Steelers A Step Away from Contention, But It’s A Massive Step
Hiring new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith won't make much of a difference without a significant improvement from a quarterback yet to be determined.
The Steelers are powering into the offseason making significant progress toward becoming a Super Bowl participant again rather than an observer.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is they still have a long way to go.
“Closer” isn’t close enough, isn’t good enough, isn’t satisfactory for a franchise that’s gone 0-for-the-last-seven-seasons in terms of winning a playoff game, let alone adding to its collection of Lombardi Trophies.
If a soundtrack was required to summarize the State of the Steelers right about now, Tom Petty’s “American Girl” would suffice nicely:
“God, it’s so painful, something that’s so close and still so far out of reach.”
Since their 2023 season ended the Steelers have come to the necessary conclusion that their next offensive coordinator should come from outside the organization.
And they’ve identified the been-there, done-that candidate they sought in former Tennessee OC and Atlanta head coach Arthur Smith.
Now comes the really hard part.
“In terms of the next step, we need to do everything we can to make sure we get quality play out of our quarterback position going forward,” Steelers President Art Rooney II emphasized in his season-ending State of the Union this week.
Kenny Pickett will get the first crack at providing that.
But what Pickett has delivered previously and what the Steelers need are two different things, and the Steelers know it.
“We still feel good about Kenny, where he can go,” Rooney maintained. “Obviously, he does need to take another step.”
Too many of the steps taken by Pickett in 2023, other than those at the end of games, were in the wrong direction.
The steps taken by the offense once Mason Rudolph ended up under center were reassuring as well as encouraging.
The offensive line looked better with Rudolph playing, better than it had last season and better than it had been at the outset of this season.
So did the running backs.
So did the wide receivers and tight ends.
Rudolph’s play confirmed “what we’re capable of on offense with the personnel we have here right now,” Rooney concluded.
There’s a great deal of value in that.
But none of it will be enough without the right trigger man.
“He knows he needs to work hard to take the next step,” Rooney insisted of Pickett.
Smith has been brought aboard, in part, to activate Pickett, so that Pickett can, in turn, activate the rest of the offense.
Presumably, a quarterbacks coach will eventually be tasked in a similar fashion.
If what’s necessary at the quarterback position still proves beyond Pickett’s grasp, they’ll need to find a different quarterback.
And that’s where a potential resolution becomes complicated as well as critical.
Rudolph’s been that guy in a short sample size, but he’s also an impending free agent.
Mitch Trubisky has likely played his way out of town.
Is there another veteran out there to factor into the equation? A draft pick? A potential trade that can or needs to be made?
“I’d say there’s still more to come to see who’s in the room, the quarterback room, when we start camp this summer,” Rooney admitted.
At present, it’s not a room with a good enough view.
Smith’s track record suggests he’ll be part of the solution.
He was an accomplished offensive coordinator in Tennessee, as opposed to a poor head coach in Atlanta. A big part of the former was his ability to extract quality play from quarterback Ryan Tannehill, better play than Tannehill had been able to deliver in Miami, or was capable of after Smith left Tennessee for Atlanta.
But there are no guarantees Smith will have the same impact with Pickett.
So “close” or “closer” is a matter of interpretation much more than it is a certainty.
“I think it’s fair to say that I do feel that we’re closer this year at this stage of the game than we were at this point last year,” Rooney assessed. “I think we have a core group of players. We can compete with this group.
“As I said, I think the biggest thing we need is quality play at the quarterback position.”
As they just got done establishing, without that the rest of it isn’t enough.
