When Maurkice Pouncey’s errant snap sailed over the head of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger early in the 2020 season playoff game vs. the Cleveland Browns, it signaled this signature position was in crisis. It’s remained so ever since. Kendrick Green, drafted in 2021, was supposed to be Pouncy-Lite. Instead, the overmatched snapper had an aging Ben Roethlisberger running for his life in his final season. Mason Cole, who the Steelers signed in 2022, wasn’t much better. 

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None other than the most famous “Monday Morning Quarterback,” Peter King, took this potshot at Pittsburgh’s plans for its 2024 passers: “The Steelers ‘are not interested in bringing in a quarterback who wants to be a starter.’ Come again? In a division with Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson, the Steelers would actually choose to enter camp with Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph (should he sign in free agency with Pittsburgh)? That sounds like a colossal misjudgment of your quarterback position.”

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Steelers fans can only hope the quick dispatch with which GM Omar Khan and his assistant Andy Weidl banished a trio of poor-preforming players the day after Super Bowl 58 is an indication of how speedily and shrewdly they plan to upgrade this roster. There was no real reason or benefit to make the moves on quarterback Mitch Trubisky, offensive tackle Chukwuma Okorafor and punter Pressley Harvin III so soon. But it sure signals the start of the house cleaning and roster reshuffling that’s part of every offseason. There’s much work to be done.

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Super Bowl LVII awaits. The 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is a win away from making a last to first ascension. If he completes this astonishing journey from Mr. Irrelevant to Super Bowl champion in his second year, it will be among the all-time stories in sports. For Steelers fans, there will be a special kind of bitterness and disappointment. 

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The NFL playoffs are causing a big case of quarterback envy across Steelers Nation. The postseason matchups are proving that now more than ever, a franchise quarterback is a mandatory requirement for a deep Super Bowl run. Yet, Plan A for Pittsburgh appears to be handing the starting job back to Kenny Pickett in 2024. 

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In the days after yet another lopsided playoff loss, this one a 17-31 snow job vs. the Bills, any Steelers suspense that Mike Tomlin was going anywhere quickly evaporated. Steelers players had his back, and the Rooney family, which has employed just three head coaches since 1969, would soon have a multi-year contract extension ready. Various NFL insiders were tipped to these developments after Tomlin abruptly walked out of a postgame press conference just as a reporter posed a question about his future. Since then, all the hot takes that it was time for Tomlin to take a break or take his leave have turned cold. 

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The Steelers have that look. It’s the appearance of a team no one wants to face in the playoffs. Pittsburgh is playing smash mouth in the ground game and hitting the splash play downfield when defenses stack the box. A huge part of the Steelers’ recent success is QB Mason Rudolph running the offense effectively – and utilizing receiver George Pickens as the team’s most dangerous weapon. 

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Kenny Pickett won over the Pittsburgh fanbase long before he ever won the Steelers’ starting job at quarterback. This is why the second-year player out of Pitt has suffered so badly by comparison with third-stringer-come-starter Mason Rudolph. The latter’s ability to execute the offense the way it was meant to operate has been jarring. True-blue Pickett protectors are now confessing their second thoughts over whether he’s really the long-term answer for the Steelers. 

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With four games left in the 2023 regular season, the Steelers currently hold the No. 6 seed in the AFC. But you’ll have to forgive Steelers Nation if it doesn’t take the bait. Witnessing the Steelers making NFL history with back-to-back home losses to 2-10 Arizona and New England seemed to take everything out of this fanbase. Unlike so many Pittsburgh playoff pushes of the past, they don’t have that feeling their team is going anywhere, much less to the Super Bowl.

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The uninspiring streak Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin is best known for is his 16 years and counting of ‘non-losing seasons.’ Notice, the operative term is ‘non-losing season.’ A streak of winning seasons has a much better ring to it. But this can’t be applied to Tomlin. 

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