Mark Madden: Offseason decisions show Steelers are in a bad place

The Steelers went from 11-0 to a stink sandwich. They collapsed in each of the past three seasons. They have won three playoff games in 10 years despite talent that merited far better. They lost a playoff game at home to a six-point underdog, trailing 28-0 in the first quarter.

The Steelers have fallen apart, and it seems as if they don’t know what to do.

The promotion of Matt Canada from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator leaked, but now the Steelers interviewed former Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson for that job and will also discuss the position with Los Angeles Chargers quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton.

Is that legit interest, or giving the illusion of due diligence, or merely satisfying the Rooney Rule? (Jackson and Hamilton are African American.)

Quarterback Dwayne Haskins was a first-round pick in 2019. He soiled the bed so badly in Washington that he got cut before his second season was over. Haskins signed a futures contract with the Steelers. He will be at training camp. Does a leaderless locker room full of unearned hubris need to add somebody who cost himself his last job via stupidity?

Do the Steelers somehow see something in Haskins, or is this because he and Mike Tomlin share the same agent?

Hank Fraley, who played at Robert Morris, is a candidate to replace Sean Sarrett as offensive line coach. The line of succession at that job would be a small-college lineman (Fraley) replacing somebody who never played a second of pro ball (Sarrett) replacing a Hall of Fame lineman (Mike Munchak).

You get what you pay for: The Steelers have the NFL’s lowest coaching payroll and one of the league’s smallest staffs (19 coaches). How often do Tomlin’s assistants get interviewed for better jobs? (Bruce Arians had to “retire.”)

The Steelers reportedly put off hiring their offensive coordinator because they wanted to hire the offensive line coach first. But shouldn’t the former precede (and approve) the latter?

The Steelers have long been among the NFL’s legendary organizations. But they currently appear clueless. They (and their fans) embrace things that are inconsequential.

It doesn’t matter than Tomlin has never had a losing season. What matters is what’s recent, and the last four years have ended in disaster. No other franchise in the NFL would retain their coach after the last four seasons the Steelers had. But the Steelers never fire the coach.

It doesn’t matter that Ben Roethlisberger is one of the two or three most important players in Steelers history. He’s not a big quarterback with mobility anymore. That’s what made him special. Good teams have a cruel streak. The Steelers must cut ties with Roethlisberger.

Consistent respectability doesn’t matter. Finish middle, draft middle, stay middle. Getting several top-10 draft picks in a row would benefit the Steelers more than retaining the old gang for next season and narrowly making (or missing) the playoffs. The Steelers have zero chance to win a Super Bowl next year. They need to do a conventional rebuilding.

Elite defense matters, but not as much as the Steelers think. It’s not that kind of game or league. Where did elite defense get the Steelers these past two seasons? They didn’t sack Baker Mayfield in their playoff loss, or even get a QB hit. Offense is king. Defense is complementary.

The Steelers have a 38-year-old quarterback who averaged 3 air yards per completion. The rest of the AFC North has an elite quarterback just approaching his prime.

The Steelers are in a bad place, and their evaluation and decision-making seem hesitant and haphazard. Losing five of six after starting 11-0 and ending the season with a playoff loss to Cleveland seems to have rattled the franchise as well as the fan base.