The Pittsburgh Steelers have made the playoffs in four of the past five seasons. Considering some of the long playoff droughts teams have experienced across the league, that’s an impressive feat. However, they haven’t had any success in those four appearances. Part of the reason for that is because the Steelers are usually a Wild Card team, forcing them to play on the road in the postseason. With Russell Wilson quarterbacking the 2024 squad, Pittsburgh wasn’t able to win the AFC North, something they last accomplished in 2020. Sam Darnold could change that in 2025, though.
Along with Wilson, Darnold will be one of the top quarterbacks in free agency come March. On ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike on Friday, former NFL player Chris Canty argued that the Steelers could win their division with Darnold leading the offense. Still, he didn’t think Darnold raises their postseason ceiling by any means.
“If Sam Darnold goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, I think that’s a team that can contend for the AFC North title,” Canty said. “But when we start talking about what their postseason ceiling is, I don’t think it’s much higher than what we’ve seen over the past decade.”
With the postseason on the mind, the Steelers quite literally could not be less successful over the past half-decade Canty refers to. Pittsburgh’s gone 0-4 in their four playoff games during that stretch. Their 48-37 loss to the Cleveland Browns in 2020 was the only remotely close game.
Canty is right that Darnold wouldn’t raise the Steelers ceiling once they get to January. Darnold had an incredible year. Winning 14 games is extremely hard to do in the NFL, and he deserves credit for that. However, Darnold’s Vikings and Wilson’s Steelers exited with disappointing Wild Card losses.
Wilson also had a chance to win the AFC North in 2024. Darnold contending for the division next year wouldn’t be a massive improvement. The Steelers once held a two-game lead over Baltimore late in the year. It took a four-game slide to end the regular season to give the Ravens the division, including blowing a chance to secure the division in a Week 16 game against Baltimore.
With all that said, the Steelers are going to need to find their franchise quarterback at some point. Canty thinks Darnold can be a bridge while Pittsburgh figures out their long-term plan. He throws Justin Fields out there as a potential option as well.
“I think Sam Darnold is a bridge, I don’t think he is going to be your future franchise quarterback,” Canty said. “And I think you already have somebody that fits that profile as a reclamation project in Justin Fields.”
Bottom line, the Steelers have to, and will address the position this offseason. Both Wilson and Fields will hit the open market. There are signs pointing to a potential Wilson return in 2025. Still, the Steelers are met with the grim fact that neither him, Fields, or Darnold makes them 2025 Super Bowl contenders. At least not by themselves.
