As we head into the Holidays, I wanted to take some time to celebrate the infamous Seinfeld episode “The Strike” where Kramer brings back the retired Costanza-ian holiday Festivus. In said holiday, the consumerism of Christmas is taken out and replaced with an aluminum pole (tinsel is too distracting), the feats of strength, and what is pertinent to this post, the airing of grievances.
This is a time to tell all of the people you love how they have disappointed you over the past year. The Steelers certainly have a laundry list of issues I could point out. That said, I’ve narrowed it down to four things that are really deserving of this holiday hate. Here is a list of grievances that I have against the Steelers.
The Steelers coaching staff is poor
The NFL is an ever-changing business, and unsurprisingly, this is a copycat league. One successful scheme or play will quickly make its way to a multitude of other teams. In a similar vein, a good positional coach will typically be poached by another team looking to improve in that area.
The Steelers are the standard bearer for the opposite of this. While other teams play the chess match of poaching up-and-coming coaches, Pittsburgh keeps things internal. When they do look outside of the organization, less-than-desirable names are usually the targets.
Having internal hires is a good thing on paper for your coordinators. This means that your assistants are developing and worthy of being promoted. In the Steelers case though, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Their record is further proof of this.
Pittsburgh has a great chance at changing that narrative this year. They will head into the offseason with a vacant offensive coordinator spot, and that could, in theory, be filled by a hot coaching prospect. I’m not optimistic though, as this team has continued to try the same process over and over again. The process of bringing in coaches has been frustrating, and that was evident with their lack of success this season.
The Steelers refusal to play young players
In the old days, the Steelers didn’t play their rookie class. No matter where you were picked, you would be stuck on the bench. The modern NFL has seen rookies take the field sooner, and Pittsburgh followed along. Now, it is standard for at least a few of Pittsburgh’s rookie class to be instant impact players.
That said, this season has seen a shift away from that ideologically. Despite this being one of the strongest rookie classes on paper in a while, it took a while for the group to see the field. It isn’t like this roster was full of top-level talent either.
Broderick Jones, the team's top pick whom they traded up for, was stuck on the bench despite lackluster play from Dan Moore and Chukwuma Okorafor. Even when he started due to injuries, he was sent back to the bench despite playing well. It took some in-game comments from Okorafor to see Jones get permanently added to the starting lineup.
Joey Porter was a similar story. He was buried on the depth chart early, essentially only playing in dime defense. He looked good in very limited action while the rest of the cornerback room struggled. It took until after the bye week to see Porter become a starter for this defense.
Arguably the best rookie from this class has been Keeanu Benton, and he is still struggling to see the field. This defensive line hasn’t been great, but Benton has been a highlight for this team. Since the return of Cam Heyward though, his role on the defense has shrunk, averaging around 35-45 percent of the defensive snaps.
This isn’t just an issue with the rookie class either. Despite numerous injuries to the linebacker room, Mark Robinson has been passed over for bottom-barrel free agents. While sitting behind intended starters is fine, the fact that the team is still looking toward Mykal Walker and Blake Martinez is annoying,
The team has seemingly regressed on its stance of getting young players involved early. While providing rookies time to develop is good, and every rookie doesn’t need to start right away, playing time is important. It would be ideal to see some of the younger players on this team get a shot given the Steelers struggles.
The Steelers quarterback room
One of the worst parts of this team is the current makeup of their quarterback room. Despite investing in the position over the past two years, the players there aren’t holding up. Add in the fact that quarterback is the most important position on the field and this looks like a big mess overall.
Kenny Pickett is the incumbent starter after being the first-round pick a season ago. He has looked bad as a starter, to say the least. On top of poor play, he also can’t statistically find any footing. He rarely scores and progresses through reads poorly. All of this for a low-ceiling player was supposedly a “safe” prospect.
This is even more frustrating when you look at the rest of the NFL and the quarterback position. Backups and no-names have played better than Pickett has. A decrepit Joe Flacco has helped get the Browns on track, and completely unknown undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito has more passing touchdowns than Pickett this year.
The backups aren’t much better. The Steelers opted to extend Mitch Trubisky despite him losing the starting job. He is a well-paid and vested backup, so the expectation is that he can deliver for this team if needed. That hasn’t been the case in the absence of Pickett due to injury. While Mason Rudolph suddenly has a strong fanbase seemingly out of nowhere, he isn’t some sort of savior either.
While coaching hasn’t been great, even after the firing of Matt Canada, it is a horrible look for this team that all of these backup quarterbacks are coming in and playing better than anyone in the Steelers room. This position is bleak, and there aren’t many great options to get this team out of this mess.
The Steelers new standard
This is a point that I have harked on for a while, but with the airing of grievances being so centered around what has disappointed you in someone (or something) that you love, the Steelers standard falling to where it has is certainly up there.
The Steelers are one of the most prestigious teams in NFL history. From their streak of success in the 70s to their resurgence in the new millennium, this team expects to be competitive. Even in down years, the turnaround is quick and the focus is getting back into the Super Bowl. This has famously become the standard for the team.
The issue is, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. While the team will come out and say that they are a Super Bowl team every season, it doesn’t feel true. This team has been shrouded in mediocrity for the past ten seasons, and success has been few and far between. Things don’t change in the offseason, and the team still claims to be a top-tier team.
If that were the case, radical changes would be made where needed. That could lead to short-term regression, especially if the position is vital, but it sets the team up for success long term. Instead, the Steelers rehash the same rhetoric every offseason acting as if they are just a step away from being contenders.
What this team is clinging to is this sense that they aren’t ever a horrible team. Case in point, the infamous Tomlin headline of never having a losing season. Sure, that is impressive enough, but when it doesn’t yield any playoff or Super Bowl success, who really cares?
Pittsburgh’s new standard is a far cry from what it used to be. Add in the other issues above, and there are plenty of reasons to be discontent with the state of this team. I have a lot of problems with this team, and now you got to hear about them!