There is the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers have not suffered through a losing season since 2003. A 6-10 record that year gave them the 11th overall pick in the next NFL Draft and the franchise opted for Miami of Ohio quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. The rest is history.
When it comes to now filling his position, the club signed five-year veteran Mitch Trubisky away from the Buffalo Bills. Outgoing general manager Kevin Colbert, in his final draft, selected two quarterbacks – including local product Kenny Pickett (University of Pittsburgh). The long incumbent is Mason Rudolph. Head coach Mike Tomlin will have to pick one to start the 2022 season opener on the road against the defending AFC champion, Cincinnati Bengals.
But settling on a new starting quarterback may not be the biggest overall question mark when it comes to this team, especially when it comes to its recent track record. Tomlin’s team hasn't had too many problems reaching the playoffs. The Steelers have been there six times in the last eight seasons dating back to 2014. But there hasn’t been a lot of success in the postseason, most notably in the team’s four playoff contests.
Go back to the 2016 playoffs. Pittsburgh defeated the Miami Dolphins at home and then bested the Kansas City Chiefs at Kansas City on its way to the AFC title game. And it’s been downhill ever since. In their last four postseason outings, all losses, the Steelers have allowed 36, 45, 48 and 42 points, respectively, to the New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns and the aforementioned Chiefs. It adds up to a total of 171 points and 20 offensive touchdowns (plus 2 on turnovers). The defense combined for five sacks and two takeaways (both vs. the Chiefs in 2021) in those setbacks.
But this is a team game and the Pittsburgh offense deserves its share of the blame for these four setbacks. And arguably the biggest issue regarding the club’s approach has been a lack of offensive balance. All told, the Steelers’ running game has been virtually non-existent in the quartet of setbacks.
No balance as of late
In that aforementioned playoff victory at Arrowhead Stadium in 2016, Tomlin’s team never found the end zone. The team came away with an 18-16 win and the Pittsburgh ground game rolled up 171 yards on 34 attempts in the narrow triumph. A week later, the Steelers fell at New England, 36-17, and were limited to 54 yards rushing on 20 carries. The following year, Roethlisberger and company rolled up a pile of yards through the air (462), most of them after the team was down 21-0. The Steelers ran just 18 times for 83 yards in the wild 45-42 loss to the visiting Jaguars.
The 48-37 home loss to the rival Browns in the 2020 Wild Card round saw Tomlin’s team down 28-0 after one quarter, due mainly to three Pittsburgh turnovers. The Steelers’ defense could not get a handle on Cleveland running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Tomlin’s squad was held to 52 yards rushing on 16 attempts. And in this past season’s 42-21 setback to the Chiefs in the AFC Wild Card Playoffs, Pittsburgh owned a 7-0 lead thanks to a T.J. Watt touchdown. But Pittsburgh wound up with just 56 rushing yards on 20 attempts.
Philosophy Change for the Steelers?
You get the picture. For too many years and especially the past four seasons, the Steelers’ ground attack has taken a big back seat to the aerial game. That has made the offense more than predictable. And as the offensive line deteriorated, the offense relied far too much on the play of the quarterback. And that lack of balance made life so much more difficult on the other side of the ball.
From 2018-21, the Steelers ranked 31st, 29th, 32nd and 29th, respectively, in the league in rushing. The team hasn’t finished in the NFL’s Top 10 in yards on the ground since 2007 – Tomlin’s first season. Of course, there’s a lot of new faces in the quarterback room this year. And the team could be in for a long year if the offense remains too reliant on the passing game.
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