According to a report from NFL Network: Steelers HC Mike Tomlin needs to get these two things right
According to an NFL Network report, head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Tomlin told the club on Tuesday that he intends to return for the 2024 campaign and that rumors of his resignation were untrue.
In the event that Tomlin returns to the Pittsburgh bench for a record 18th season, there are two crucial areas that he and the team must address this offseason.
Among them is their prospective offensive coordinator. The other is their quarterback.
Those are the two most important spots that could help the Steelers climb out of the NFL’s middle ground they have found themselves stuck in.
For the past five years the Steelers offense has consistently been among the lowest-scoring and least innovative offenses in the NFL, finishing 27th, 12th, 21st, 26th and 28th respectively in scoring.
Former offensive coordinators Matt Canada and Randy Fichtner failed to adapt the approach to the contemporary game, and quarterback play has constantly been lacking—dating back to Ben Roethlisberger’s final years of playing.
Because of how awful their offensive was in 2023, the Steelers did something unprecedented in their history: they dismissed assistant coach Canada in the middle of the season. Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan were his replacements, and they were hardly any better.
If the Steelers intend to be more dynamic and efficient on offense, and ultimately snap their seven-year playoff win drought, they need to get a new vision and new ideas for that side of the ball.
It also needs a new quarterback to help pull everything together.
The Steelers signed veteran Mitch Trubisky and selected Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft in an effort to strengthen their quarterback situation after Roethlisberger retired. They also brought back Mason Rudolph. None of them took any action to show that they are the team’s long-term solution.
In his sophomore season, Pickett had an astonishing lack of growth, and the Steelers failed to win any of the games in which Trubisky played. The Steelers offense did not score thirty points in a game this season until Rudolph started the final three games of the regular season.
But for as well as he played in helping to get the Steelers into the playoffs, he is not any sort of a long-term solution. He is also a free agent this offseason.
Whether they dip into the free agent market, explore a trade, or figure out a way to move up in the draft from their No. 20 overall spot the Steelers have to aggressively work to get a serious long-term solution at the position.
In particular, they face competition from players like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and now C.J. Stroud in the AFC. It will not be enough for players like Pickett and Rudolph to compete against those players.
It’s a credit to the quality of the defense and Tomlin’s continued effectiveness that this club managed to win ten games and qualify for the playoffs despite facing one of the most difficult schedules in the league and playing in the hardest division with subpar quarterback and offensive play.
However, the offensive needs to get better if they want to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender once more. Starting with the upcoming offensive coordinator and quarterback, that is all.
