If fans didn't already realize how important it is to have a great offense, perhaps they are starting to see that after the results of Super Bowl LVII. Despite the Philadelphia Eagles having an elite defense for the entire 2022 season, they surrendered 38 points in the biggest game on turf to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs (31 of which came on offense).
The recent Super Bowl results have caused media outlets to dig back in time and revisit some questionable draft-day decisions by NFL teams. Here's the latest Steelers news you need to know.
Steelers news
On Tuesday, Pro Football Focus analyst Michael Renner wrote an article about every NFL team's biggest draft mistakes over the past five seasons. While there were a number he could have pointed to for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Renner is convinced that the decision to take Najee Harris in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft was a major flaw in philosophy.
"The Steelers learned their lesson about putting the cart before the horse when it comes to productivity running the football in the NFL. Coming into 2021 with one of the worst offensive lines in the league, they drafted Najee Harris at Pick No. 24 to improve their running game after the Le’Veon Bell saga. That hasn’t come to fruition. Harris has averaged 3.8 yards per carry in two seasons."Michael Renner
To Renner, this mistake even outweighed Pittsburgh's decision to trade up into the top 10 for Michigan linebacker, Devin Bush back in 2019. Though the Bush pick proved to be one of the worst decisions this team has made in a long time, Renner could get behind taking a potential impact linebacker over an unexplosive running back in the first round of the NFL Draft.
More Steelers news
A few days ago, former Steelers running back, Jerome Bettis, joined Colin Cowherd on The Herd. Cowherd praised Mike Tomlin for being a great leader and motivator but was critical of some of the choices Pittsburgh has made in recent years when it comes to the offensive side of the football.
Bettis agreed. When Cowherd asked if Tomlin has made mistakes and missed on offense, here's how the Hall of Fame running back responded:
"100 percent. I believe that is the case, because when you look at this team you say, 'what's the strength of this team?' In 90 percent of the NFL, the strength of your football team is going to be on offense. And we look at this team and they have the pieces to be special... But the question mark is what type of offense are we?"Jerome Bettis
Bettis made it clear that he hasn't loved Tomlin's approach to addressing the offense. He noted that the Steelers have weapons and that he believes in Kenny Pickett, but agreed with Cowherd that Tomlin has neglected the offensive line and bringing back Matt Canada for the 2023 season won't be enough.
NFL News
Pete Prisco of CBS Sports recently released his post-Super Bowl power rankings for 2023. Of course, the Chiefs were at the top of the list after Kansas City recently earned another Lombardi trophy. They were followed by the Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, unfortunately, landed in the middle of the pack as the 16th-best team in NFL power rankings. Prisco believes they showed progress late in the season and will be improved in 2023, but apparently not enough to vault them up the list as legitimate contenders at this point in time.