It’s been almost 15 years since the Pittsburgh Steelers have won the AFC and advanced to the Super Bowl. For most of the past two decades, the New England Patriots stood in their way as the cream of the crop in the AFC. While the Patriots’ dominance is over, that doesn’t mean the AFC is any less competitive. The Steelers improved their team this offseason, but analyst Dave Dameshek still doesn’t believe they can make it out of the AFC.
“I want everyone on the banks of the three rivers to have a magical 2025, and if that ends with a Lombardi, then great,” Dameshek said Thursday on the Jim Rome Show. “Here, on planet Earth, there’s no chance that Aaron Rodgers is going to run the Pittsburgh Steelers past Joe Burrow and Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert.
“What are we doing wasting our time with this jive, this super team thing?”
Dameshek is correct that the AFC is loaded with great quarterback play. Jackson and Burrow are in their division, which makes the Steelers’ journey even tougher. Mahomes is an all-time great, and even during a down year, his Kansas City Chiefs should not be underestimated.
However, games aren’t won by singular players. Having an incredible quarterback helps a lot, but it isn’t everything. Look at Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers. They have their franchise quarterback, but they’ve yet to win a playoff game with him. That’s because of the faults in the other pieces of their team.
They aren’t the only team dealing with that struggle. The Cincinnati Bengals’ offense was one of the best in the league last year. However, they missed the playoffs because their defense was awful. That unit looks like it’s going to be just as bad this year, too.
To be clear, that doesn’t mean Rodgers and the Steelers should be Super Bowl favorites. It just means that they aren’t completely hopeless this year. Things could break right for them to go on a run. If they stay relatively healthy, and Rodgers looks like his old self, the Steelers could contend with some of the better AFC teams.
