process tarnishing the proud Pirate brand. Totally inept ownership and management have been norm for the Pirates ever since. It is very painful.