The Pittsburgh Steelers have grown accustomed to NFL purgatory. For well over a decade, they've been competitive enough to avoid a complete rebuild, but never competitive enough to sniff a championship.
Pittsburgh finally went in a different direction this offseason, replacing Mike Tomlin with Mike McCarthy and injecting talent into the offensive roster. The Steelers are gearing up for a title push in Aaron Rodgers's final season.
FanSided's Mark Powell is already shutting down Pittsburgh's Super Bowl hopes, though. In a recent article breaking down ten teams he's ready to eliminate from Super Bowl contention, he listed the Steelers among the NFL's bottom-dwellers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are already seeing their Super Bowl dreams crushed
Powell wrote the following on FanSided.com:
"The Steelers are on the downswing. It's brutally obvious to everyone but the Steelers and their ownership group. Pittsburgh had a chance to move forward and retool this offseason when Mike Tomlin left. The Steelers were embarrassed in the AFC Wild Card round, after all, and have lost seven straight postseason games largely in the same fashion. Instead, the Steelers kept course."
Nine of the ten teams included in Powell's list enter the season with win projections of 7.5 or below, according to ESPN. The Steelers stand alone at the top with a win projection of 8.5, a brutally ironic reminder of the franchise's last decade.
As much as history suggests another disappointing season is on the way, we haven't even seen the Steelers play a game yet this season. Pittsburgh's defense could be significantly better under coordinator Patrick Graham, who has produced competent units with minimal talent during his time with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The offense should be better, too, after adding pass catchers Michael Pittman Jr. and Germie Bernard to the mix. Rodgers has been elite in McCarthy's system before, so there's reason for optimism.
If the defense can solidify itself as a top-ten unit, and the offense hovers around league average, the Steelers should definitively be a playoff team with a chance to make a postseason run.
Unfortunately, that's still not enough to win a Super Bowl. Pittsburgh has done an admirable job of filling out the roster this offseason, but it's fair for Powell to doubt whether this group can go all the way. If the AFC's powerhouse teams return to form this season, it's hard to see the Steelers surviving the playoff gauntlet that they would have to face to reach the Super Bowl.
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