Unpopular Opinion: The Steelers don’t need to win a playoff game to have a successful 2025 season
When the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the dreaded long offseason, there are plenty of ideas to debate. As part of the triumphant trio on the Steelers Preview podcast, I’ve been known to often give a “Dave answer“ to various things as I often like to argue both sides of an issue. With this in mind, a new weekly segment has been born… Unpopular opinion.
There are plenty of arguments both for and against the Pittsburgh Steelers that might not go along with the majority of fans. Oftentimes I believe in these arguments, while other times I simply like to pose a counter argument for ones that are taking it too much to the extreme. For this reason, I’m going to offer some points about the Pittsburgh Steelers that go against the general fan narrative, or at least how I have heard things.
Next up is getting over the proverbial hump when it comes to Steelers success…
The Steelers don’t need to win a playoff game to have a successful 2025 season
I’m sure this one will get some people stirred up. I know in the comments to the articles lately people have been expressing how they’re constantly agreeing with the unpopular opinion. I tried to finish things up going well away from the norm.
Before getting into everything, I first must admit that simply because the Steelers don’t need to win a playoff game in order to have a successful season, it would go a very long way in building the résumé that the season was a success. With the Steelers making the playoffs more often than not yet not having a victory in the postseason the last eight years, it is the next step in in gauging success.
But it’s not the only gauge.
Is it likely that the Steelers can have a successful season without winning a playoff game? Probably not. But is it possible? Absolutely.
There are a couple of examples of where the Steelers could have a very successful season and still not win a playoff game. First, the Steelers could get a very unfavorable matchup in the first round. A possible scenario is a team who deals with massive injuries early in the season and has a very poor record only to go on an absolute tear to finish up the season as the NFL‘s hottest team ends up traveling to Pittsburgh. The Steelers could be doing very well but still have a matchup in this regard to keep them from getting out of the first round.
Another example would be the Detroit Lions from 2024. They had a great season and finished as the top team in the NFC. But because of having a bye, which sometimes could be more of a curse than a blessing, it took them too long to get warmed up to their playoff matchup against a hot team who won the previous week and they failed to make the NFC Championship Game. It was a successful season, but they did not get a playoff win.
I also want to remind everyone that it’s extremely difficult to win a playoff game. There are only three or four teams in each conference to do so every year. Last year they were four in the AFC, and three in the NFC. That’s it. It’s really tough to be one of those top teams, especially with how competitive the AFC is at this time.
I know the Steelers are not set up like they have been in other seasons where building is the main goal. It was only two years ago that it was important for the Steelers to take a step with a younger roster. That is not how they are built this year and it does seem like the Steelers need to have postseason success with the current roster. I’m not going to argue this.
So why have this unpopular opinion? Because it’s possible for the Steelers to still have a successful season without winning a playoff game, it needs to take the focus off of the postseason being the only thing that matters. If that’s all that means anything, there is a long journey this fall that fans are going to miss.
While playoff success is still a huge goal throughout the season, the most important thing is setting the team up in the best spot to be successful come January. Because of that, every week and every game is important. It’s better to decrease the focus on the end result and increase the importance of every game along the way.
Yes, the biggest measuring stick for the Steelers for 2025 is going to be breaking through to get that playoff win. It’s not the only stick, but the biggest one. But if that’s all that matters, then being excited for the regular season to start might not mean much of anything compared to the playoffs. That means there would be an awful lot of opportunities that will be missed out on to enjoy this franchise.
To hear the latest Unpopular Opinion podcast, check it out in the player below. Thank you for checking out this podcast every Sunday morning during the Steelers offseason.
Dave Schofield’s poking a Grumpy Bear today!! Some say a season w/o a championship is a major fail, fire Tomlin, fire GMs, get a new owner… WTH, I would do so much better than those morons… I will wait to see this thread, I’ve got my popcorn ready!
It’s a holiday weekend. We’ll see how much the discussion takes off.
Ugh… ice-cold water! I’m still eating the popcorn, anyway.
It all depends on how you define success. In the eyes of many (if not most), it’s Super Bowl or bust. There can only be one successful team each season.
How do you define success, Dave?
I can speculate on how ownership defines success…
I just don’t see how fans are disappointed when they go into Buffalo with Mason Rudolph, into KC with an old Big Ben and no line, and into Baltimore with Russell Wilson and are thinking it’s a colossal failure when they don’t win. I get the frustrations of 2017 and 2020 (though the 2020 team was a very flawed team that benefited from an easy schedule). After that, it is just so difficult to win a Super Bowl. But the first round exits are what we’re talking about. It’s all about getting that 5th seed and not having to play Baltimore, KC, or Buffalo in the first round. Those are elite teams. Winning on the road vs Houston is much more attainable. Gonna be tough to get that 5th seed. AFC is stacked.
Better topic this week!
I won’t disagree immediately, because like most topics this is not binary, it all depends on the way the seadon goes. I could see a scenario where the O line comes together, the run game starts to flourish, and Mason and Will Howard look much more than competent, and the offensive future looks bright. I could also see the D line looking better and better as the season goes on yet they suffer a hand full of one or two point losses, and miss the playoffs. Maybe you could look at that a successful, but another season getting man handled by upper level teams culminating in yet another one and done blowout? No. That’s a bridge too far for me.
I think Dave said this may be the last Unpopular for a while… it’s a good one, agreed.