Steelers need to embrace the tank after season-ending loss

The Steelers have lost eight games this season, and now is the time to begin embracing the tank for the remainder of the season.

The Steelers season wrapped up this past week against the Ravens. While there are still games left to be played, the team is essentially done. Their mini-win streak brought them back into the playoff hunt. With this loss to the Ravens though, the odds of this team making the playoffs are almost zero. Even if they were to win out, they would be facing a 9-8 record in a competitive AFC.

With the playoffs officially out of the question, the Steelers need to embrace the idea of looking towards next season as opposed to this season. That means getting some young players on the field and embracing taking the lumps this year. Pittsburgh has to look past this season and begin building for the future.

The Steelers need to embrace the future

It isn’t hard to see what players will and won’t be featured on this team past this season. While it isn’t possible to bench every starter in favor of some more youthful players, there are some obvious names that should be seeing the field.

A name that really sticks out is Robert Spillane. While I love his demeanor, he isn’t a great player on defense, yet he still plays nearly 50 percent of the defensive snaps. Mark Robinson showed a lot of promise in the offseason, and he is at least deserving of a shot. Seeing what you have in him makes a lot of sense right now.

The same thing can be said along the defensive line. Names like Chris Wormley and Tyson Alualu are better linemen right now, but Isaiahh Loudermilk and DeMarvin Leal have each flashed. On top of this, they will certainly be around next season, while the aforementioned names will not. They need to be the first players off the bench and see their snap counts jump over the next few weeks.

Frankly, the entirety of the rookie class should be on the field as much as possible going forward. Add in any young player that this team has and it makes sense to push forward with the youth movement. The only player this team has done this successfully with is James Pierre, and he has looked good in his extended play.

This doesn’t mean the Steelers will lose out

While embracing a youth movement can, and likely will cause mistakes for the team, it should be embraced by a team that is essentially playing for nothing. Will all of the names above make mistakes? Without a doubt, yes, but they will get valuable game experience that will set them up to be better next season.

If the playoffs were still on the line, this would be a different story. The Steelers are a team that wouldn’t be willing to experiment with younger players with such stakes at risk. That isn’t the case though given the circumstances. Moving forward with these younger names makes the most sense.

That doesn’t mean this team will tank and will go into each game expecting to lose. No NFL team truly tanks, as the player and coaches still want to end each week with a win. Experimenting with younger talent makes the most sense. Win or lose, this team can get a sense of what they have for the future.

The Steelers season has wrapped up after their loss to the Ravens. With no playoff hopes, it makes sense for this team to embrace their youth and see what they have past this season. Even if it results in some more losses, this team needs to embrace some new faces on this team.