It might be an uphill battle for the Pittsburgh Steelers to make the playoffs in 2025, but The 33rd Team’s Sam Monson thinks there are two factors that could work in Pittsburgh’s favor in its pursuit of a third straight playoff appearance.
“Number one, I do think that Mike Tomlin is a really good coach, who the team follows him. They want to go and win for him. Number two, that defense could be nasty. You look at that group, it could be an elite, genuinely, it could be one of those suffocating defenses,” Monson said on a recent episode of Check The Mic with co-host Steve Palazzolo. “They could have one of those defenses that’s good enough to keep them in every single game.”
Palazzolo ultimately doesn’t think the Steelers will be good enough to have a winning record, but Monson at least thinks there’s a chance. While the Steelers have struggled to win in the playoffs under Tomlin, he’s been good enough to lead the Steelers to at least a .500 record in every season as a head coach, even when they’ve had less talent than they should this year.
Tomlin can certainly elevate Pittsburgh’s floor, but the defense playing like an elite unit will be the key to taking the Steelers to the next level. When they were at their best in 2024, it was due to the defense being able to get after the quarterback and force turnovers and keeping the opposing offense from scoring. But the defense fell apart a bit in the second half of the season, as the secondary was rife with communication issues and the pass rush didn’t get home as consistently.
Pittsburgh made some notable additions on the defensive side of the ball, signing CBs Darius Slay and Brandin Echols while drafting DL Derrick Harmon, and the hope is that the defense can consistently play like one of the best units in football. If it can play the way it did for the first 10 games in 2024 all season, then the Steelers should be good enough to make the postseason. Monson believes that if the team signs QB Aaron Rodgers and the defense can be as good as its talent level, that would be a big difference for the Steelers as they look to make the playoffs, as Rodgers would then come in and be able to do enough to help the Steelers win games.
The consistency of Pittsburgh’s defense is going to be a major factor in their success this season, but if the unit can be elite, then the Steelers should find themselves playing meaningful football into January for the third year in a row.
