Lets Hit A Reset On Steelers Expectations
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t have the NFL’s highest expectations heading into the preseason. Sure, people locally were excited, but Las Vegas had them as odds-on favorites to finish last in the AFC North, and the national media was at best slightly above lukewarm on Mike Tomlin’s bunch. Most early preseason Pittsburgh predictions went a lot like this: “It’s a good, young roster with a few new veteran leaders and a young quarterback. They aren’t gonna destroy people, but with Mike Tomlin at the helm, they’ll never be bad.”
But then after a third-straight stellar performance in the preseason finale, something changed. All of a sudden Kenny Pickett was Peter Schrager’s No. 1 player to watch, and Bill Simmons was calling the Black and Gold his dark horse Super Bowl team. Everyone lost their mind. The Steelers upsetting the San Francisco 49ers became a popular bet by the Sharps in Vegas, and throngs of believers geared up to watch the inevitable ascent of Kenny Pickett and the high-flying Pittsburgh offense.
And then, blam! A 30-7 destruction at the hands of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch’s roster. The Niners made the Steelers look like a JV squad as they carved Pittsburgh up in every aspect of the game.
Of course, the hot-take pendulum swung dramatically the other way.
“Kenny Pickett was garbage, maybe he doesn’t have what it takes.”
“Tomlin got outcoached again, it’s time to fire up the hot seat.”
”Patrick Peterson couldn’t have looked older and slower. This defense is in trouble.”
This is the perfect time to take a moment, breathe, and head back to a time and place before the preseason mania took things out of control.
The 49ers are one of the best teams in football, and although this was a very poor performance for the Steelers, that doesn’t mean anything about the original hopes and expectations have changed. This is a young group that’s going to make mistakes and lose to better rosters at times. But that in itself doesn’t make for a lost season after Week 1. Tomlin and his coaches now need to do what they do best: teach and develop. This won’t be the last time Pickett and his teammates get smacked, and they need to learn to recover and reapond. Next time it might be in Week 17, with the playoffs on the line the following Sunday.
Judging a team after Week 1 is a pretty slippery slope. The easiest and most recent example is the Green Bay Packers in 2021. They opened the year with an all-out debacle, falling to the New Orleans Saints 38-3. Before you knew it, Green Bay was riding an Aaron Rodgers MVP-season all the way to an NFC North championship and a No. 1 seed. They would (coincidentally) eventually lose to San Francisco in in a snow-filled Divisional round matchup, but they recovered post Week 1 embarrassment.
The year previous, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got walloped by those same Saints to the tune of 34-23 (in a game that wasn’t nearly that close), only to turn right around and go win a Super Bowl.
Does that mean we think this Steelers team is destined for greatness? We do not. It simply means that opening week results shouldn’t deter reasonable preseason expectations. Both the Packers and Buccaneers had Super Bowl intentions walking into the season and both were able to correct their path despite an early stumble.
If the Steelers focus on what went wrong and how to fix it, there’s no reason to believe that this still can’t be the team that many hoped it would be: a young, hungry group that will get better every step of the way. A team that could potentially challenge for a playoff spot, but ultimately whose growth will set the table for a squad that should compete for a Lombardi in the coming years. These were the original expectations and they are still well with in reason despite the week 1 mess. There’s no need to overreact. Just reset your focus and sit back and watch the team grow.
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