The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2020 season is now in the books, and it ended in spectacular fashion—though the wrong kind of spectacular—in a dismal postseason defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Browns, sending them into an early offseason mode after going 12-4 in the regular season and winning the AFC North for the first time in three years.
After setting a franchise record by opening the year on an 11-game winning streak, they followed that up by losing three games in a row, going 1-4 in the final five games, with only a 17-point comeback staving off a five-game slide. But all the issues they had in the regular season showed up in the postseason that resulted in their early exit.
The only thing facing them now as they head into 2021 is more questions, and right now, they lack answers. What will Ben Roethlisberger do, and what will they do with him? What will the salary cap look like? How many free agents are they going to lose? Who could they possibly afford to retain? Who might they part ways with—not just on the roster, but also on the coaching staff?
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: Are the Steelers making the right move by keeping Ben Roethlisberger for the 2021 season?
By now you’ve almost surely been made aware of the news from Ben Roethlisberger’s agent that more or less confirms that the Steelers indeed intend to keep the quarterback through the 2021 season by restructuring his contract in order to reduce his cap hit.
While this has not actually happened yet, it is the assumption that we have to work under at this point, and that leads to the question of whether or not it’s the right decision. Of course, I think all of the regulars here know what the comments section is going to look like, but the idea here is generally to find the biggest topics of conversation in the fan base or the biggest questions and take the pulse.
So that’s what we’re doing. Is it a mistake to give it one more go with Roethlisberger? What are the parameters for deciding whether or not it’s a mistake? Do they have to win the Super Bowl in order for it to have not been a mistake?
The last I’ve checked, there isn’t even agreement with the idea that keeping Roethlisberger for the 2021 season gives them the best opportunity to win this year, as some have come to believe that Mason Rudolph playing would be at least a push.
Lots of opinions, lots of grey area, but at the end of the day, the Steelers are going to do what they do, and we all have to live with it. We don’t, however, have to agree, so if you don’t, or if you do, let’s hear it now.
