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Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger enters the field for warmups before taking on the Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
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Joe Starkey: Steelers’ future in loaded AFC looks bleak if they don't find a quarterback

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Joe Starkey: Steelers’ future in loaded AFC looks bleak if they don't find a quarterback

Shortly after one of the more embarrassing playoff defeats in franchise history (I’ve learned to cut and paste that line), Mike Tomlin raved about the Kansas City Chiefs and spoke of his team’s challenging future.

I’m sure he didn’t mean to frighten anyone, but if the Steelers don’t find a star quarterback very soon, you should be very frightened.

Have you looked around the AFC lately? It is literally an arms race at the top. A golden age of great young quarterbacks.

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Mason Rudolph isn’t one of them.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger heads to the bench against the Chiefs late in the fourth quarter, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
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“(The Chiefs) have a really good football team, an explosive team,” Tomlin said. “If we want to carve out a niche in this thing and push through the AFC, we gotta deal with the likes of that bunch moving forward. We understand that.”

Do the Steelers understand that? I have my doubts, especially if the plan is to go with Rudolph next season. The only scenario in which that would be acceptable is Rudolph-as-place-holder for a first-round pick. (Kenny Pickett, anyone?)

If the idea is to become “explosive,” Tomlin cannot believe Rudolph is his guy. The Steelers simply will not survive — and certainly not “push through” the AFC — if they do not find a dynamic player at the most important position on the field.

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Look around the conference. The position is rife with ridiculous talent. Patrick Mahomes. Josh Allen. Joe Burrow. Justin Herbert. Lamar Jackson. They’re everywhere — and yet not easy to find outside of the early part of the first round.

If an established star such as Russell Wilson (highly doubtful) or Aaron Rodgers (keep dreaming) actually becomes available, the Steelers should move mountains. But who’s counting on that? And while I like Pickett, is there a surefire star in the first round? And will he even be available?

In other words, the Steelers appear to be in a world of trouble. Maybe they could trade for a Derek Carr or miraculously rehabilitate a Mitch Trubisky. I don’t know. Neither do they. That’s the scary part.

On the other hand, they haven’t had a quarterback win a playoff game in five years or turn in a great playoff performance in about a decade, so it’s not like the next guy has a recent postseason legacy to live up to.

Steelers running back Najee Harris carries against the Chiefs in the second quarter, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
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Meanwhile ...

• As the 42-21 debacle unfolded, people wondered if it would have been better to miss the playoffs altogether. No way, I say. The final two weeks of the regular season were filled with thrills. Ben Roethlisberger beat the hated Browns (again), got the home sendoff he deserved, then beat the hated Ravens (again) to lead into Chargers-Raiders, capping a day Steelers fans will remember forever. This did not undo that.

• At the same time, nobody should confuse the Steelers sneaking into the newly created third wild card spot as proof they’re on the right track or had some kind of miraculous season. Or even a good season. They finished 9-8-1 with a minus-76 point differential. I think it was Tomlin’s worst team.

The following words appeared in this space after the 36-10 loss at Kansas City on Dec. 26th, and I’ll stand by every one of them:

You watch. The Steelers will beat the pathetic Cleveland Browns and the pathetic-er Baltimore Ravens — teams with a combined 1-7 record over the past four weeks — and sneak into the playoffs at 9-7-1. They’ll snatch the final wild card spot.

And then we can hear all about how Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Tomlin have never had a losing season and about how these never-say-die Steelers shocked the world and proved their doubters wrong.

We’ll know better, of course, because we’ve been watching this travesty unfold by the week. We’ll know it’s an illusion, just like all these junk yards the Steelers pile up late in games. The illusion will be born of the fact that Baltimore has no players left, the Browns still have one (Baker Mayfield) who kills them every week and the rest of the AFC bubble crowd is bad beyond words.

• Where did this game rank among the Steelers’ most embarrassing playoff defeats? Man, when the other team has receivers waving cheerleaders’ pom-poms, a quarterback throwing five touchdown passes in 11 minutes, a tight end tossing a TD pass and an offensive linemen catching one, it has to be up there.

Envelopes, please ...

5. This one

4. Loss to Chargers after recording Super Bowl video

3. Blake Bortles

2. Cleveland 48, Pittsburgh 37

1. Tebow

You'll notice that four of the five have occurred since 2010, and the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in five years — their longest drought since Bill Austin’s final years and Chuck Noll’s initial ones. But everything is fine; you should feel lucky you don’t root for the Lions; none of this was Ben’s fault; and Tomlin has never had a losing season.

Did I do that right?

• The Steelers became the first team in NFL history to give up at least 40 points in three consecutive playoff games. They have surrendered 171 points in their past four playoff games. The 2008 team gave up 223 points all season. Do you think it’s time for the Tomlin/Keith Butler coordinator-ship to end? Art Rooney II needs to tell Tomlin to hire an outside coordinator. Preferably one who can keep teams under 40 points in playoff games, should the Steelers find themselves in another one anytime soon (maybe they’ll add a fourth wild card!).

• Don’t let the offense off the hook. The Steelers have scored 100 points in their past three playoff games, but you and I both know how deceiving that number is. The offense helped dig a deep hole in each game, gave up early touchdowns in two, and piled up yards and points in desperate second halves.

Perfect example: Roethlisberger throwing an interception at his own 18 on the Steelers’ second series in the Jacksonville loss, then getting strip-sacked for a 50-yard touchdown that made it 28-7. The comeback was fun. The damage was done.

• If you believe the Matt Canada experiment was an unmitigated disaster, blame the man who hired him. The end of last season marked a critical time to get it right on offense. Tomlin hired the wrong coordinator and the wrong line coach. That’s a big 0-for-2.

• Having said that, let’s be honest: Defenses didn’t respect Roethlisberger’s ability to beat them over the top anymore. It’s tough to scheme around that. Sure, Ben piled up yards late Sunday, but the notion that he could have done it earlier if only Canada had let him seems a bit far-fetched.

Defenses play differently when they’re ahead by a million points.

Joe Star­key: jstar­key@post-ga­zette.com and Twit­ter @jo­e­star­key1. Joe Star­key can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show week­days from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.

First Published: January 17, 2022, 1:39 p.m.

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