Pittsburgh Steelers fans face a brutal reality in the coming years

The Pittsburgh Steelers no longer have the firepower to compete with the best teams in the AFC. Here’s why they will have a long, painful road ahead of them.

If you didn’t tune into the Chiefs vs Bills divisional playoff matchup on January 23rd, you missed out. Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen put on some of the best quarterback performances I had ever seen in the postseason.

This game came down to the wire with Kansas City proving to be slightly more explosive as they won in overtime. While this was a game I won’t quickly forget, this spectacular display of offenses had me a bit discouraged.

In thinking ahead to the future, I couldn’t help but wonder how long it could take before the Pittsburgh Steelers have a quarterback that could compete with what the AFC currently has going on at the position. With such elite young quarterbacks currently in the conference with Mahomes, Allen, Joe Burrow, and Justin Herbert, fans must face the brutal reality that our team may not stand a chance at going toe-to-toe with some of these teams for years.

How should the Steelers proceed at QB?

The Steelers are a terrific franchise with excellent ownership. They’re no strangers to success in the NFL. But what can they do when they don’t have a franchise quarterback?

Some would suggest that the answer should be to go out and trade for an established passer like Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, or Derek Carr. While this could give them a shot to compete in the immediate future and will open their Super Bowl window back up temporarily, this doesn’t set their franchise up for the foreseeable future like we want it to be.

Another option would be to select the top quarterback in the 2022 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, this is considered a relatively weak QB class, and none of these options have the elite blend of tools we see in players like Mahomes, Herbert, and Allen in the AFC.

In all honesty, Pittsburgh’s best solution might be to try to stockpile draft capital for 2023 where they can move up to land an immensely talented quarterback like Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud. While putting all of their eggs in this basket seems like a big risk (and it is), the Steelers can’t be complacent by settling for a quarterback who is physically incapable of reaching the elite level of play we are witnessing at the QB position in the AFC over the past few years.

Players like Mahomes, Allen, Herbert, and Burrow are only going to continue to improve in time, and there’s no reason to suggest that the Steelers will be able to get past these teams in the playoffs, year after year, without a comparable option at the most important position in football.

Sadly, Pittsburgh could be in for a long drought without an elite franchise quarterback of this level on their roster. However, they can’t settle for anything less. Until that player is found, their chances of winning the AFC Championship and bringing home another Lombardi Trophy seem nearly impossible with their seventh Super Bowl win seems nearly impossible.