The NFL is the United States' most competitive league. Shout out to the NBA for getting with the times in recent years, and MLB: you need to take a serious look in the mirror. In any case, fans of a team in any sport have come to a near-unanimous conclusion: if you've got a top team, perfect. If your team is in the basement, that's OK, too, as long as you hit with the top-tier draft picks your misery affords. The most dreaded place to be, though? Purgatory.
Every year there are a few playoff teams that seemingly boast less than a 1 percent chance of even making the second round, much less a Super Bowl run. In recent memory, that tag has almost always applied to the Steelers. Instead of making a bold push to acquire a franchise quarterback they've been lacking since Ben Roethlisberger retired (a few years too late, at that), they've opted to cheap out at the game's most important position.
The 2025 Steelers outfit made the playoffs by centimeters on a missed Ravens field goal. It's safe to assume even the most ardent Pittsburgh fan didn't watch Aaron Rodgers dump three-yard pass after three-yard pass and think: "we can make a run!" No, your eyes weren't fooling you. Rodgers' 6.0 average depth of target ranked 33rd out of 33 qualifiers in 2025. Needless to say, the Steelers want to run it back ... for some reason.
The Steelers are projected to be in the middle-of-the-pack for the millionth straight year
In a piece for Bleacher Report, Kristopher Knox wrote of each new head coach's realistic expectations in terms of win total, and you almost miss the Steelers at 9–8, as that kind of performance from them is as certain as the sun rising in the east.
"[Mike McCarthy] has a history with Aaron Rodgers, who is still widely expected to return and be Pittsburgh's starting QB this season — though the team continues to play the waiting game. ... Even with Rodgers, the Steelers probably aren't Super Bowl contenders. Even winning the AFC North will prove difficult, as Baltimore and the Cincinnati Bengals both appear poised to rebound. However, Pittsburgh added a few notable pieces who should keep it in the playoff mix."
To say that they wouldn't be contenders is generous. Chasing what's left of 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers is only slightly more embarrassing than doing it for 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers, which the Steelers did last year. The fact that they got to see how it worked out and still want to play the waiting game with the melodramatic puzzler is so un-Steelers that Browns fans can't help but cackle.
Sure, the future Hall of Famer has enough left in his ailing body to keep an offense afloat in a pinch, but without their 1970s defense to carry him along, it's simply a winding road to a familiar place. The 2025 Steelers defense is not up to snuff. The unit ranked 17th in points allowed and 26th in yards in 2025, and all they've done in 2026 is get older.
As far as the Browns go, they need to go about finding their franchise QB sooner rather than later. The Steelers will only be able to chase aging former franchise QBs for as long as the market sprouts them. If they somehow wind up shoring up the position before the Browns, something has gone drastically wrong.
The 2026 season represents a critical time in Browns history. The disastrous decision to trade for Deshaun Watson will finally run its course at the end of the year. Whether Shedeur Sanders cements himself as a franchise quarterback, the team finishes poorly enough to draft a top-tier prospect early, or Andrew Berry gets aggressive in acquiring a QB, the era of not having an answer is finally coming to an end.
All before the Steelers win a playoff game — a feat they last accomplished in 2016, four years before the Browns' last win in the playoffs, against them no less.
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