Analyst: Steelers Should Tank the Rest of the Season

The Steelers are firmly in the AFC wild-card race, earning the sixth seed coming out of a wild Saturday. Officially, they own the tiebreakers over every other 7-6 team while they will play two of the teams in that pile in the coming weeks. That will decide their playoff fate, but for one analyst, it does matter.

Adam Schein believes that the Steelers need significant change and should make it. But before they make that change, Schein believes that the team may need to see their group struggle to be forced to make that change. That led to Schein saying that he believes it would benefit the team’s future if they lost out, finishing 7-10 and breaking Mike Tomlin’s non-losing season streak.

“Ths is a mess in Pittsburgh,” Schein said. “I think the best thing that could happen to Pittsburgh you know, we always say the standard is the standard, right? Kyle Long said it’s mediocrity. Alright, so lose out. Now you know.”

That’s an interesting take on it. But at some point, there has to be a breaking point. Whether that change comes at head coach, quarterback, the coaching staff at large, or multiple places, the group is spinning its wheels in place. That much is true. They have not won a playoff game since 2016.

Of course, no coach, player, or executive will advocate for the Steelers to tank. That’s not going to happen when the playoffs are in view. But the group has to figure something out to crack open their future. They continue to struggle to get over the hump of mediocrity, especially since Ben Roethlisberger’s severe elbow injury in 2019. Whatever they need to do from a personnel or coaching perspective has to be done. The defense is not getting younger, and Pittsburgh does need to find water moving forward.