The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in almost a decade, but they don’t intend to stop trying. While many teams might try to rebuild after that much failure, the Steelers refuse to do that, even after Mike Tomlin stepped down. They’ve continued to add veterans to their roster this offseason, gearing up for another attempt at a Super Bowl.
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg is not a fan of that strategy.
“The Steelers don’t view themselves the way the rest of us view them,” Greenberg said Friday on ESPN’s Get Up. “The only reason you have a 4[2]-year-old quarterback is because you think you have a chance to make a deep playoff run and win a championship. I don’t think anyone outside of Pittsburgh thinks that’s their reality, but they’re acting like they do.”
Are the Steelers a likely Super Bowl contender this year, even if they re-sign Aaron Rodgers? Probably not. However, telling them not to compete and opt for a rebuild instead is easier said than done, for multiple reasons.
First, this isn’t the year for the Steelers to draft their next franchise quarterback. It’s a weak class, and the Steelers have scars from reaching on a player at that position. No one wants them to repeat the Kenny Pickett experiment. That set them back several years.
Also, the Steelers already have a veteran-laden roster. The likes of T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward don’t want to rebuild. With Tomlin gone, it might’ve been tough to get players like that to buy into a youth movement.
If the Steelers are going to rebuild, they shouldn’t rush that process. That’s how teams like the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets end up stuck near the bottom of the league year after year. They won the AFC North last year, and they’re in a position where they could potentially make some noise in the 2026 playoffs.
Taking one more run at a Super Bowl with Rodgers and then trying to draft their quarterback of the future next year could be the Steelers’ best option. Yes, the odds are high that they have another mediocre season that fails to produce a playoff win. However, that’s not guaranteed, and giving up on the season now, before the draft has even happened, would be a mistake.
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