Steelers Tabbed as Team That Reignited Super Bowl Hopes

With a strong free agency and incredible draft class, Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report thinks the Pittsburgh Steelers have reignited their Super Bowl hopes.

The Steelers finished 10-7 and appeared in a wild-card playoff game in 2023, thanks to Mason Rudolph’s late-season heroics. It was an up-and-down season, however, as Pittsburgh started three different quarterbacks who combined for 13 touchdowns. With Russell Wilson and Justin Fields now on the roster, the Steelers at least have some stability at the game’s most important position.

“The Kenny Pickett first-round selection flopped. To Pittsburgh’s credit, the organization didn’t fall prey to the sunk-cost fallacy. Instead, general manager Omar Khan immediately pursued Russell Wilson after the Denver Broncos released the veteran quarterback,” Sobleski wrote.

“Khan doubled down at the game’s most important position by flipping a conditional 2025 sixth-round draft pick to the Chicago Bears for Justin Fields.”

Sobleski isn’t entirely sold on the Steelers’ quarterback plan, and I don’t think most people are, but it is better than the combination of Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph.

“The Steelers may be buying low when it comes to both of these quarterbacks, yet each is an upgrade over what the team featured a year ago when it still found a way to win 10 games and snuck into the postseason,” he wrote.

Despite the improvements, the Steelers still have the worst odds to win the AFC North at +700, according to one sportsbook. The AFC North, which is considered to be the best division in football, is always an uphill battle.

All four AFC North teams finished above . 500 in 2023, becoming the first division since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 to have all four of its teams finish with a winning record.

“The AFC North will be a dog fight this fall, especially with Joe Burrow and Deshaun Watson expected to be healthy. The Steelers have closed the most ground throughout this offseason, though,” Sobleski wrote.

Pro Football Network’s Dakota Randall named quarterback as the Steelers’ biggest question by far, stating that they are in no man’s land at the quarterback position.

“Pittsburgh Steelers fans will talk themselves into believing Justin Fields can be an effective NFL starting quarterback. The rest of the league would disagree with them. They also might believe Russell Wilson has something left in the tank. Again, the league would disagree. Pittsburgh is in no man’s land at quarterback, hitching its wagons to an aging veteran and a talented but deeply flawed fourth-year pro. There’s a chance this works out, but it’s slim,” Randall wrote.