The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, and this offseason, the team made win-now moves by signing QB Russell Wilson and LB Patrick Queen. Clearly, the organization is sick of their playoff futility, but if the Steelers struggle early in the 2024 season, Pro Football Talk’s Myles Simmons thinks that calls for Mike Tomlin’s job could get loud. In a segment on PFT Live, Simmons and Mike Florio named teams that can’t afford to get off to a slow start, and Simmons picked the Steelers.
“This is a team that we think of as good, but the Steelers haven’t had postseason success in a long time. They’ve been on that cusp of good/mediocre. They’re kind of like the best bad team. If they don’t get better, demonstratively with Russell Wilson at QB, it might get loud for Mike Tomlin,” Simmons said.
Everyone’s fed up with Pittsburgh’s lack of postseason success. Team owner Art Rooney II said the team is getting impatient, and their moves this offseason reflect that. They cut bait with Kenny Pickett after he didn’t want to compete with Wilson, brought in Queen and DeShon Elliott to improve the defense, added the best kick returner in football in Cordarrelle Patterson, and one of the best punters in the game in Cameron Johnston while adding depth with the signing of Dean Lowry. There are still holes that need to be filled, particularly at center, receiver, and slot corner, but with the draft less than a month away, the Steelers will have a chance to add to their positions of need.
There really aren’t any excuses for the Steelers not to be a competitive team this season. They should be better than last season, and while a more difficult schedule on paper might make it difficult to go much further over their 10-win total from last season, it’s time for the Steelers to win a playoff game. They won’t move to fire Tomlin during the season, even if they get off to a slow start. Tomlin is also likely to receive an extension this offseason and likely isn’t going anywhere soon unless things really fall apart this year.
Frustration will boil over among the fanbase if the Steelers get off to a slow start, but the team needs to win a playoff game this year. It’s about the end of the season, and another year without a playoff win would cause a lot of angst and frustration inside and around the organization. With the off-season the Steelers have had, it’s time to finally win, and if they don’t, there may be some tough decisions made sooner than we’d currently expect.
