Can the Steelers win the Super Bowl without Bud Dupree?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are legitimate contenders this year, but they lost a big piece of the puzzle when Bud Dupree went down with an ACL tear.

Week 12 was not pretty for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In fact, it was downright ugly. After their game against the Baltimore Ravens had been postponed three separate times, Mike Tomlin’s team eventually came away with a win on Wednesday afternoon (of all times), but it was a slop-fest performance – particularly from Pittsburgh’s offense.

At the end of the day, a win is still a win and the Steelers are glad to be advancing to 11-0 on the season – expanding on what has already been the best start in the history of the franchise. However, after suffering through a gut-wrenching performance in which Pittsburgh barely pulled off a win against the NFL’s most decimated team, we learned some devastating news: Bud Dupree does indeed have a torn ACL and his 2020 season is done, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network confirms.

Dupree went down with a non-contact knee injury in the second half against the Ravens, and it looked concerning at the time. Unfortunately, our initial fears are true and Dupree won’t be suiting up this year (maybe never again in a Steelers uniform).

Can the Steelers win the Super Bowl?

This begs the question: Can Pittsburgh still win the Super Bowl this year without one of their best defensive players. While nobody is comparing Bud Dupree to T.J. Watt (at least I hope you aren’t), Dupree was still a big part of a defense that ranks first in the league in sacks per game and pressure rate on opposing quarterbacks.

While the Steelers have been one of the healthiest teams in the league in 2020, this isn’t their first major blow to their roster this year. Promising, young linebacker Devin Bush went down with a non-contact ACL tear of his own back in Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns. Though the former first-round draft choice, was trending in the right direction and becoming more comfortable in his role, his loss won’t prove to be as big as losing a player like Dupree this year.

Dupree plays what we call a ‘money’ position in football. Outside of quarterback, offensive tackles and edge defenders are two of the highest-paid positions in the league for a reason, and the fifth-year player was about to break the bank this offseason. While he will still undoubtedly rake in a fat paycheck in 2021, he may have lost some money with his recent knee injury that could cause him to miss training camp next year.

For the Steelers, replacing a player like Dupree won’t be easy. But is it possible that the Steelers could still win the Super Bowl without him? Sure; it just depends on how well the pieces around T.J. Watt continue to play. Watt is the current frontrunner for the Defensive Player of the Year award, and something tells me that he’s going to be just fine – even without his counterpart rushing the passer opposite of him.

In Dupree’s stead, Alex Highsmith is about to have his role increased exponentially. While he has been very good as a rookie third-round draft choice, he’s about to get a real test in what could turn out to be a full-time role.

When it’s all said and done, this defense will still be plenty good enough to get the job done, and I think Pittsburgh will continue to impress on this side of the ball. However, the question has never been about the defense. Ben Roethlisberger and the offense have work to do, and the ship can only sail as far as Ben will take them.

Bud Dupree is an important piece of the puzzle that is no longer suiting up for this team. Still, the Steelers are loaded with talent on defense, and they can still win the Super Bowl this year if Ben Roethlisberger and his crew have a very good stretch of games when it matters most.