They say one is the loneliest number. For the 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers’ passing game, one is usually all they were left with. When it came to finding the end zone through the air, it was like pulling teeth for this offense. A league-low 12 passing touchdowns and they failed to have a multi-passing touchdown outing the entire season. Truly remarkable ineptitude. In eight games the Steelers won, they threw one or fewer touchdown passes.
It makes their second half turnaround all the more fascinating. Their ability to win without putting up points through the air wasn’t just remarkable but almost record-setting.
Using Pro Football Reference’s advanced stat website Stathead, I searched the most number of wins in a season by a team who threw no more than one touchdown pass in a game over the last decade-plus. And Pittsburgh’s right at the top.
Below is the most number of wins with < 1 touchdown pass in a single season from 2010 to 2022.
| Team (Year) | Wins With < 1 TD Pass |
|---|---|
| Denver Broncos (2015) | 9 |
| Minnesota Vikings (2015) | 9 |
| Baltimore Ravens (2018) | 8 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers (2022) | 8 |
| San Francisco 49ers (2011) | 8 |
To recap that chart, the Steelers’ eight such games are tied for third-most since 2010. Only the 2015 Denver Broncos and 2015 Minnesota Vikings did it more often, each with nine wins notching no more than one touchdown pass. And as the table shows, the Steelers are the first to win 8+ games that way since the 2018 Baltimore Ravens, Lamar Jackson’s rookie year where he replaced Joe Flacco midseason. Some parallels between them and Pittsburgh, a rookie like Kenny Pickett coming in mid-way through.
For the season, Mitch Trubisky threw just four touchdowns on just 180 total attempts. Pickett tossed only seven on 389 attempts. The final touchdown pass came via Chase Claypool on a 4th down trick play in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The stat is more of a curiosity than anything else. It really just speaks to how improbable the Steelers’ second half wins were, doing so without many touchdown passes or frankly many points in general. The offense did get better post-bye, averaging about 21 points per game, but that still isn’t anything to write home about.
While Pittsburgh’s passing attack won’t be prolific in 2023, their production must improve. For as much as Pickett’s expected to throw it, he should end up around 19-20 touchdown passes. Throw in an oddball from someone else, Trubisky or another trick play, and let’s call Blackjack and say the Steelers end up at 21. That only averages out a little more than one per game but should mean the team has their first multi-touchdown passing day by one QB in a regular season game since Week 14 of the 2021 season, a span of 21 games without (they did throw a pair in the 2021 Wild Card loss to Kansas City and threw two in a win over Tampa, one by Trubisky and one by Pickett).
Of course, Pittsburgh’s mantra will be a heavy dose of the run game. It’s July and quirky stats are kinda our jam. I’ll be the first to celebrate the team’s first multi-touchdown passing game in 2023, one that hopefully occurs sooner than later, but wins are all that matters. The Steelers got them in a pretty unique way last year.
