The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season is underway, and they are hoping for a better outcome in comparison to last season. After starting out 11-0, they finished the year 1-4 in the regular season, and then lost in the Wildcard Round to the Cleveland Browns, ignited by a 0-28 first quarter.
They have lost a large number of key players in the offseason, like Maurkice Pouncey, Bud Dupree, Alejandro Villanueva, David DeCastro, Mike Hilton, and Steven Nelson, but they’ve also made significant additions as the months have gone on, notably Trai Turner, Melvin Ingram, Joe Schobert, and Ahkello Witherspoon. They also added Najee Harris, Pat Freiermuth, Kendrick Green, and Dan Moore Jr., all of whom are starting.
There isn’t much left to do but to play the games at this point. Even if they play them poorly. They still have a lot to figure out, though, such as what Matt Canada’s offense is going to look like in any given week, or how the new-look secondary and offensive line is going to play.
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. There is rarely a concrete answer, but this is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all their uncertainty.
Question: As a fan, would you rather that the Steelers miss the playoffs entirely this season? How do you want the final four weeks to play out?
I am intentionally leaving this as open-ended a question as possible, seeking visceral, subjective answers. You’re you. You’re a Steelers fan. You’re watching the final four weeks of this specific 2021 season play out. What exactly do you want to happen?
Are you the type of fan who always wants to see the Steelers win every time they’re on the field? Do you want to see them make the playoffs at every opportunity, because, as they say, you have to be in it to win it? Or are you the sort of fan who has long given up on this season and just want to see them do as poorly as possible to get the best draft position they can manage at this point?
I think we all know that the Steelers are organizationally allergic to the concept of tanking. We have seen them try to win plenty of essentially meaningless games in the past. They have fought back from losing their starting quarterback for nearly an entire season and damn near even made a push into the playoffs for the effort.
This year, though, is clearly part of a rebuild. We know Ben Roethlisberger is gone after this season. We know that there are a lot of young players who are still clearly learning what they’re doing. And we know that they are still a few pieces away, at least from being the sort of team on either side of the ball that they want to be. So with all that in mind, what do you, as a fan, want to see happen? Would you be frustrated if they made the postseason?
