What kind of season will the Pittsburgh Steelers have?
With less than a week until they kick off the 2025 NFL season in New York against their former quarterback, Justin Fields, and the Jets, fans wait with bated breath to see how good the Steelers will be. Will QB Aaron Rodgers be good enough to help the offense carry its own weight? Will the Steelers inevitably finish the season just over .500?
Or will Pittsburgh go down in flames? According to Check The Mic’s Sam Monson, anything is possible for the Steelers this year. That includes contending for the Lombardi Trophy.
“I think the range of possible outcomes for the Pittsburgh Steelers has to include Super Bowl,” Monson said Monday on Check The Mic’s NFL Season Predictions show. “And [they] doesn’t necessarily need Aaron Rodgers to play like MVP Aaron Rodgers. If the defense is number one defense in the NFL and Rodgers is serviceable at quarterback, that could be a Super Bowl-caliber team.”
We know head coach Mike Tomlin wants his defense to dominate games. He also saw how the Baltimore Ravens ran roughshod over his defense in the Wild Card round last year to the tune of 299 rushing yards. Getting more physical was a priority this offseason, and the Steelers used every possible avenue to do that. They drafted two defensive linemen in Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black. They traded for CB Jalen Ramsey.
If the older players on the defense, like OLB T.J. Watt, DT Cam Heyward, Ramsey, and fellow CB Darius Slay, can stay healthy and productive this season, the Steelers could have the best defense in the NFL.
Then it’s all about how the Steelers’ offense plays. Can Rodgers play like he did the second half of last season with the Jets? Tomlin and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith don’t want him to have to throw 30+ times every game. They want an offense that plays complementary football, avoiding turnovers and controlling the clock. Plus, they certainly are lacking proven talent at the wide receiver position behind WR DK Metcalf. But if Rodgers can make the plays when they need to, the Steelers could be contenders.
“I also think the low end is everything spirals out of control, Rodgers and Tomlin butt heads, and everything explodes, people get fired, it’s a disaster,” Monson said.
That’s what happens when a team tries to go all-in in one offseason. It isn’t like the Steelers developed a franchise quarterback and decided it was time to push all the chips into the center of the poker table. They are banking on an almost 42-year-old quarterback to lead their offense. They’re also hoping that LT Broderick Jones will finally live up to his draft spot this year.
The range of outcomes is incredibly wide for the Steelers. A lot will have to go right for them to be true Super Bowl contenders. The Steelers have talent and potential. But they need a lot to go well to be contenders. That means if a lot goes wrong, the Steelers can crash and burn, too.
