There was once a time when the Pittsburgh Steelers held a 10-3 record, and all was right in western Pennsylvania. Then, they went on to drop five consecutive games. The fifth of those came on Saturday when the Baltimore Ravens ended the Steelers’ season much earlier than Pittsburgh would have imagined when they led the division. During the losing streak, a few things stood out. One of those was the lack of production from the Steelers’ offense.
Former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch thinks that’s due to some leadership issues, as he explained Tuesday on the DVE Morning Show.
“Offensively, they [Steelers] have no leadership,” Batch said. “When you look, over the last three years, they’ve been looking for that… So, there has been no stability. We’ve been looking for that leader.”
Batch does make a decent point here. Head coach Mike Tomlin has always been known for his ability to connect with players. On the defensive side of the ball, Pittsburgh has leaders who have been with the organization for several years. T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, and Minkah Fitzpatrick are some good examples.
There hasn’t been continuity in the Steelers’ offense. The quarterback is typically the player on that side of the ball that the rest of the team would look to as the leader. However, there’s been a ton of inconsistency at that position since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
Batch thinks some actions from the Steelers in recent years prove that they’ve been searching for a leader at the position.
“There have been three captains they’ve [Steelers] had, and immediately they look at the quarterback position,” Batch said. “Mitch Trubisky wasn’t here long, yet he was the day-one captain. Then, you turn around the following year. Kenny Pickett was your day-one captain. Last year, it was Russell Wilson. So they’re looking for that leadership perspective.”
As the Steelers have descended into the realm of annual playoff disappointment, a large part of that reason is that they simply can’t keep up at the most important position on the offense. When the Steelers were winning, Russell Wilson was playing well. The losses were far from being completely on Wilson, but he did take a step back during that losing streak.
How the Steelers sort their offense this offseason is yet to be seen, but expect some change. While Wilson or Fields could return, another change at the quarterback position would be par for the course.
