Shortly after the Pittsburgh Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs following their Wild Card loss to the Bills, team president Art Rooney II made it clear that the goal was to get back on a winning track in the postseason. This franchise has now gone seven straight years without a playoff win and enough is enough.
Though the path to return to 'contender' status happens fast for some teams, the Steelers might need to take baby steps to get where they want to go. Even if they are able to land another terrific draft class in 2024, that may not be enough to catapult them as bonafide Super Bowl contenders next season.
Oddsmakers feel very confident that Pittsburgh won't come close -- so much so that they are daring you to place a bet on them. Exactly a month before the start of free agency, the Steelers have just +10000 odds to win the Super Bowl next season, courtesy of Fanduel Sportsbook.
These odds are disgraceful as Vegas pegs the Steelers as one of the bottom-10 teams in terms of Super Bowl odds for the upcoming season.
It's even worse when you compare the Pittsburgh Steelers to the competition. For instance, two of their AFC North Rivals have remarkably high odds to finish atop the conference. The Ravens have +500 odds to win the AFC next year while the Bengals sit at +700 odds, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
The Steelers, meanwhile, have just +4500 odds to win the conference -- a mark just above the Denver Broncos and below teams like the Jets, Chargers, Jaguars, Browns, and Colts.
These odds show you exactly what Vegas thinks about Pittsburgh's chances of both winning the AFC and winning the Super Bowl next season. Oddsmakers are willing to offer up insanely large payouts to bettors -- feeling very confident that the Steelers will be nowhere to be found in the postseason.
It's hard to blame them. This is a team that is looking to avoid an eight-year drought without a postseason victory, and there's certainly no guarantee that will happen.
What can the Steelers do to skyrocket their Super Bowl odds?
Probably the biggest factor when it comes to these future odds is knowing the incredibly shaky quarterback situation the Pittsburgh Steelers currently have. Mason Rudolph is a free agent and Mitch Trubisky was recently released. This leaves Kenny Pickett as the only QB currently on the roster. Even if Rudolph chose to return, this wouldn't increase the team's Super Bowl odds.
Oddsmakers can look at the situation and see that the Steelers are set to roll with a quarterback who has thrown 13 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions in 25 NFL games (24 starts). They know that, with Pickett at the helm, this team doesn't have the firepower to climb to 13 or 14 wins to claim the AFC title or to win 3 or 4 games in a row in the postseason to become Super Bowl champions.
However, there is one thing the Steelers could do to greatly increase their odds of winning the Super Bowl: they could land a bonafide starting quarterback. I'm not talking about singing Ryan Tannehill or Jacoby Brissett in free agency. If they are serious about contending for a Super Bowl, they need to either execute a blockbuster trade or throw bags of money at Kirk Cousins in free agency.
If this happens, I can guarantee you that Pittsburgh's odds of winning the Super Bowl will increase significantly. If not, we can't expect them to change much as we move throughout the process -- even if the Steelers kill it in free agency and the NFL Draft.
At the end of the day, the quarterback position is the most important position in football, and without one, your chances of going all the way are incredibly grim. The Steelers have plenty of work to do when it comes to building a championship roster, but it will all be for nothing if they can't find a franchise quarterback who can help them compete for a Super Bowl.