The Pittsburgh Steelers were never going to advance in the NFL playoffs this year to begin with, but not only did they lose to the Houston Texans, but they got blown out at home in embarrassing fashion. It was yet another one-and-done playoff season for the franchise.
The team has won 9 or 10 regular season games in five-straight regular seasons. Sure, the winning consistency is nice, but this team has not won a playoff game since 2016. In recent years, we have seen the Steelers getting a bit too cute with the quarterback position.
They have tried (and failed) to find answers on the open market, and it's honestly giving flashbacks to the Denver Broncos in the pre-Bo Nix era. If the Steelers hope to get out of this rut and gain respectability once again, they must look to copy the Denver Broncos, period.
Pittsburgh has to quit fooling around with the quarterback position like the Broncos did for years
The Denver Broncos started veteran quarterbacks like Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Teddy Bridgewater, and Russell Wilson after Peyton Manning had retired. The front office just did not take the position seriously and tried to Band-Aid the room with veterans who just were not cut out for a starting job at that point in time.
Once Denver brought in Sean Payton, they finally had someone who could begin to take the QB position seriously. Following a moderately-successful 2023 season given the circumstances, the Denver Broncos cut Russell Wilson and took on an NFL-record $85 million in dead cap.
That dead cap is off the books after 2025, but what the Broncos did here was finally get serious about the QB position, as they then dipped into the 2024 NFL Draft to take Bo Nix. Since then, the Broncos have turned into one of the best, most well run teams in the NFL.
It's not a coincidence that Denver immediately started winning the second Bo Nix arrived, and now with a legitimate shot to win it all this year, it's clear that the Broncos made the right move. In short, this is what the Pittsburgh Steelers have to do - they have to stop searching for Band-Aids at the most important position in sports.
Sure, the roster has other issues, but nothing is more important than the quarterback, as most of a team's issues go away overnight once they find a franchise passer.