During head coach Mike Tomlin’s tenure, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the most consistent regular season teams. The Steelers are in contention for making the playoffs every single year. And as plenty of people will say, you must make the playoffs to win the Super Bowl.
But you also have to win in the playoffs to make it to the Super Bowl. And that hasn’t happened in Pittsburgh since 2016. And that lack of postseason success could be caused by the regular season success, in a way, because it’s not the easiest thing to find a top quarterback when you’re almost always picking in the 20s.
In the wake of the Steelers’ playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the NFL Live crew talked about how Tomlin’s coaching is keeping the Steelers at too high a level to draft a franchise quarterback. But you need a super-talented quarterback to consistently compete against the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and the other elite quarterbacks of the NFL. But the Steelers haven’t found themselves in a position to do that. They’re simply trying to get better every year.
“I credit them for every year trying to make the tweaks necessary, but they failed to do it,” said Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio when he joined the PM Team on 93.7 The Fan Wednesday afternoon. “And I think one of the reasons is they haven’t taken that step back and maybe the one step back for two steps forward. They’re just every year trying to replicate what they did last year and do more. And their efforts are resulting in replicating at best what they did the year before.”
The Steelers certainly appear to have an incremental improvement-type approach to their team. They have not torn the roster down in an effort to rebuild and acquire young talent. They rarely make big changes to the coaching staff. That’s why the mid-season firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada in 2023 was so significant.
And it’s hard to imagine that the Steelers will change that approach any time soon. The allure of competing for a playoff spot every single season and being in contention for the AFC North title is way too alluring. Why would you want to tear it down?
Fans and media alike will clamor for it. But what fans will show up for a Steelers team actively getting rid of players like LB T.J. Watt or WR George Pickens without an immediate replacement?
You certainly could say a potential franchise quarterback would put fans in the seats. But the Steelers aren’t in a good place to find one, and Florio argues they’ll be stuck in this spot until big changes occur. Does that mean bottoming out, though?
“It’s lather, rinse, repeat until they bottom out or do an aggressive trade-up like the Chiefs did for Patrick Mahomes and get a franchise quarterback who will be the difference maker…” Florio said. “Or that same scouting acumen that allows them to continuously find receivers. Now look, there are other issues with multiple other receivers they found. But they find highly talented receivers on a regular basis. They need to look in the mirror and they need to say, we need to improve our scouting expertise when it comes to identifying which quarterbacks are the ones we should be drafting. They could have had Hurts, they could have had Lamar, they passed.”
So, back in 2017, the Kansas City Chiefs executed a massive trade-up in the draft, going from the 27th overall pick to the 10th overall pick to select Mahomes. Needless to say, they have been thrilled with the move after winning back-to-back Super Bowls the last two years and playing in this year’s AFC Championship while eyeing a third-straight title.
Now, there is no Mahomes for every draft. But as Florio suggests, the Steelers should take a long, hard look at how they scout quarterbacks. Because while they did not have a chance at drafting Mahomes (and they wouldn’t have because of Ben Roethlisberger), they certainly had a shot at both Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts. Tomlin has pointed to them, saying that the Steelers can find a franchise quarterback later in the first round.
So why the heck did they pass on two potential franchise quarterbacks? That could still come back to having Roethlisberger on the roster. But the truth of the matter is that the Steelers had shots at quarterbacks who have had deeper runs in this year’s playoffs than they did. And Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles are playing in the NFC Championship.
So either the team avoided them because of Roethlisberger, or they didn’t think they were worth picking. And if it’s the latter, Florio is completely right that the Steelers need to overhaul how they scout quarterbacks. You could even argue that drafting QB Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft further proves the need to improve their scouting process.
Regardless, the Steelers enter the 2025 offseason with only Skylar Thompson under contract for next season. The Steelers certainly could bring Justin Fields back. And former Steelers OT Max Starks thinks they should after the progress he made in 2024. But if the Steelers want to do more than just contend for a playoff berth, they must be willing to make more than just small changes to their organization.
Because the reality is that the Steelers aren’t one or two small changes away from being a Super Bowl contender.
