The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Would it matter if Mitch Trubisky starts and plays well?
When you’re averaging 12 points per game as an offense through a quarter of the season, it goes without saying that there is more than one problem present. For as much fire as offensive coordinator Matt Canada is justifiably getting, if the only problem were the play-calling and design, a more talented team would not look this incompetent.
Yes, wonderboy QB Kenny Pickett is also a part of the problem. He’s making the pass protection look a lot worse than it is, for one thing, frequently vacating a relatively clean pocket into pressure—a perfect example being the play on which he was injured. And that’s when he is actually making good decisions and accurate throws.
While neither Canada nor Pickett, nor the two combined, can fully account for all of the poor play we have witnessed over the bulk of the first four weeks, it will be interesting to get a look at how things look while isolating one of those variables.
Say what you will about Mitch Trubisky—and there’s plenty to say—but he was able to move the offense down the field in his final two appearances last season. Yes, that does include the Baltimore Ravens game in which he killed their chances with three interceptions. But when he wasn’t completing passes to the enemy, the offense was humming along. And he preserved the win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier in the year as well.
So let’s say Pickett doesn’t play this week against the Ravens. Trubisky does. He gets the offense moving better than it has through the first four weeks of the season. They beat Baltimore and end up in first place in the division going into their bye, with solid quarterback play for the first time this year.
What does that mean? What does it say about where they are? Where they were? Where they need to go? Does it even matter?
