The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2024 season with a 10-7 record and made the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 years. And for the 4th time in 5 years – they lost in the wild card round of the playoffs and in pretty embarrassing fashion. They lost to their arch rival Baltimore Ravens with a score of 28-14 and within this game – the Ravens out rushed the Steelers 299 to 29 and had nearly 40 minutes time of possession. Pittsburgh entered the half down 21-0 and had just 2 first downs in the entire first half. Their last playoff win was an 18-16 win over the Chiefs during the 2016 playoffs – only to lose 36-17 the following week in New England before New England would go on to beat the Falcons in the super bowl with a score of 34-28. There’s no shame in losing to the dynasty Patriots at the peak of their power – but the ensuing losses since then in the postseason has been to teams like the 2017 Jaguars, the 2020 Browns, and now in 3 straight losses – one to the Patrick Mahomes led Chiefs, one to the Josh Allen led Bills – and one to the Lamar Jackson led Ravens. And simply put – the Pittsburgh Steelers are in a very difficult situation. And usually when we discuss teams and break their situations down – there’s usually a route or a path I would like for a team to go down – but I truly think the Steelers are in one of the worst situations in football. And in today’s video we’re going to break everything down and what they can attempt to do moving forward. And as you can imagine – there is a lot to discuss in today’s video. Now let’s begin
And we are starting today’s video by discussing one of the biggest problems with the Pittsburgh Steelers and as crazy as this is going to sound – it’s winning as much as they do. Obviously some teams would kill to be in the situation they’re in – but one of the loudest points of emphasis with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is that he’s never had a losing record. But this franchise has slowly turned into the Dallas Cowboys where they talk about championships without really getting close. And since they lost the Super Bowl to the Packers during the 2010 season – the Steelers are just 3-9 in the postseason under Mike Tomlin and obviously that’s not good to begin with – but when I was researching for this video – I was shocked to realize the 3 playoff wins they have in the past 14 years – were against AJ McCarron of the Bengals in 2015 in the infamous Vontaze Burfict AB game, Matt Moore and the Dolphins in 2016, and then against Alex Smith and the Chiefs in the divisional round the following week. That’s it. Those are the Steelers last 3 playoff wins. And what I think it really frustrating within the last 14 years is – they’ve had talent. And serious talent. Antonio Brown’s peak was one of the best peaks in NFL history for the receiver position and they were a truly fun team to watch. But it’s been a gradual decline over the past 6 years and I think where we are today in 2025 and how we got here – really starts back in 2018 and it’s progressively gotten worse. The 2019 season was kind of excused because Ben Roethlisberger missed most of the year due to injury and when your starting quarterback goes down – there’s not a lot you can do. That was also in a year where Lamar Jackson won his first MVP and the Ravens went 14-2. But 2020 was a year in which Pittsburgh started out 11-0 – only to finish 12-4 and only to get embarrassed in the wild card round of the playoffs by Baker Mayfield and the Browns. The Browns were up 28-0 at the end of the first quarter and the Steelers scored 27 points in the second half to make the final score look a lot prettier than how the game was played. The following year they lost to the Chiefs in the wild card round 42-21 in what was Big Ben’s final game.
A 21 point postseason loss obviously isn’t good to begin with – but Kansas City was up 35-7 with 9 minutes left in the third quarter to give you a refresher on how this game was played. And you get the point. This is how a lot of the Steelers playoff games have played out over the past several years. And 2024 was no different. The Steelers had 5 first half possessions against Baltimore in the wild card round and they were – punt, punt, punt, punt, end of half kneel down. Baltimore on the other hand 4 possessions – 3 of which went for touchdowns and the other was a punt in which they still moved the ball a bit before punting on 4th and 7 from the Pittsburgh 46 yard line. Pittsburgh had some pretty high high’s during the 2024 season – like starting the year 10-3 and like beating the Commanders and Ravens in consecutive weeks off their bye – but they ended the year on a 4 game losing streak entering the playoffs and had not led in a game since all the way back on December 8th which was a 27-14 win over the Browns who have the number 2 pick in the 2025 draft. Their offense became very stagnant and it very much became a run to Najee Harris, run to Jaylen Warren – or at times – another run to Najee – only to set up a shot play to try to get George Pickens the ball on 3rd and long. I know I was frustrated watching this offense down the stretch and I don’t have a dog in the fight. And I can’t imagine how Steelers fans felt watching this – knowing the end result from a mile away because they have seen this year after after year.
One other big reason why the Steelers are in such a difficult situation is they’re in a division with Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow who are each 28 years old and clearly aren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future. I really think there’s a few scenarios with the Steelers entering 2025. The first of course is to run it back with either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields and hope for the best. Obviously Russell Wilson isn’t the player he was with Seattle when he was regularly throwing 30 touchdowns per year and was a regular at the pro bowl. And we know that. But I think there’s this belief that because Justin Fields is only 25 and will only be 26 during the 2025 season – that he can basically be the next Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold and turn his career around and that the Steelers already have their next franchise quarterback on the roster. I don’t want to say there is a zero percent chance of that being the case – but I think it’s a very small chance and not only that – but the supporting cast that Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold each had in Tampa and Minnesota – was substantially better then what Justin has currently in Pittsburgh. There’s a lot of questions around George Pickens of whether or not he’s the guy and I think there will be a lot of chatter about him potentially being traded this offseason. George is a very talented receiver and everyone knows that – but there’s also the George Pickens factor that comes with that. And there could be a point where Pittsburgh basically says we have had enough and moves on from the talented 23 year old pass catcher. I also don’t think Pat Freiermuth is all that good of a tight end, yet was given a 4 year $48 million dollar contract and needless to say – I htkn there is a big difference between Pat Freiermuth getting paid an average of $12 million dollars per year – and a guy like Mark Andrews getting paid an average of $14 million per year, or even George Kittle with an average of $15 million per year. Pat Freiermuth had 65 receptions in 2024 and per PFF – 50 of those receptions were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. He was the teams second leading receiver in all of 2024 and averaged just 38 yards per game and finished the year with a little over 650 yards. I know a lot of people want to place the blame exclusively on the quarterback position – and don’t get me wrong there is a fair share that should go to Russell Wilson – but – how many guys are leading a team with Pat Freiermuth, Calvin Austin, Van Jefferson, and Mike Williams to the postseason and actually having success. George Pickens is of course lead dog in this offense – but when you are in a division with guys who just threw for over 40 touchdowns in Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow – truly how do you expect to consistently compete with those guys when it matters most? And I know Najee Harris had another 1,000 yard year this year which – believe it or not – marked his 4th straight 1,000 yard season – but I don’t think of Najee as an elite back and Steelers fans certainly don’t either. So when you think about what they should do this offseason – I think the big thing that has to be remembered is this is not going to be a one year turn around. This team is anywhere from below average to slightly above average at a lot of positions on offense without a real guy that they can turn to and say – go make a play.
And unfortunately for the Steelers this isn’t a good quarterback draft class so your options are going to be extremely limited as it is in terms of what they can do to improve at quarterback. Even if they thought Shedder Sanders or Cam Ward were the next franchise quarterback and that they absolutely had to have them – it’s nearly impossible to make the jump from the early 20’s all the way into the top 5 in the NFL draft – at least in real life. So by consistently being just good enough – this franchise has found them in one of the worst positions they can be in in all of sports – and that’s stuck in mediocrity.
I really think the Steelers have 4 options at the quarterback position in 2025 and those options are Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Aaron Rodgers, or Sam Darnold. They’re not realistically going to move up into the top 3 or 4 of the 2025 NFL Draft which leaves them rolling into the season with a veteran. They are in a very difficult situation because almost no move they make will propel them to a Super Bowl with a roster that is very clearly ready to win now. I also don’t think they will trade away big names like TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith to signify a rebuild and to effectively start over. And due to all of this – I really think this team is in the definition of no man’s land. I hope you enjoyed today’s article and the video linked below also dives into the Steelers current situation.
