After his latest hint, it’s obvious that Aaron Rodgers will be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback as soon as he’s ready to sign. Fans already have social media posts ready in their drafts to react to the inevitable news circus that will take place once it finally happens.
For better or worse, the Steelers will live the Aaron Rodgers experience for a season or two before moving on. Considering the Steelers’ wealth of picks in next year’s draft, speculation that the Steelers have a long-term plan at quarterback isn’t unfounded.
But before we get to the post-Rodgers discussion, while we’re still very much in the pre-Rodgers era of Steelers football, the Steelers’ biggest question remains unsolved: Is this offense even good enough to contend, regardless of who’s at quarterback?
Steelers fans are quick to joke that even with Mason Rudolph at quarterback, Mike Tomlin would likely still will the team to a better-than-.500 record this season. Maybe, but that doesn’t indicate that the offense would be at all competent in such a situation.
Pittsburgh Steelers need a real answer at QB for the offense to ever return to glory
On SportsCenter Monday, ESPN's Sam Acho said that he doesn’t believe that Rodgers will be the Steelers’ “savior” this season. After all, there’s an awful lot to not like about the pairing, especially the longer Rodgers drags this thing out. If he isn’t present for OTAs, mini-camp, or all of training camp, the lack of cohesion in the offense will be obvious early.
Now, it’s rare that I find myself agreeing with Acho. But keep in mind, Rodgers has played in West Coast offenses that are significantly more spread out and pass-friendly than Pittsburgh’s version. In all likelihood, Arthur Smith would mold his offense to Rodgers’ liking more than the other way around. That could be a good change, but it’s tough to get it right without the quarterback in the building.
Even if Rodgers does show up on time, the fact remains that Pittsburgh’s offense has been pitiful for years, regardless of who has been at quarterback.
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We can attribute that to a long list of people and factors, many of which the Steelers don’t have to contend with any longer. But it’s not like Rodgers, at 41, two years removed from an Achilles tear and one year removed from the worst season of his career, is going to solve the issues that still linger magically.
Of course, the prevailing argument is that Rodgers is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, both from an operational and production viewpoint. If anyone can solve Pittsburgh’s problems on offense in record time, he’s probably the only guy on the list. So if he does lift the Steelers out of their offensive muck, what’s left over for the next guy?
Can the Steelers just expect the next quarterback to take Rodgers’ adjustments to Smith’s schemes and make it work? Or do they dumb everything down and suffer for it in the name of “protecting our young quarterback?”
The issue isn’t whether Rodgers is a short-term answer or if his role leads to the long-term answer one way or another. It’s that the Steelers are still kicking the can down the road on this offense, which is what put them in the Rodgers predicament in the first place.