Pittsburgh Steelers disrespected in Peter King’s latest power rankings

The Steelers disappointed in the playoffs last year, but here’s why Peter King is too low on Pittsburgh in his recent power rankings. 

We all know how the 2020 season ended for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After an electric 11-0 start (the best in the history of the franchise), Ben Roethlisberger and the offense fell apart late in the season and eventually were humiliated by the Cleveland Browns in the playoffs.

Fast forward to the 2021 season. Big Ben is another year older, and the Steelers lost a handful of notable contributors this offseason in players like Bud Dupree, Alejandro Villanueva, Mike Hilton, and Steven Nelson. Despite all of this, there is plenty of reason to believe that Pittsburgh could be a successful football team this year.

The Steelers have some promising up-and-coming players like Chase Claypool, Kevin Dotson, and Alex Highsmith who will each have larger roles in 2021, and they will be getting former 10th overall pick Devin Bush back on the field after he tore his ACL early in the 2020 season. In addition, Matt Canada could prove to give this offense the boost they need – especially with a few new toys to work with.

Unfortunately, NBC Sports’ Peter King does not see it this way. The well-respected NFL analyst has the Steelers slotted as the 19th-best in his most recent power rankings. Here’s what he had to say about their position in this ranking:

"I can’t unsee the 1-4 Steeler finish to the regular season, with Ben Roethlisberger presiding over a crumbling offense, and then the most embarrassing home playoff loss in Steeler history. (Not the fact that they lost, but just the spectacle of Roethlisberger turning it over four times in the first 20 minutes to Cleveland and falling behind 28-0 to Cleveland and giving up 48 to Cleveland, with the Cleveland coach 130 miles away watching from his basement.) Now a remade offensive line and top pick Najee Harris will try to build a running game—the lack of which ruined 2020 for Pittsburgh—with new coordinator Matt Canada. The Steelers benefited from the league’s second-easiest schedule in 2020 to get off to the 11-0 start, but with Buffalo, Cleveland, Green Bay and Seattle on the schedule by Halloween, no such luck this year. In what could be Big Ben’s last stand, he’s going to need help from his line and backfield to get Pittsburgh to double-digit wins. Oh, and Diontae Johnson catching the ball this season would help too."

Should Pittsburgh Steelers be ranked higher?

I get where King is coming from here. The Steelers looked atrocious down the stretch; there’s just no getting around that. Though they are set to play a much tougher schedule in 2021, based on 2020 records, we can’t automatically assume that this team will experience the same monumental collapse late in the season that we saw last year. Perhaps their new offensive coordinator could do enough to prevent that from happening.

But should the Steelers be ranked as low as Peter King has them? According to his rankings, the Steelers are in the bottom half of the league – pinned between the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants. Ahead of Pittsburgh on this list are teams like Arizona, Washington, Chicago, and New England – all of which failed to earn winning records in 2020.

It’s hard to make the case that the Steelers are more talented on the defensive side of the ball this year. They lost several key contributors and didn’t do much to replace them this offseason. However, even with an aging Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh’s offense should be improved. The team used their first four draft choices to address their offense, and this unit could see a big boost in 2021.

It’s also worth noting that King has the Cleveland Browns ranked 4th in the league while the Baltimore Ravens are ranked 7th. The Steelers went 3-1 against these teams in the regular season last year. Their only loss came in Week 17 against the Browns, as Ben Roethlisberger and a handful of starters were resting for the playoffs.

It’s entirely possible that the Browns and Ravens are both better teams than the Steelers in 2021, but to put a team that started 11-0 last season and made the playoffs just 19th on this list of power rankings is disrespectful to Pittsburgh.