Although the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in eight years, they haven’t hit rock bottom. Some fans are probably sick of hearing it, but Mike Tomlin still hasn’t had a losing season as the Steelers’ head coach. While that shouldn’t excuse him from criticism, it is impressive. However, former NFL head coach Jay Gruden thinks that streak is going to break this year.
“I don’t think they make it to .500 this year, although somebody’s gonna have to win a game eventually,” Gruden said recently on his podcast, Clean Pocket. “The Browns play the Steelers; the Bengals will play the Steelers twice. The Ravens are looking at 6-0 in the division pretty easily. They’re gonna struggle, whether Aaron Rodgers comes or not.”
The Steelers haven’t had a losing record since 2003. At worst, they’ve been 8-8. While they missed the playoffs plenty of times in that span, having a losing record would be different. It usually feels like the Steelers can will themselves to a non-losing season.
For much of that time, the Steelers had Ben Roethlisberger under center. He was a big reason why they never had a losing season. However, even without a great starting quarterback, Pittsburgh scratched and clawed its way to a decent season. Even when Roethlisberger went down early in the 2019 season, the Steelers still didn’t have a losing season.
That’s a testament to the strength of the rest of their roster. If the Steelers want to finish with a winning record again this year, they might have to do it with poor quarterback play again.
While the Steelers are pursuing Aaron Rodgers, there’s no guarantee he’ll sign with them. That could leave Mason Rudolph as their starting quarterback. With their receiving corps weakened by the loss of George Pickens, the Steelers’ offense might stumble in 2025.
However, it sounds like Gruden doesn’t think Pittsburgh will be very good even if they sign Rodgers. Rodgers isn’t the same player he once was, but he still looked like a solid player last year. If he can give the Steelers average quarterback play, they should have a good chance to avoid having a losing season.
On paper, it looks like the Baltimore Ravens should run the AFC North. However, you could’ve said that for a number of the last few years, and the Steelers won most of their matchups against Baltimore. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh got crushed in their last two meetings against the Ravens, but all four AFC North teams usually play tough against each other.
Right now, the Steelers might not look very intimidating. People thought they’d be terrible last year, too, and that didn’t happen. In fact, for most of 2024, the Steelers led the AFC North. If they get Rodgers, they could be a solid playoff team again.
