are we on the upswing

We’ve had no offense to speak of since Ben retired, brought in a terrible OC fit to run it, and the stars on our defense, who were carrying a lot of the load are aging fast. We actually squeaked into the playoff due to injuries of other stars (such as Burrow last few years, Mahomes last year).

 

Crazy how not great Qbs, and not great OCs go hand in hand, and yet we still made the playoffs 3 years in a row with 3 different sets of Qbs.

 

Yep, the offensive rebuild from the end of Ben's career on was pretty brutal. Both the players and the coaching.

 

We had the 15th ranked offense in 2025 so this statement is not true

None the less I understand your point

It would be nice to be better

 

For me, I believe this is it for Lamar's run with the Ravens as far as a Super Bowl window is concerned. I have already touched on in depth on how losing Tyler Linderbaum is going to sting a lot more than people give it credit for. Furthermore, losing six other starters/key players as well is no small feat either. How much longer is Derrick Henry going to hold up?! Silly question at first given his sui generis build as a Running Back but Father Time is undefeated. I personally didn't see any loss of anything from him but this will be something to monitor for certain. In short?! Either Lamar can win it all this season or he isn't likely to win it at all. Seems very, very short sighted but unlike many QBs, Lamar's Career is heavily tied to his legitimate 1 of 1 athletic ability. No QB in NFL History has been a more deadlier Dual Threat than he has. That said, this also means that his gifts are on borrowed time; nicks and bruises piling up year after year.


As for Cincy?! While it is true that Burrow has shown he is not to be relied upon to finish a full season consistently, he is still a Top Five QB nevertheless. Chase and Higgins are going to be issues; a Top flight Corner tandem needed to stop both. OL is still very much a question though, like Pittsburgh, Cincy also has some very nice young pieces to work with. Connor Lew was one of the best Centers prior to his injury and Brian Parker II is one of the most underrated IOL players from the 2026 Class. Not a displacement player but very smart and technically sound. Fairchild will be better and Karras is a steady eddie. Orlando Brown is serviceable but Amaris Mims... I expect him to take the next step. The upgrades though are from Defense; the biggest one is Dexter Lawrence. Again, it remains to be seen if Dex can recapture his 2024 form from a pass rushing standpoint but his mere presence is an issue; you have to double team him. Otherwise, he can wreck shop. It will be up to the likes of Myles Murphy and Boye Mafe to win their 1 on 1s.


Cleveland is Cleveland; Myles Garrett leaving making that point clear.


Overall?! I stand by my prediction about the Steelers chances; will come down to the wire.

 

we looked worse than 15th.

 

We did

 

so the Bengals may be more of a challenge than the Ravens, i can see that if Burrow can stay healthy. For the steelers, can AR have a comeback year? I think it comes down to that. Not an MVP year, just noticeably better than last year.

on a side note, i think Randall Cunningham and Steve Young were better dual threats than LJ, just IMO.

 

We were also basically average with Fields/Wilson.

Ranking was 16. We were 0.2 ppg behind KC who were 15. So basically equal to the median.

But it seemed like the fumble in Baltimore kind of broke Wilson. I was hoping we'd go back to Fields at the end of the season. But I don't think it would have made a difference in the end result.

It's the Kenny/Canada years that were dreadful.

• 2023: 28th @ 17.9
• 2022:26th @ 18.1

Glad the team did the two most un-Steelers like things I remember them ever doing: firing an OC mid season & giving up on a high pedigree QB only half-way through their rookie deal.

They should have fired Canada a year earlier IMO. But I don't think it particularly mattered with that QB.

 

The OL rebuild should not have taken as long as it did. Ignored for too long, then bad choices made to compound the error. Weidl has set the focus right in the draft.

 

on both sides of the ball the lines have gotten better. i would also put our secondary overall with as good as any if they stay healthy. offensive additions and defensive additions as well as depth. omar was part of this as well. this is why i think we are on the upswing. we match up well with most and better than last years team.

 

This.

I think we were too focused on trying to give Ben weapons for a last run or two. Hoping that the old line could hang on...or at least not snap a ball 2 feet over our enormous QB.

 

That's because Tomlin's philosophy of don't turn the ball over, force some turnovers and have a strong kicking game will win most NFL games. Tomlin understood that more often than not you don't beat the other team, you wait for them to beat themselves. That's how you get a winning record with Duck Hodges, Mason Rudolph, Kenny Pickett etc. If Tomlin would have had a Dan Campbell mentality of go for broke and let's roll the dice game plan the Steelers wouldn't have won more than 5 games a year.

 

The flip side is when you get to the post season teams don't often beat themselves. Notice how the defensive TOs dry up and the Steelers lose games? (except the last playoff for the offense dried up ).