Koll: Looks like Steelers are headed for wasted season, in the worst way
There was a glimmer of hope. Maybe it was more than that. Maybe it was more like a full ray of sunshine bursting through the otherwise ominous storm clouds that the Pittsburgh Steelers were turning a corner.
They had finally moved on from their beleaguered and oftentimes overmatched offensive coordinator and although they only scored 16 points, they put together an offensive performance to be proud of with 421 total yards.
Not only that, but with the win the Steelers were sitting at 7-4 in a muddled and mangled AFC playoff landscape with the 2-10 Cardinals and the now 2-10 Patriots next on the schedule, both at home. Just simply taking care of business against these “lesser” teams would have put them at 9-4 and firmly in the playoff picture. In fact, it would have put them in the race for the #1 seed.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
Instead, the Steelers (most likely) took the Cardinals lightly. Yes, I believe Jaylen Warren and Diontae Johnson when they say that’s what happened despite Cam Heyward and Mitch Trubisky’s denial of it. If you don’t buy anything that Johnson says anymore after that give up play on the Warren fumble last week, I get it. But what does Warren have to gain by making up that claim? I think it’s just a guy calling out what he sees.
Instead, they embarrassed themselves in one of Mike Tomlin’s worst losses in his coaching tenure. Instead, they showed that they are a mediocre team capable of losing to any team in the league and capable of looking worse than any team in the league. Instead…and this might be the worst part…they lost the game and lost their 1st round starting QB Kenny Pickett who they are still trying to evaluate for the future. That’s the real kick in the pants here.
It’s bad enough that the Steelers may or may not make the playoffs. It’s bad enough that they look to be headed for yet another 9-8 season, continuing to live in the NFL’s middle ground. It’s bad enough they are wasting yet another season of Minkah Fitzpatrick, TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith’s prime, along with what’s left of Cam Heyward’s career.
But they lost what might have been priority number one for a non-Super Bowl contender.
The ability to figure out their future at quarterback. Kenny Pickett was finally going to get the opportunity to show what he could do post-Matt Canada.
The last stretch of the season was supposed to be about seeing what he could do with at least a little bit of a different play-calling scheme and his opportunity to show them he could be a franchise QB.
But he got hurt. Again. And even if he returns for the final game or two this year and maybe a playoff appearance…will we really have learned anything about Kenny Pickett? You know, other than the fact that he did nothing to eliminate the many questions we all have about him being the long-term quarterback? Now the Steelers are almost forced to bring him back next season to see if a “fresh start” of sorts will get him to a higher level of play. What other choice do they have? They won’t…and maybe shouldn’t…give their 1st round pick that chance.
But this was supposed to be a full year of evaluation of Kenny Pickett. And now, the Steelers won’t get it. Now, part of that is absolutely their fault. I won’t absolve them of that. Bringing Matt Canada back for another season only to fire him midseason is doing their best to stunt the process of truly evaluating Pickett because he’s been stuck with that guy. So that part of this equation is on them.
But as I see it…in the end, the Steelers will most likely either miss or just sneak into the playoffs. They most likely won’t win a playoff game, maybe they’ll stumble into one. They’ll have to start over with their offensive coordinator and they’ll go another year of trying to figure out what and who Kenny Pickett is.
All of that, to me, is a wasted season. I would bring someone in, either a legitimate veteran or a high round draft pick, to challenge Kenny Pickett for his job next year. If you already considered benching him this season, and Gerry Dulac of the Post-Gazette reported that, then you can’t go into next year just giving the guy the job without a better contingency plan.
No Super Bowl contention. No real answers for your QB position future. Squandering an opportunity for a run to win the AFC North by not being mentally tough enough to overcome mistakes and looking past an opponent even though you haven’t been a single team by more than one score all year long.
That sounds like failure to me. That sounds like a wasted year to me.
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