The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the better teams in the league for a long time. Here’s why a ‘rebuilding’ season is long overdue.
The Steelers may have trampled the Bengals on Monday Night Football, but sooner or later we are going to have to face reality: Pittsburgh may be a team in decline.
I’m not trying to take anything away from their week 4 win against Cincinnati or the dominant performance the defense put on. However, the Steelers are still just 1-3 on the season, and they face a Baltimore team who could potentially shatter their playoff hopes this Sunday.
After being a competitive team for so long, are the Steelers due for a rebuilding season?
Nobody likes to live in this mindset. Of course, we would be happier believing that Pittsburgh is still the same competitive team they once were. However, this is something that, sooner or later, happens to every organization.
Ben Roethlisberger is out for the season, and he will be 38 years old if and when he returns to the lineup. The Steelers lost two All-Pros on offense this past offseason, and their offensive line is one of the oldest units in the league.
Defensively, Pittsburgh has a budding star in T.J. Watt, while players like Stephon Tuitt and Cameron Heyward are playing as good as ever. However, the Steelers haven’t always drafted well. They missed on players like Jarvis Jones, Senquez Golson, and Artie Burns, while players like Bud Dupree and Terrell Edmunds aren’t living up to their first-round statuses.
Pittsburgh hasn’t had a season with a losing record since 2003. This 16-year streak is better than any team in the NFL not named the New England Patriots (2000 was their last losing season).
Even teams like the New Orleans Saints have faltered far more often. Since 2012, Sean Payton’s team has had 4 seasons with a losing record.
It’s truly remarkable when you step back and think about it. We as Steelers fans have settled on such lofty expectations for our team. Because we aren’t used to losing, we obviously don’t want the day to come when the Steelers finish the season with more losses than wins.
But as most teams do when they lose a franchise quarterback, Pittsburgh could be at the beginning of a rebuilding process. How long this process lasts could be up to how quickly Mason Rudolph develops and how well Mike Tomlin and the coaching staff handle this transition.