Bryant McFadden is not happy with the state of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Granted, I don’t think anyone is. But the former Super Bowl-winning cornerback for the Steelers isn’t sure he recognizes the current form of the Steelers after they lost another playoff game while trailing big in the first half.
There is plenty of blame to be assigned, of course. The Baltimore Ravens ran all over the Steelers during their Wild Card matchup. But the Steelers failed to move the ball for most of that game, save for two touchdown drives in the third quarter.
“When you look at the great championship teams, and I can just talk about teams that I was a part of, we had talent, we had playmakers offensively,” McFadden told the PM Team on 93.7 the Fan Friday afternoon. “And right now, we don’t have that. When you look at teams in the past, we’ve always had talent. And it might not have been the star-studded talent that some other teams had, but we had reliable talent, and we don’t have that right now. And we gotta find a way to get back to that because in our division, Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase ain’t going nowhere. Lamar Jackson ain’t going nowhere. And we gotta keep pace with those said teams if we have any aspirations of being relevant to get into the postseason play moving forward.”
Now, you can certainly point to the Steelers beating both Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals and Jackson’s Ravens earlier this year as examples of how the Steelers can hang with these teams. But the Steelers lost their final five games of the season. Two of those losses came to the Ravens where the Steelers looked completely outclassed. The aforementioned Jackson threw three touchdowns in the second regular-season matchup before throwing for two in the playoffs. Oh, and he ran for 81 yards as well.
And one of those five losses came against the Bengals. The defense did its job to slow down Burrow, but the offense couldn’t execute a two-minute drill at the end of either half to put points on the board that would have won the game.
Yes, the defense struggled against the Ravens in the final two matchups. And the defense struggled against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. But the offense did not score more than 17 points in any of the Steelers’ five straight losses to end the season. You’re not going to win many games scoring 17 or fewer points in today’s NFL.
And it’s easy to point out where the deficiencies are. QB Russell Wilson rejuvenated the offense when he took over in Week 7. We all enjoyed watching him throw moon balls, especially to WR George Pickens. But he turned the ball over almost as much as he threw touchdowns during the five-game losing streak. And he did a terrible job executing that two-minute drill at the end of the Bengals game.
Then there’s the wide receiver corps. We know the Steelers did make an effort to upgrade the position at points. But those efforts fell flat, by and largely. General manager Omar Khan was unable to trade for either Brandon Aiyuk or Davante Adams in 2024. Rookie WR Roman Wilson sustained an ankle injury during training camp and never made an impact on the field.
Khan did deal for WR Mike Williams prior to the trade deadline. And he did catch the game-winning touchdown versus the Washington Commanders on his first target. But he finished the season with nine catches on 13 targets and the lone touchdown in nine regular-season games with the Steelers. He also had one catch for 37 yards on two targets in the playoff loss to the Ravens. And he’s scheduled to be a free agent.
The Steelers need an infusion of talent at the wide receiver position this offseason. And that’s regardless of what happens with Pickens. If they do decide to move away from him, they’ll have next to no NFL-proven talent at the position. It’s a far cry from the days of Hines Ward teaching young wide receivers, that’s for sure.
And most importantly, what are the Steelers going to do about the quarterback position? The NFL is a quarterback-driven league. And while we saw glimpses of why the Steelers brought Wilson in, he failed in the biggest spots against the Bengals and the Ravens. And he’s scheduled to be a free agent alongside Justin Fields, who went 4-2 to start the season. Insider Ray Fittipaldo gives Fields the edge over Wilson in terms of the Steelers retaining one of them. But Fields is not a proven NFL quarterback. It’s entirely possible the time sitting behind Wilson gave him a chance to learn and improve, but we won’t know that until we see him prove it.
There is hope that the Steelers have their offensive line core for the future. Rookie C Zach Frazier was phenomenal as a rookie. And OG Mason McCormick stepped in admirably in place of James Daniels. Just how well first-round pick OT Troy Fautanu recovers from his knee injury will go a long way to determining just how good the line will be next year.
RB Najee Harris is slated to be a free agent, and we didn’t get to see him break out in his contract year. Jaylen Warren continues to show the ability to make plays, but the Steelers haven’t used him as the feature back.
What’s for sure is that McFadden’s point about the Steelers’ offense is right. They lack proven playmakers across the board. And until they figure that out, they’ll keep trying to win games by dragging other teams into the mud. And when you’re playing teams with offenses led by Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson twice a year, it’s hard to make that work game in and game out.
