Steelers Now
Mark Madden of 105.9 The X blames one person for the Pittsburgh Steelers being in quarterback purgatory, and that’s former head coach Mike Tomlin.
“If you wanna blame somebody for how badly the Steelers have mangled the quarterback situation, it’s Mike Tomlin,” Madden said. “Tomlin was the guy who made the call to draft [Kenny] Pickett. That is a fact. [Kevin] Colbert was the GM but that’s a fact. Tomlin made that call. He was the only guy with any stroke in the organization that wanted to do it in the first round. And he had more stroke than anybody.
“But it’s not just about Tomlin having drafted Pickett. It’s about no quarterback ever developed on Tomlin’s watch. And Tomlin hired inferior offensive minds to coach the quarterbacks and coordinate the offense, so you tell me who f’d it up with the Steelers at quarterback over the long haul. And it is a long haul now.”
It’s hard to argue that the Steelers have not completely mismanaged the quarterback position since Ben Roethlisberger retired following the 2021 season.
The Steelers swung and missed on Kenny Pickett in the 2022 NFL Draft. Dan Graziano of ESPN thinks that mistake has caused the Steelers to be hesitant about selecting another quarterback in the first round.
“It’s been 10 years since the Steelers have won a playoff game, and the frustration got to be too much for coach Mike Tomlin, who stepped down after 19 seasons,” Graziano wrote. “In came Mike McCarthy to replace him, and the Steelers are going in this time with a 42-year-old Rodgers who’s coming off the most meh seasons in the history of meh. They also have Will Howard, who was their sixth-round pick in 2025, and Drew Allar, who was their third-round pick in this year’s draft. Rudolph is still around, too.
“There isn’t a playoff-type team that has taken the quarterback position less seriously than the Steelers have over the past three years. It’s as if the Kenny Pickett first-round flop broke their will and they’ve decided it’s just not worth it to try for real answers. The overall roster looks better than it did a year ago, but the coaching change and the refusal to look anywhere else but Rodgers for a QB solution make Pittsburgh feel like a franchise whose ceiling is well established at this point.”
Mike McCarthy‘s offense is known to put up points. He also has a long history of developing quarterbacks. Only time will tell if McCarthy can put the Steelers in the right direction at the game’s most important position.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Radio Host Blames Mike Tomlin for Steelers Quarterback Mess: ‘This Is a Fact’
