The Pittsburgh Steelers fell just short of the NFL playoffs this year, but here’s why an entry ticket into the tournament wouldn’t have made a difference.
If you make the tournament, anything can happen. That’s the mentality that most fans seem to have, and they are not completely wrong. If a team can get red hot for a four-game stretch, they will have a shot to become Super Bowl champions.
The Pittsburgh Steelers fell just short of a playoff berth this year, and after watching the first two rounds of the post-season, many fans are convinced that Mike Tomlin’s team would have made some noise. Many even believe that this team would have made it to the AFC Championship game.
However, it’s easy to see that Pittsburgh isn’t quite ready for deep post-season run. Here are the four biggest reasons why the Steelers most likely would have gotten embarrassed in the NFL playoffs this year.
4. Steelers offense was improved, but not good enough
There are some wild narratives fans were spinning in the second half of the season, but believing that the Steelers were playing great down the stretch takes the cake. It’s true that Pittsburgh was winning football games and that their offense had taken a step forward. However, they got more credit than they deserved over the final nine games.
During this stretch, Pittsburgh scored just over 20 points per game. Even if we prorate this number over the course of an entire season, this still would have ranked as the 19th-best offense in the league, via ESPN stats. Though the running game clearly improved in terms of both volume and efficiency, it did not equate to high-scoring outputs.
This is admittedly a big improvement from the 15 points per game they had early in the season, but not enough to move the needle against playoff contenders. It’s worth noting that Pittsburgh also had a cupcake schedule down the stretch that helped attribute to this improvement.
3. Steelers would have been outmatched at the QB position
For the most part, I really like what I saw from Kenny Pickett in the second half of the 2022 season. The rookie quarterback did a much better job taking care of the football and he mounted two game-winning drives on Christmas Eve and New Year’s in back-to-back weeks. However, it takes much more than playing ball-control football to go toe-to-toe with the best in the business.
Had the Steelers entered the tournament, Pittsburgh would have been matched up with Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. Allen certainly didn’t have a good post-season this year, but the Bills were still able to put up 34 total points in the Wild Card round.
Though there’s no guarantee they would have done so against the Steelers, it’s hard to believe that a team that averaged 18.1 points per game would be able to overcome the talent gap. Pickett showed a ton of promise as a rookie, but he is handicapped by a dull offensive game plan. Because of this, his numbers have been very pedestrian and he never managed more than 1 passing touchdown in a game all season.
Even if Pickett led this team to a win over the Bills, he would have been tasked with trying to outscore Patrick Mahomes in the Chiefs in the divisional round followed by what would have likely been Joe Burrow in the AFC Championship game. Pickett can improve, but this offense isn’t there yet and he’s not ready to go toe-to-toe with the league’s best quarterbacks.
2. Steelers aren’t built to overcome great teams
One of the biggest reasons why the Pittsburgh Steelers would have gotten embarrassed in the NFL playoffs this year is that they just aren’t built to overcome great teams. This isn’t as much of a knock on Pittsburgh as it is a statement of how talented other teams are in the postseason.
While Mike Tomlin’s team did make strides down the stretch, their best games came against formidable opponents that we knew never stood a chance in contending for the playoffs this year. Their wins since they bye came against the Saints, Colts, Falcons, Panthers, Raiders, Browns, and Ravens (with Tyler Huntly at quarterback).
If we evaluate this team against good competition, the results are hard to stomach. Against talented playoff teams like the Bills, Bengals (twice), and Eagles this year, the Steelers were 1-3 and were outscored 69 to 130 in these games. Their only win of the four coming all the way back in Week 1 against Cincinnati.
This isn’t just a problem on offense. While the defense has some studs in T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Cameron Heyward, the depth is lousy. With an awful group of coverage linebackers and unathletic cornerbacks and they just aren’t built to stop good quarterbacks. The results would have been the same in the playoffs against these teams.
1. Steelers philosophy of winning is outdated
Perhaps the most concerning thing about the Pittsburgh Steelers right now is that their philosophy for winning a championship is incredibly outdated. Both head coach, Mike Tomlin, and team president, Art Rooney II, have made it very clear that their plan is to run the ball well and play great defense.
There’s a problem with this approach: you can’t stick to this game plan when you are trailing against good teams. While the rushing attack is great for eating up time of possession and moving the ball between the twenties, a good running game doesn’t typically equate to points scored. Instead, Pittsburgh needs to improve their passing efficiency — particularly in the red zone — if they want to have a more threatening offense.
In the same way, it’s easy to say that your team is going to play good defense, but consistency on defense from game to game against the best teams in the league isn’t sustainable, as good quarterbacks and game plans can exploit even the best defenses in the league with today’s rules.
Because of this, Matt Canada needs to have plays designed to help his team come back in football games as their typical game plan must be scrapped if they dig themselves a hole. Sadly, this team simply doesn’t have the firepower right now to pull this off.
Even with the much-improved run game in the second half of the year, Tomlin couldn’t have expected to run the ball 40 times per game in the playoffs and play excellent defense. This philosophy works well against average opponents, but not against the best the league has to offer.