Ignoring coaching problems for a sec, did we have the talent?

The coaching and play calling was often questionable, but looking at just the talent of our players, were they good enough? Mediocre wide receiver room, except for a head case, QBs both with serious limitations, OL issues, and RB by committee. On defense, pretty weak coverage skills overall, no real dominating linebackers, a couple of good edge rushers, no run stuffers. Great special teams (Boz) and exceptional early success there.

With that evaluation, One might be impressed with a 10-7 record and a playoff appearance. Certainly they were often not put in a position to succeed, but they squeaked out enough early victories. When they were up against teams with superior talent, they couldn't keep up. Yes, coaching was often poor, but that is only the tip of the iceberg of our issues.

Lots of personnel changes needed in the off-season.

 

Not sure where you are trying to take this thought.

Good coaching can get the most out of a team. Bad coaching can destroy a team.

Great players will make a team better, but it still won't truly succeed with bad coaching. Bad players and bad coaching will get you a top 3 draft pick.

You can't just ignore coaching problems and imagine what a team is capable of absent coaching problems. The limit of those players is increased by good coaching and lowered by bad coaching.

 

He's not ignoring it. He is questioning if this team had enough talent to compete for a Super Bowl even if they had great coaching. They didn't. Wilson isn't a good enough quarterback. The offensive line wasn't nearly good enough. The receiving corps was far too weak. They needed at least one more cornerback, maybe two. Jackson wasn't good and their options in the slot were worse. The defensive line needs a big, physical interior lineman to help stop the run and push the pocket.

Coaching was a big problem, too. They had offensive linemen who didn't know their assignments in the playoff game. The same was true about the linebackers and secondary. But even if they fix those problems, this team didn't have Super Bowl talent.

 

THIS

He has UNDERACHIEVED too, w GREAT TALENT - he CAN'T win

this D was / is LOADED

Tomlin has infected it ALL!

 

You can start and stop any roster conversations in todays NFL with the quarterback. If you don't have one of the top tier QBs. Not much else is going to matter - in terms of chasing championships.

 

I’m surprised you never mentioned this before

 

They have one good cornerback and he takes too many penalties. Jackson was constantly hurt late in the season and his level of play went from mediocre to terrible. Both nickel corners, Sutton and Bishop, were terrible. Fitzpatrick isn't even close to his former All-Pro self. Watt was playing hurt during the stretch run and it showed. Outside of Heyward, the line got pushed around.

There were coaching issues on defense, too. They were disorganized far too often. There were broken coverages ruining the pass defense and players out of position making them vulnerable to the run, but the talent isn't nearly what you make it out to be no matter what they are being paid.

 

.........and if you don't have a quality O line to block for that elite QB, it's moot. Look what happened to Mahomes and Burrow in consecutive years in the Super Bowl. Their o lines failed them.... result: LOSS

Steelers O line has been failing miserably since the Browns playoff game, 4 years ago.

 

There's talent on the defense and at all 3 levels. On paper, it's arguably the most talented defense in the league. But statistically and against the top teams in the league, they've missed the mark.

The investment of talent in an offensive league is very questionable. Denver has invested far less into its defense and has given up fewer points than the Steelers. And that talent is being grossly misused; you got Minkah playing 25 yards off the LOS in a single high look countless times. Yea, sure, there's talent on this defense but the Steelers aren't going anywhere with these players. Trading TJ and Minkah not only allows them to acquire multiple draft picks, but frees up 30m in cap space to go out and get a WR or two. TJ probably gives you a 1st and a 3rd, and Minkah gives you around a 2nd. Those picks alone allows this team to grab multiple plug n play guys, especially on the DL and CB, and some depth. Doesn't necessarily make them better or worse heading into next season on defense, but getting younger and cheaper is a start. Highsmith and Queen are worth building around; however, we need a DC from the outside, with autonomy, to really propel this defense.

As for the talent, or lack there of, on offense, don't think it's worth all our time regurgitating/summarizing Blackngoldpatrol. He's doing great.

 

I'm not sure if this team was good enough to win a Super Bowl but as has been stated, good coaching can overcome a lot and bad coaching can destroy a lot. I do believe this team had enough talent to compete in the playoffs this year, but poor preparation, scheme and play calling held them back. Watching the Ravens game it became glaringly clear how out coached we were.

 

Rams D looks a million times better than the Steelers.... and their D is dirt cheap compared to ours. To add insult to injury.... Rams have Quentin Lake who is balling out. Dude was all over the field in the win over the Vikings. Son of Carnell Lake... and he plays like his dad did for the Steelers in the 90's.

 

I don't think any amount of talent is going to overcome a scheme that the league is laughing at.

For a coach who is supposed to be elite, how come you can go and ask any rats or bungles fan and they're all hoping we keep him?

Nobody fears MT, inside the locker room or around the league on the teams that matter. He's too easy to beat.

 

https://x.com/TommyJaggi/status/1879528937476276586?t=BCVE4UmBd40Pts3khjrv1w&s=19

 

That's pretty damning it shows there's no real analysis going on at all.

 

In a word, no they don't have the talent and overachieved for what they have.
Problem is though, the head coach on this team has a big influence on who they have, and who they don't have.

 

What you said is true but teams can out play coaching. (Cowboys under Barry Switzer).

 

Short answer. Yes, we have a talent issue

 

In part because the coaching sucks and doesn't teach well. The other part is that Colbert and Tomlin made a huge mess of several drafts.

 

Not enough talent at:
CB
DL
WR
QB

 

No, the Steelers do not have a talented roster to compete for SB. They score like 17 points in each of the last 5-6 games. They suck talent wise.

 

The Steelers have had more talent by far than they do this year and still crumbled.

I used to feel like the Steelers were a star studded team, in multiple eras, but the last several years, it felt like a "Let's get the Steelers." "No, we have the Steelers at home" meme.

 

I wouldn't say that. I mean, the Steelers did have the highest-paid defense in the league in terms of cap hit this year at $168M, but the Ravens were #6 with $127M. I think that's notable because, like the Bills (#5 in defensive $), they're also paying for a franchise QB on a second contract. (Jackson and Allen each carried cap numbers exceeding $30M; Wilson and Fields combined were less than $5M.)

Still, one can certainly argue the Steelers didn't get full value out of that $168M.

 

In addition to physical talent, football IQ should also be considered. Communication issues and inability to be in the right place at the right time may reflect more than a bad scheme and coaching, but maybe a player issue of struggles to implement the prescribed scheme.

There is so much we don’t know about what happens in practice and in meetings it is tough to parse out causes, except what we see on the field is often not good enough.