Should the Steelers rest their starters?

[Mojouw]

Because anything can happen with weather, wind, fumbles, but yes ultimately at this point it would have been better to go 3-14 and get a shot at a high pick. Unfortunately barring some very lucky drafting this team is going to be stuck in this position for a very long time. I'm not going to rehash what I've already posted multiple times. Coach .501 is what he is. A Coach that keeps his team competitive but not the cream of the crop. Unless we hit pay dirt with a QB somewhere this team will be a .501 team.

You have basically described every team in the NFL.

Honestly, I don't wish to argue with you. You and others can feel any single darn way you want about the state of the Steelers. I just can not understand where you are coming from. No one is winning without high end QB play. Either you get that QB play from having a honest to goodness good QB or you get it by Jed mind tricking some previously mediocre QB into playing better through fancy schmancy scheme stuff.

And, looking at it across the league, the scheme wizardry gets you a couple of seasons. Look at Miami, they had injuries and other issues and it doesn't look good. Daboll coaxed a decent year out of Daniel Jones and now the Giants are picking top 3 in the draft -- again. The Niners (the gold standard for Jedi trickery) fell apart when they didn't have their top guys. Other teams have weathered similar spates of injuries and not collapsed. The Bucs are currently just the Steelers with more wideouts.

If I can understand things, folks want the Steelers to be an exceptional case. The 1 of 1 franchise that achieves playoff victories, regardless of the state of the roster, specifically the QB position. I will grant that we can split the recent playoff drought into two boxes (2016-18 and 2019-24). The one box was disappointing, the other is a wonder they are even in the bracket.

And, again I am NOT picking on you (you were good enough to respond!), but the "hey get in and anything can happen thing" is hard for me to square as well. If the Steelers squeak a bad team into the playoffs, "hey they should win a few rounds and you never know!" but if they bring a good squad to the playoffs and get beat...the same ideas do not apply. Those teams were embarrassing or unprepared or whatever. If the argument is valid that it can go any way once you start the playoffs, than you have to accept it both ways. And Steelers fans do not.

There is a discussion here somewhere about expectations. And that is my point. I have never encountered a fan base as unrealistic with their expectations as Steelers fans. They truly believe the Steelers are exceptional and regularly get disappointed and angry in their reactions when the team does not experience a unique or almost totally unique outcome. The discussion and frustration over playoff victories and losses from 2019-24, for me, is the same as when people were shocked and dismayed that Trubisky didn't work out. Trubisky working out would've been an almost completely unique outcome. The 2019-24 Steelers winning playoff games is the same thing. They don't have the horses to be in the race.

[EzraTank]

I think we are agreeing more then disagreeing. I LOATH being stuck in this position year after year. I hate the fact that teams like the Steelers refuse to lose in order to get better. Look at Cowher, he put up a few stinker years but as a result landed players like Troy and Ben from it. But with Tomlin's "never had a losing season" bullshit we continue to draft in the same spot year after year. I'm not saying drafting higher will guarantee us a better player but this sure as hell ain't working.

[El Kabong]

I think we are agreeing more then disagreeing. I LOATH being stuck in this position year after year. I hate the fact that teams like the Steelers refuse to lose in order to get better. Look at Cowher, he put up a few stinker years but as a result landed players like Troy and Ben from it. But with Tomlin's "never had a losing season" bullshit we continue to draft in the same spot year after year. I'm not saying drafting higher will guarantee us a better player but this sure as hell ain't working.

You're saying Tomlin should intentionally lose? Tomlin should intentionally go 3-14? Failin' for Jalen?

[El Kabong]

Why?

For me -and no one has to agree - if I know my team isn't a big time contender, what round they lose in during the playoffs makes no nevermind to me as a fan.

During the prime Ben years, no matter how understable, playoff losses stung. Because they had a chance to go far.

But with Mason Rudolph at the controls? Meh. Doesn't move the needle.

I don't share the attitude that if the Steelers don't win the Super Bowl, then they might has well have had a losing record.

For one thing it is FUN to see the Steelers win a playoff game. That IS supposed to be the point of watching, right?

But also, as fans we want to have hope that the team is moving in the right direction. Seeing the Steelers win a playoff game gives us reason to hope.

[NCSteeler]

You have basically described every team in the NFL.

Honestly, I don't wish to argue with you. You and others can feel any single darn way you want about the state of the Steelers. I just can not understand where you are coming from. No one is winning without high end QB play. Either you get that QB play from having a honest to goodness good QB or you get it by Jed mind tricking some previously mediocre QB into playing better through fancy schmancy scheme stuff.

And, looking at it across the league, the scheme wizardry gets you a couple of seasons. Look at Miami, they had injuries and other issues and it doesn't look good. Daboll coaxed a decent year out of Daniel Jones and now the Giants are picking top 3 in the draft -- again. The Niners (the gold standard for Jedi trickery) fell apart when they didn't have their top guys. Other teams have weathered similar spates of injuries and not collapsed. The Bucs are currently just the Steelers with more wideouts.

If I can understand things, folks want the Steelers to be an exceptional case. The 1 of 1 franchise that achieves playoff victories, regardless of the state of the roster, specifically the QB position. I will grant that we can split the recent playoff drought into two boxes (2016-18 and 2019-24). The one box was disappointing, the other is a wonder they are even in the bracket.

And, again I am NOT picking on you (you were good enough to respond!), but the "hey get in and anything can happen thing" is hard for me to square as well. If the Steelers squeak a bad team into the playoffs, "hey they should win a few rounds and you never know!" but if they bring a good squad to the playoffs and get beat...the same ideas do not apply. Those teams were embarrassing or unprepared or whatever. If the argument is valid that it can go any way once you start the playoffs, than you have to accept it both ways. And Steelers fans do not.

There is a discussion here somewhere about expectations. And that is my point. I have never encountered a fan base as unrealistic with their expectations as Steelers fans. They truly believe the Steelers are exceptional and regularly get disappointed and angry in their reactions when the team does not experience a unique or almost totally unique outcome. The discussion and frustration over playoff victories and losses from 2019-24, for me, is the same as when people were shocked and dismayed that Trubisky didn't work out. Trubisky working out would've been an almost completely unique outcome. The 2019-24 Steelers winning playoff games is the same thing. They don't have the horses to be in the race.

I don't think this is totally true. Because I work with a Bears fan who is regularly Pissed Off at losses, at coach hires, at draft picks. LOL

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[EzraTank]

You're saying Tomlin should intentionally lose? Tomlin should intentionally go 3-14? Failin' for Jalen?

No, I'm not saying that at all. The job of the coach is to try to win with the roster he has. I'm not talking just about Tomlin, I'm talking about the WHOLE organization. At some point the GM has to consider trading away GREAT player(s), that will effect the immediate roster, for draft capital to rebuild the team. Think the the Cowboys of the late 80's, that traded away Herschel Walker. It directly lead the Cowboys to sucking for the short term but eventually led to the building of the Troy Aikmen, Michael Irving, Emmitt Smith Cowboys of the early 90's that dominated the NFL. Unfortunately aging teams need to do this to rebuild. The whole, we're going to "retool" thing doesn't work. All it does is put you in a loop of being good but not great, which is where this team is stuck. Kudos to Tomlin for winning with his players enough to stay over .500 but again we are stuck in a rut. When your car is stuck in the mud do you just keep flooring it and hope you get out, or do you try different things?

But in order for this to happen from the owner on down has to buy into it. The GM needs to know that the owner will have their back because they have a rebuilding plan. Would the Rooney's accept losing short term to win long term?

[Born2Steel]

These points have all been covered multiple times but, here goes again.

The season was going along great. Then we went on a 4 game losing streak at the end and now everyone wants to blow it up and rebuild the whole thing. IF those losses were going to happen anyway, the fanbase would not be so doom and gloom had they been spread out over the season rather than all in a row. AND it is possible if those games weren't pretty much all in the same month/3 weeks. I see it that we had a pretty good season with lots of positives, but a very bad December.

QB...You cannot win in this league consistently, or make deep playoff runs without a franchise QB. There are outliers which get brought up each time this is pointed out. Those are OUTLIERS. Those teams also had elite level defenses. The point of the statement is CONSISTENCY. You simply must have your QB to contend in this league.
That said, it is my opinion that we should be negotiating already to keep Justin Fields. If we lose this playoff game, once that final whistle blows, we will not have a single QB under contract for 2025. This upcoming QB draft has been declared WEAK! by all the draft experts(Wizards). Fields is the only option with future potential from this roster. Keep Fields and draft a rookie, probably round2, is our best option.

This team is not in shambles needing to be blown up and restarted from the top down, as I have seen posted so many times lately. We need to continue the course. Consistency builds a winning team. Keep adding pieces. Replace the pieces that don't fit.(there's an eternal debate)

[EzraTank]

The only problem with this mindset is that if you wait to keep adding pieces then your truly best pieces are old and worn out by time the new pieces get there. How many more years does TJ have on his body? Again I go back to the Herschel Walker trade by the Cowboys. Walker was a stud and went on to have a lot of good years with the Vikings and Eagles but the Cowboys used his draft capital to build a core of players that were all close in age that became great. If you draft 2-3 great players right now by time they are great in the NFL Watt is going to be 32 years old and declining.

I do agree about the franchise QB. They don't grow on trees but if you have one, building a team around them is a lot easier then building a team around a player like TJ Watt.

[NCSteeler]

It's clear we should have traded Watt last year for a top pick and picked a QB.

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[ALLD]

I don't think they could have traded Watt without losing a few fans. It would have been bad PR. However, anything could be on the table now including sending Tomlin to Chicago.

I would look for OL starters, a new RB and CB. If I could get a top pick for Tomlin I would release him with best wishes of success.

[Born2Steel]

The only problem with this mindset is that if you wait to keep adding pieces then your truly best pieces are old and worn out by time the new pieces get there. How many more years does TJ have on his body? Again I go back to the Herschel Walker trade by the Cowboys. Walker was a stud and went on to have a lot of good years with the Vikings and Eagles but the Cowboys used his draft capital to build a core of players that were all close in age that became great. If you draft 2-3 great players right now by time they are great in the NFL Watt is going to be 32 years old and declining.

I do agree about the franchise QB. They don't grow on trees but if you have one, building a team around them is a lot easier then building a team around a player like TJ Watt.

Ben was brought in with an already established team. Those pieces were in place for him when he got here. You keep adding to your best players with more good players while you search for the next franchise QB.