Nobody likes to dwell on what is going wrong for the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, even the most optimistic fans know deep down that this team isn’t ready to go to a Super Bowl. There is a big talent issue at several positions on the roster, while the quarterback play hasn’t been close to where it needs to be.

Not all is doom and gloom. Front office heads Omar Khan and Andy Weidl landed an impressive draft haul in 2023 that could help reshape the future of the team, and Pittsburgh still has some star defensive players in the prime of their careers. However, here are four cold hard truths that pain us as Steelers fans.

Kenny Pickett is not a franchise quarterback

I know plenty of fans from both sides here — the ones who loved Kenny Pickett from the start and those who were never Pickett fans, to begin with. Regardless of their past stance on the former Pitt QB or biases, most are finally coming together to admit that Pickett is not going to be a franchise quarterback.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was pleasantly optimistic about Pickett following his second NFL season in 2023. Though I wasn’t a fan of the selection with the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft (I had him as my 48th overall player that year), he impressed during training camp and had a perfect passer rating during the 2023 preseason.

Sadly, almost none of this carried over to the NFL stage. After showing some flashes as a rookie, Pickett has been worse in Year 2, and even putting up a single touchdown pass in a game has been a chore. The answer isn’t on the roster, but the fact that Mason Rudolph has more TD passes, fewer interceptions, and a better passer rating in his career shows that Pickett simply isn’t cutting it.

On top of this, Pickett is constantly getting banged up and can’t stay on the field. This doesn’t mean that the Steelers are guaranteed to move on next year, but fans are coming to the realization that he’s not going to be the guy. Perhaps the coaching staff will as well.

Jaylen Warren is better than Najee Harris
It’s not a competition or anything, and both running backs have played well. But one thing that has been clear to see all season long is that Jaylen Warren is simply a better running back than Najee Harris. In fact, there might not be a trait in their game in which Najee holds the upper hand.

On film, Warren has significantly more speed and burst with outstanding contact balance and the ability to run through arm tackles without downshifting and losing speed. Warren is also a superior receiver as he routinely makes mincemeat out of defenders in the open field with the ball in his hands.

This doesn’t mean that Najee has been bad. The former first-round pick is still having the best season of his three-year NFL career. So why does it matter? I think the biggest thing that bothers me is that I want fans to be able to separate the players we are seeing on film from their former draft status. If Warren was the big name that went to Alabama and was a first-round pick, would anyone believe that Harris is better?

The Steelers have one more year to decide which running back to give a second contract to, and paying both might be a bad decision financially. We already saw what James Conner went on to do in Arizona after Pittsburgh undervalued him. They can’t make the same mistake with Jaylen Warren. He’s the best running back on the team and the only one who deserves to stick around long-term.

T.J. Watt is no longer the best defensive player in the NFL
Let me start by saying that I love T.J. Watt. I interviewed the former Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and he’s everything you want from a player and a leader on the Pittsburgh Steelers. While Watt is still remarkably productive, his reign as the best defensive player in the NFL may have come to an end.

I try to take time to watch every game of every NFL team. When I do this, it’s clear to see that Watt doesn’t have the same juice as a pass rusher as guys like Micah Parsons and Myles Garrett. As a result, he doesn’t beat his man to win the pass-rush rep at as high of a rate as the top pass rushers in the league.

Don’t get this confused with his value to the team. Watt is still one of the most valuable non-quarterbacks to his respective team as anyone in the league, and the defense is simply different when he’s on the field. However, Watt no longer has freaky traits on film and he’s not quite the same game-wrecker that he used to be.

This doesn’t mean that he’s not deserving of Pro Bowl or even All-Pro honors. It just means that it’s becoming a bit harder to label him as the best defensive player in the NFL — especially when there are several other stars around the league who are having career years. Watt is going to be a Hall of Famer someday, but he’s not in a tier of his own atop the best defensive players in the NFL.

Steelers can’t win a Super Bowl with their current team
The ultimate goal in the NFL is to compete for (and ultimately win) the Super Bowl. This is something that the Steelers did twice in the early 2000s. However, it’s been ages since it felt like this team was a true competitor.

The last time they felt like a potential Super Bowl-caliber team was all the way back in 2017 when they finished 13-3 and had a top-10 offense. Sadly, they were one-and-done in their first playoff game after surrendering 45 points to the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s been all downhill from there.

While the defense has been good enough over the years to give this team a shot, the offense has gotten progressively worse. In fact, statistically, Pittsburgh had a better offense when Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges were leading the charge back in 2019 than they do today. If you recall, James Washington led the team in receiving yards that year.

No matter how well they run the football, the Steelers can’t seem to put points on the board. Because of this, it’s hard to get excited about their potential playoff berth. There is hope that the new front office heads can turn this team around quickly after an impressive 2023 draft class, but it won’t be this year. The cold hard truth is that the Steelers can’t win a Super Bowl with their current roster.