That the Pittsburgh Steelers managed to have All-Pro talents at the quarterback, running back, and wide receiver position at the same time for a period of years and failed to win a Super Bowl is one of the greatest disappointments in franchise history.
That would be the “Killer Bs” era that ran from 2013 when RB Le’Veon Bell was drafted through 2017, his final year with the team. WR Antonio Brown only started to become a killer in 2012, or at least that’s when he became a full-time starter. Of course, QB Ben Roethlisberger had been around since 2004. He already had two Super Bowl titles before they were in the league.
Yet remarkably, this 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers offense that had one of its worst scoring seasons in modern football history somehow did something the Killer Bs never did. Within all that greatness, they never had three different players record 1,000 or more yards from scrimmage. The closest they came was in 2017 when a rookie WR JuJu Smith-Schuster put up 917 yards.
RB Najee Harris, RB Jaylen Warren, and WR George Pickens all pulled off the feat in 2023, though. It marked just the fourth time that the Steelers had two running backs record 1,000 or more yards from scrimmage in the same season, Walter Abercrombie doing it twice — in 1985 with Frank Pollard and 1986 with Earnest Jackson. Warren became just the second former undrafted free agent in team history to do it.
More than that, it was the seventh time in franchise history that the Steelers had three players hit the four-digit mark. The last time was just as the Killer Bs era ended. In 2018, Brown, Smith-Schuster, and RB James Conner all managed to reach 1,000 yards from scrimmage.
The last time in franchise history preceding that was just before the Killer Bs era. RB Rashard Mendenhall, WR Mike Wallace, and Brown all totaled at least 1,000 yards from scrimmage in 2011. It was Mendenhall with WR Hines Ward and WR Santonio Holmes in 2009 before them.
Outside of the 1985 season with Abercrombie, Pollard, and WR Louis Lipps in 1985, the only other occurrences were near the turn of the millennium. Both Ward and WR Plaxico Burress topped 1,000 yards in 2001 and 2002. In the first year, RB Jerome Bettis joined them. In the second, it was RB Amos Zereoue.
I will note that none of the three players in 2023 needed the 17th game to reach 1,000 yards. Harris finished the season with 1,205 yards from scrimmage, picking up 153 in the finale. He ended the year with 1,035 rushing yards and 170 receiving yards. He was the first Steeler to rush for at least 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons.
Warren ended the season with 1,154 yards from scrimmage, picking up 50 in the finale. He rushed for 784 yards on the year with 370 receiving yards. As for Pickens, he didn’t catch a pass in the finale, though he had a three-yard rush. He ended the season with 1,158 yards from scrimmage, including 1,140 receiving yards and 18 rushing yards.
One can only hope that this bodes well for the future. The Steelers do have productive skill position players, all of whom will be returning in 2024. They also have WR Diontae Johnson, who has a 1,214-yard season under his belt. He only finished with 717 yards this past season, but he also missed four and a half games.
Perhaps if he had played the full season the Steelers would have had four players top 1,000 yards from scrimmage. That has only been done six times in NFL history, including by the 2023 San Francisco 49ers. This season, CB Christian McCaffrey, WR Deebo Samuel, WR Brandon Aiyuk, and TE George Kittle all hit the mark.
