The Pittsburgh Steelers went 14 games through the 2023 season without putting up 30 or more points even once. Then they managed it twice in a row, but finished the season with a total of 17, which was still enough to win in Baltimore.
That left them just two points shy of averaging exactly 18 points per game on the season, scoring 304 in 17 games. The 17.9-point average marks their lowest per-game scoring output in a quarter of a century. They scored an awful 16.4 points per game during the 1998 season in a 7-9 campaign under head coach Bill Cowher.
Kordell Stewart was the starting quarterback that year, throwing 11 touchdowns to 18 interceptions—still a much better touchdown percentage than this year’s starter, Kenny Pickett. They did have two 30-point games that season, but they also got shut out once and were held to single digits four times. Even RB Jerome Bettis scored just three touchdowns on 316 rushing attempts.
That’s not a season of offensive prowess to which you would want to be compared. And transcending eras, they still ranked 28th that season in points scored, back when there were 30 teams. They did rank seventh in rushing yards but 24th in rushing touchdowns and 29th in passing yards.
This year’s team ranked 27th in scoring and in passing yards. After a sluggish first half of the year, the Steelers ended up 13th in rushing offense, finishing near the very top of the league in rushing yards from the eighth game through the end of the year.
This marks head coach Mike Tomlin’s first season scoring below 18 points per game, though he came perilously close in 2019 when he lost quarterback Ben Roethlisberger six quarters into the season. They scored 289 points overall that year during a 16-game schedule, just over the 288 needed.
He ended up starting three different quarterbacks for multiple games, Pickett the first 12 until he suffered an ankle injury. Mitch Trubisky had two disastrous starts and played the bulk of two other games, in all of which they put up fewer than 19 points. Indeed, they scored 13 or fewer in three of them.
Mason Rudolph in the final three weeks, however, led a much more efficient offense that put up 64 points over a two-game span. The Steelers only scored 17 in the finale, but that was in very inclement weather and against one of the stingiest defenses in the NFL. The Ravens held more than half of their opponents to 17 or fewer points, rain or shine.
Still, the season is the season, and the fact is the Steelers averaged just 17.9 points per game in 2023, their worst mark since 1998, a full 25 years ago. Frankly, they only scored four more points last season, which is not exactly a good sign in terms of trends.
Finding a way to score more points on offense will have to be job one this offseason, starting with finding the right offensive coordinator. Then they will have to navigate the quarterback position. Trubisky seems bound to be released at this point, and the Steelers in all likelihood will try to re-sign Rudolph. But what else might they do? And how will they handle Pickett?
