Things are not going well — at all — for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, particularly in the passing game.
For four straight weeks, the Steelers have thrown for less than 200 yards. Though they are 2-2 in those games, the passing game has really struggled to get off the ground. That was again the case on Sunday on the road against the Cleveland Browns. Quarterback Kenny Pickett threw for just 106 yards in a 13-10 loss and failed to do anything late in the fourth quarter after the defense got the offense the ball back.
Now, calls for Pickett’s job are starting to get louder and louder, right alongside calls for the Steelers to fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
For former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel, appearing in the “Chasin’ It” podcast with co-host Trey Wingo, the Steelers need to make a move at quarterback, inserting backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky into the lineup for a few games to try and give the Steelers a spark, though he refused to call it a benching for Kenny Pickett.
It’s worth noting Daniel is a former teammate of Trubisky’s in Chicago.
“…At least he’s [Trubisky] gonna give you chance to put a little bit of spark in the offense. …Maybe you need to give Kenny Pickett a couple games off. Don’t say the word bench. Don’t say the word bench. Just give him a couple games off, see what Mitch can do,” Daniel said regarding the quarterback situation in Pittsburgh. “Because the way that this defense is rolling, look, I get it. Like you go into Cleveland and Cleveland at home has been supremely stingy on defense.
“…It’s a field-position game. And then that’s what we’ve seen from Kenny Pickett the whole year. I would love to get a stat sheet and maybe next show when we talk about him, ’cause I’m sure we’ll talk about him next show, if he’s playing, ’cause he’ll probably play pretty bad. But if you do a first-, second-, and third-quarter stat breakdown, his numbers have gotta be so bad. And if you go in the fourth quarter, they’re decent. So I thought this is what this game was gonna be is a fourth quarter Kenny Pickett-type game.”
Throughout the matchup against the Browns, that’s what it was starting to feel like. As soon as the fourth quarter hit, the expectation was Pickett would turn it on because that’s what he’s done throughout his career.
That didn’t happen. Pickett never got going in the passing game, was off the mark on a few throws and wasn’t on the same page with his receivers throughout, leading to an ugly showing offensively.
Something has to change. Could it be at the quarterback position? That seems unlikely, but Daniel raises a good point that Trubisky would at least provide a spark offensively. That said, if the Steelers take Pickett out of the lineup, you can’t exactly go back to him later. Toothpaste is already out of the tube.
The Steelers are stuck in between a rock and a hard place at the quarterback position. There is no clear answer one way or another. Until Pickett figures things out — if he does — that debate will rage on, even after an eventual coordinator change.
