A five-game losing streak to end the season turned what once looked like a very promising season for the Pittsburgh Steelers into a rather disappointing one. Now, entering a pivotal offseason, the Steelers have quite a bit of work to do to try and turn things around for the 2025 season.
It might be too much work to do from a roster standpoint, which includes figuring out quarterback, getting the offensive line solved, adding playmakers to the receiver room, beefing up the defensive line and retooling the secondary. That’s a lot. So much, in fact, that CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr highlighted the Steelers as one of five teams poised to take a “major fall” in the 2025 season.
The Steelers were highlighted along with the Washington Commanders, Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts.
“Every year the Steelers seem to make this list, and every year they find a way to have a winning season. Counting out a Mike Tomlin team is a bad idea, but the Steelers were one of the worst teams in the league to close out the 2024 season (and they made the playoffs),” Kerr writes regarding the Steelers taking a major fall. “The Steelers were the first 10-win team in NFL history to end the season on a losing streak of 5+ games, which includes the wild-card playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
“They averaged 14.2 points per game and allowed 24.7 over the last five games, as Pittsburgh couldn’t find a way to score points consistently. Four of those five games were against 10+ win teams and the Steelers were outscored by 64 points in those games.”
After the Steelers improved to 10-3 following a shootout win on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 13 and a convincing win at home over the Cleveland Browns in Week 14, things were really looking up. But then, the three games in 11 days stretch did work on the Steelers, as the offense was stagnant and the defense couldn’t stop anybody, leading to three straight ugly blowout losses.
After that, the Steelers were in a tailspin they couldn’t stop. A home loss to the Bengals to close the regular season in Week 18 set up a disastrous Wild Card Round loss to the Baltimore Ravens, ending their season. In that five-game losing streak, the Steelers never scored more than 17 points in a game.
It was all a mess, and now this offseason they need to address quarterback once again. Though owner and team president Art Rooney II stated his preference is to re-sign one of Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, the Steelers will still have a significant need at quarterback from a long-term outlook.
They also need to figure out what they’re going to do with George Pickens entering a contract year, while also adding additional weapons at receiver. Defensive line needs a major boost outside of Cameron Heyward, and the secondary – specifically cornerback — has quite a few issues with Donte Jackson set to hit free agency and Joey Porter Jr. coming off a disappointing second season.
“Whether it’s Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, the Steelers don’t have a consistent answer at quarterback. They also have issues at wide receiver and inconsistent play on the offensive line. The Steelers need to alter the offense and hope it doesn’t stall in December like it did in 2024,” Kerr added. “The AFC North is a good division and the Steelers have plenty of issues to fix. They still may finish with a winning record anyway, but a tailspin has to be coming at some point.”
As Kerr lays out, there’s too many issues to fix. While Omar Khan has proven to be a pretty darn good GM over the last few years, outside of his miss at receiver last offseason, there’s a lot of issues for the Steelers to address, too much for one offseason, it seems.
Having Mike Tomlin as the head coach will help the Steelers remain competitive and probably avoid a losing record, but unless something seismic happens this offseason, it’s hard to envision the Steelers remaining at the same level they were for much of the 2024 season before the tailspin began.
