Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II spoke to reporters on Monday, his first public comments since the season ended. The ending struck a familiar note: a 10-7 record giving way to a first-round exit. Rooney knows as well as anyone that his team has not been in the playoffs for some time, and he sees more than ever that they still have a way to go.
“I think that we just have to keep building a strong roster”, Rooney said of the Steelers’ next steps forward via 93.7 The Fan. “We got to play the cream of the crop there [during] that three-game stretch, the Christmas tournament if you will. We played the best teams in the league, and, obviously, we could see we’re not there”.
Rooney refers to the Steelers’ late schedule against the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Chiefs. Prior to that gauntlet, they were 10-3 and competing for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. They proceeded to lose all three games in commanding fashion, then dropped the finale to the Cincinnati Bengals.
It was an unceremonious drop from contender to pretender, the starkest reminder yet of how far the Steelers still have to go. While there were some extenuating circumstances, there is no excuse, and Rooney knows it. To follow that up with another playoff embarrassment was just the cherry on top.
“We need to do what we need to do to take that next step”, Rooney said uninformatively. “I think we still have strengths that we can build on to get there. The quarterback position is a key, key piece of the puzzle that needs to be addressed. That’s probably number one”.
Rooney harped on the quarterback position quite a bit in his comments, resolving that they would like to re-sign either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. Fields started the Steelers’ first six games, going 4-2. After Wilson took over, they went on a 6-1 run before dropping the final five, including the postseason.
Rooney also added that the Steelers would likely look at the next couple of quarterback draft classes, which I found interesting. Expanding into the 2026 draft, to me, reads as an admission that the 2025 class is weaker. To land upon a long-term answer at quarterback this offseason would be, quite frankly, dumb luck.
To Rooney’s point, two of the three teams the Steelers lost to in that stretch are in the Super Bowl. In fact, these two teams are competing for the Super Bowl for the second time in three years. And, of course, the Chiefs are going for their fourth Super Bowl win in six years with their fifth appearance.
Still, the Steelers fall inadequately short for an organization whose stated goal every season is to win the Super Bowl. To win a playoff game in eight years isn’t too much to ask. After all, most of the league has done it, and Rooney might want to peruse that list for inspiration. Playing in the AFC North doesn’t make it any easier, reducing the odds of hosting a playoff game. However, the first step is acknowledging the problem—at least Rooney did that.
