The Pittsburgh Steelers are back to square one after yet another early playoff exit. HC Mike Tomlin is closing in on a record for all-time one-and-done postseasons—and he’ll get a chance to tie or eclipse the mark, most likely. After watching the Steelers collapse at the end of the year, there are many sellers of Pittsburgh stock right now.
That now includes Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who went even further than his colleague. Last week, Gerry Dulac said the Steelers look further from competing than they did a year ago. Fittipaldo pulls the timeline back much further than that.
“I see a team that’s probably further way now to Super Bowl contention than any time in the last decade”, Fittipaldo said Sunday night on the #1 Cochran Sports Showdown on KDKA. “I go back to those 2012-13 teams. They both finished 8-8, and if you remember, that ’13 team needed a great finish to get to 8-8. But the saving grace back then was you had a quarterback to build around. Now you don’t”.
The Steelers, of course, had Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback from 2004 through 2021. They were Super Bowl contenders for most of that duration, starting his rookie year. In fact, they won the Super Bowl in 2005, and then again under Tomlin in 2008. Since returning in 2010, however, they only reached the conference finals once.
During the 2011 season, the Steelers just missed out on the division title and got Tebowed out of the playoffs. A mid-season injury to Roethlisberger derailed their 2012 season, and 2013 hardly even got started. A late rally set up a three-year uphill run culminating in their 2016 conference finals appearance, though. In 2017, they were looking to be at their peak until Ryan Shazier’s career-ending injury torpedoed the defense. It hasn’t been the same since.
It took the Steelers some time to revive their defense, but by the time they did, the offense came undone. Le’Veon Bell left and then Antonio Brown followed, with Roethlisberger’s elbow taking leave soon after. And they haven’t looked competitive since then.
The Steelers tried to correct a draft mistake in Kenny Pickett by pursuing veteran quarterbacks last offseason. It looked like it was working initially, but the house of cards inevitably imploded. “I think Russell Wilson would be a good option if they had a better team around him”, Fittipaldo said. “They don’t. I think Justin Fields is probably the guy, and I think you could probably get him on the cheap, too”.
But is Justin Fields going to make the Steelers a contender in 2025? Just because he went 4-2 against rookies, the wounded, and backups? But, hey, he can run around. As long as the defense takes the ball away a couple times and holds the other team to 17 points.
