Through 12 games, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense hasn’t shown many positive signs. The same issues that plagued them in Week One against the San Francisco 49ers reared their ugly head against the New England Patriots in Week 13. The Steelers are now coming off another brutal loss, this one to New England on Thursday Night Football, putting their playoff status in true doubt. The offense looked incapable yet again with QB Mitch Trubisky under center with Kenny Pickett out after having surgery to help mend his high ankle sprain.
The national media immediately started reacting to the game once it concluded, including former players Maurice Jones-Drew and Michael Robinson on NFL GameDay. Jones-Drew posed the question whether the Steelers did their former offensive coordinator a disservice by firing him for an ongoing issue.
“Is this what you are?” Jones-Drew said on NFL GameDay’s X Page. “This is what you’ve been. Was Matt Canada the problem? Because this is what you were with Matt Canada. You weren’t scoring points. You put up one 400-yard game against the Cincinnati Bengals. You score 13 or 16 points. Is this who the Pittsburgh Steelers are?”
The hope after firing Canada was to find out what the Steelers had at the quarterback position with Pickett. Pickett managed to have his best game of the season the following week against the Cincinnati Bengals, posting a season-high 278 passing yards. Still, he couldn’t find the end zone as Pittsburgh only managed to score 16 points, winning a close one against the Bengals, who were starting backup Jake Browning with starting QB Joe Burrow out for the year with a wrist injury.
Ultimately, Pickett got hurt early against the Arizona Cardinals, making his evaluation without Canada calling the plays incomplete. Still, he and Mitch Trubisky haven’t looked inspiring thus far in 2023, leading Robinson to question whether Pittsburgh’s answer at the quarterback position is currently on the roster.
“To me, the Pittsburgh Steelers… Mike Tomlin, they have an issue at the quarterback position,” Robinson said. “I’m not sure Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky, or Mason Rudolph, or anybody in that quarterback room is the answer for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Much has been made in recent weeks wehther Pickett is the answer as Pittsburgh’s franchise quarterback of the future. Former Ravens head coach Brian Billick mentioned Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh’s 24 to 25 regular-season start model as a determining factor of knowing if a quarterback can be the guy or not, stating that Pickett is right at that number but that the jury is still out. Blame could be placed on Canada and the lack of development Pickett has had in his first two seasons in the league. Still, Pickett has had the weapons and the running game to be successful but has still posted mediocre numbers and hasn’t made the big throws consistently to help propel this offense.
Trubisky flamed out in Chicago as the No. 2 overall pick by the Bears back in 2017, opting to sign a contract extension with the Steelers this past offseason to stay in a backup role behind Pickett. Rudolph has been relegated to the bench ever since 2019 when he got some starting action with Ben Roethlisberger out of the year with an elbow injury. He produced at a similar level as Pickett and Trubisky where he posted a winning record, but the play on the field wasn’t encouraging as a potential heir to the throne.
We know Trubisky and Rudolph aren’t the answer to the quarterback position in Pittsburgh. Through nearly two seasons, Pickett has yet to solidify that he can be the guy as well, leaving the Steelers in a tough spot with four games left to go and now on the outside looking in regarding the playoff picture. Pittsburgh better hope that Pickett can come back quickly and see what he can do in the final couple weeks of the season, because right now, the Steelers have more questions than answers regarding the most important position in football.
“Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh… they got a quarterback problem, and they have to remedy it because I don’t think that they got the answers in the quarterback room,” Robinson said.
