The Pittsburgh Steelers are in urgent need of change. Yet they continue to cling to their fading Super Bowl window that likely closed years ago. Signing Aaron Rodgers is the latest example. And they sent mixed signals by trading away WR George Pickens, one of the league’s most talented young wide receivers. It’s illogical, until you realize the Steelers are directionless, clinging to their “The Standard is The Standard” motto, which at this point feels like this photo from the Great Depression.
The Standard used to be winning Super Bowls, but the moves owner Art Rooney II, general manager Omar Khan, and head coach Mike Tomlin (to be referred to as “Management” for the rest of this post) have made in recent years don’t scream trying to win a Super Bowl. If anything, it whispers the idea of maybe winning a single playoff game.
The Steelers biggest issue? They don’t have a quarterback for the future. That’s not entirely on current Management. But, not committing to the rebuild is. The Steelers don’t seem to want to rip off the band-aid and make the tough decision that could result in a lull for a couple years. They continue to align their vision on constantly competing. Because of this, Pittsburgh is in no man’s land, the worst place for a team to be.
The quintessential example of this is the Pickens trade. In a vacuum the Pickens trade makes sense. Although Pickens is uber-talented, he has issues. He showed up late to games and was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty waiting to happen. The Steelers were not going to re-sign him after this season when his contract was up, so grabbing the extra draft capital makes sense.
The trade looks even better when you see the potential draft capital the Steelers have next season. After the Pickens trade Pittsburgh could have up to 12 picks next year, including up to six picks inside inside the top 120. The trade gives them the opportunity to stack young talent, and trade up for a quarterback if necessary.
Yet Management still insists they can win a Super Bowl this season and signed 41-year -old QB Aaron Rodgers to do that. Rodgers still has talent, and he is likely better than quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and rookie Will Howard. But he is not good enough to win a Super Bowl.
They signaled “all-in” by trading for DK Metcalf only to largely sit out free agency. They signed almost exclusively from the pool of players that wouldn’t affect their compensatory pick formula for 2026. This is just another example of them straddling the line between competing now and preparing for the future.
Nothing Management has done has made sense, if you take their words at face value. They aren’t trying to compete for a Super Bowl. If they were they would have kept Pickens, made more moves in free agency, and traded future picks to get a bunch of talent this year. They also aren’t fully trying to rebuild. If they were they would not have signed Rodgers who raises the team’s floor to a fringe playoff team.
So what is the reason for all of these contradicting moves? Management is scared to be bad. They are trying to do something which is extremely difficult—be competitive and re-tool at the same time. But if the Steelers are going to return to The Standard, which is winning Super Bowls, they need to commit one way or the other. No more half measures.
Right now, the Steelers are directionless. Management seems content to go 10-7 with a chance to sneak into the playoffs because they don’t have the guts to potentially be bad. The issue with this line of thinking is it’s keeping the franchise where it’s been for nearly a decade. Stuck in the middle with nowhere to go.
