The definition of insanity is starting to become many fans’ definition of their beloved Pittsburgh Steelers. As the calendar is about to flip to February with nary a new wrinkle in the organization, as far as we can tell from the outside, the natives are restless.
But it’s not entirely fair to say the Steelers stayed stagnant from 2023 to 2024. Yes, this past season ended with yet another first-round exit in the playoffs. Clearly, more needs to be done for this franchise to take the next step.
When you look back at how the Steelers approached it, though, it’s not accurate to say they kept their entire philosophy and operation status quo from years past. Team president Art Rooney II ruled out the idea of expanding his coaching staff earlier this week, but otherwise “wouldn’t dismiss anything” when it comes to new opportunities for the team to seek a winning edge.
Let’s revisit some of the deck chairs that were shuffled on what turned out to be another titanic collapse:
Cutting bait on Kenny
Kenny Pickett’s trade to the Eagles after just two seasons was most un-Steeler-like. There’s little doubt it was hastened by Pickett’s own desire to get out of town and have a fresh start after the signing of Russell Wilson, but regardless of circumstance, it was the shortest Steelers tenure for one of their first-round picks since defensive lineman Huey Richardson. Richardson was traded after just one season (1991).
It was reasonable to expect that if the Steelers could win 10 games behind Pickett and Mason Rudolph, they could improve upon that number with a quarterback duo of Wilson and Justin Fields. Ironically, they finished with just the same record. The Steelers went 7-5 in games started by Pickett each of his two years here, and they’re 6-6 in games started by Wilson in his lone season.
Now Pickett is enjoying a Super Bowl run as the Eagles’ backup to Jalen Hurts, while the Steelers are trying to sort out their quarterback hierarchy for the second offseason in a row. They cut bait quickly on a major draft investment, and while Pickett might never become the starting-caliber quarterback they hoped he’d be, the jury is out on whether they’ll be better off for it.
“It’s disappointing that Kenny didn’t work out to be our long-term quarterback here,” Rooney said Monday. “... We just have to look at the next opportunity and make sure we do a good job evaluating the next time around.”
Out with the old, in with the new
Even before the quarterback shuffle, the Steelers left their comfort zone in another area. While they had no choice but to find a new offensive coordinator to replace Matt Canada after his midseason firing, they didn’t stand pat elsewhere on the coaching staff.
Amid a concerning lack of development in their receiving corps, they did not renew the contract of position coach Frisman Jackson. They moved quarterback coach Mike Sullivan to a senior offensive assistant role and hired Tom Arth, who deftly helped to navigate a tricky situation with Wilson and Fields.
But maybe even more notable than routine churn among position coaches was that in early February, the Steelers parted ways with longtime strength and conditioning coach Marcel Pastoor. They turned that department over to Boston College’s Phil Matusz and expanded the staff under him, which now includes three assistants. Mike Tomlin doesn’t seem all that pleased with the early returns.
“How can we keep our team healthier?” he asked at his season wrap-up news conference. “That was a discussion that happened [with Rooney and Omar Khan] yesterday, for example. We experienced a rash of soft-tissue injuries that was impactful, and that's just an example of many of the things and subjects that we have covered and will continue to cover as we assess what transpired and quickly transition ourselves and build for the future at the same time.”
Training camp tweaks
Perhaps in concert with the new strength and conditioning braintrust, Tomlin also altered the practice schedule in Latrobe last summer after years of emphasizing the work under the sun at the hottest point of the day. The Steelers pivoted to have most of their sessions in the morning, and they kicked off camp with a more rigorous conditioning test.
That, of course, coincided with Wilson’s significant calf strain that scuttled the start of his Steelers career. And it was the first of many of those soft-tissue injuries Tomlin had on his mind two days after the season ended.
But Tomlin also broke his resistance to the NFL trend of joint practices, playing host to the Bills at Acrisure Stadium at the conclusion of training camp. That competition was spirited but not foolish, physical but not over-the-top chippy.
There are no obvious parallels to draw between moving on from a miss in the draft, changing the way players work out or scrapping it up with another team for a bonus practice and the quality of football come December. But to say the Steelers are completely stuck in their ways on every level wouldn't be true. And this is where you quip that they may have even changed the flavor of Gatorade in the sideline coolers.
First Published: February 1, 2025, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: February 3, 2025, 1:25 p.m.
