Was this the Steelers’ last best chance to end their playoff drought without a franchise quarterback?
Winning in the playoffs is hard, and winning without a franchise quarterback is even harder, as the Steelers know. They have lost seven playoff games in a row now, going back to 2016. Sure, they had Ben Roethlisberger for that run, but you can put some asterisks in there.
For one thing, Roethlisberger wasn’t the same after his 2019 elbow injury, and even in 2016, he was compromised by injury. There really is no good excuse for their losing to the Jaguars in 2017, though.