The Pittsburgh Steelers are now into the offseason, following a year in which they had high hopes for Super Bowl success, but ultimately fell short of even reaching the postseason at 8-8. It was a tumultuous season, both on the field and within the roster, and the months to follow figure to have some drama as well, especially in light of the team’s failure to improve upon the year before.
The team made some bold moves over the course of the past year, and some areas of the roster look quite a bit different than they did a year ago, or even at the start of the regular season. Whether due to injuries or otherwise, a lot has transpired, and we’re left to wonder how much more will change prior to September.
How will Ben Roethlisberger’s rehab progress as he winds toward recovery from an elbow injury that cost him almost the entire season? What about some of the key young players, some of whom have already impressed, others still needing quite a bit of growth? Will there be changes to the coaching staff? The front office? Who will they not retain in free agency, and whom might they bring in?
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, as I’ve learned in my years of doing this.
Question: What is the biggest thing that you would like to see the Steelers take away from yesterday’s conference finals games about how to improve their team for 2020?
There is, of course, no one thing that will greater improve the team’s success for next season than to have a healthy Ben Roethlisberger. This is not in their control; either he is health, or he is not. We will have a better understanding of this in a week and a half or so.
Beyond that, however, we saw some of the best teams of the 2019 season play yesterday, and both the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers dominated in their games, each earning the right to participate in Super Bowl LIV.
The Chiefs ran the ball perhaps a bit more than might be expected. The 49ers threw the ball eight times. They used different approaches to win their games. Their defenses are structured differently, and find success differently in those respects, as well.
Observing the conference finals yesterday, however, what were some things that stood out to you as something you believe the Steelers should (and realistically could) implement into their own personnel or gameplan that would help them get to the stage these teams found themselves?
