The end of an era is coming hard and fast for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
They held onto Ben Roethlisberger for one too many years, and it’s haunting them in 2021. It’s something the team and the fan base probably didn’t want to face, but eventually, had to.
The New York Giants had to rip the band aid off in 2019 when they sat Eli Manning to see what Daniel Jones could do. Later on in the season, Manning got to have his good bye to the fans and the NFL.
Whether Roethlisberger gets that or not remains to be seen. But right now, the Steelers are a bad football team with Big Ben as the quarterback.
He looks old, slow and beat up. And after the 24-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at home this past Sunday, Roethlisberger looks like a quarterback who needs to be sat.
While Mason Rudolph is listed as the backup, he shouldn’t be the one playing. The Steelers have seen what he can do. He’s not the answer at quarterback.
Dwayne Haskins needs to be put in and start for the Steelers moving forward.
Why?
The Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin need to see if Haskins can be the guy moving forward for Pittsburgh. After all, Haskins is a former first round pick of the Washington Football Team back in 2019.
Clearly, he couldn’t cut it in Washington and Ron Rivera gave him the axe. But can he cut it with a team that has a loaded offense full of weapons?
There’s only one way to find out. The Steelers are likely headed for another loss this Sunday against a surging Green Bay Packers team, which will drop them to 1-3.
After the Packers, the Steelers will face the Denver Broncos and a defense that is really good and then an always tough Seattle Seahawks team before their bye week in Week 7.
There’s a good chance that the Steelers could be looking at 1-5, maybe 2-4 at best.
So when will Pittsburgh rip their band aid off and make the quarterback change they need to make? Will it be before the bye week? Will it be sooner?
