Mark Madden: Put blame for Steelers woes on quarterbacks

For the second straight year, the Steelers seemed to be locked into a playoff berth late in the season. For the second straight year, they’re going to blow it.

What went wrong?

The most shocking development: The offensive line fluctuated between mediocre and terrible. Ramon Foster is washed up. Alejandro Villanueva isn’t much better. Maurkice Pouncey gets the yips when he snaps in the shotgun. The quarterbacks hold onto the ball too long, but were often under siege (like yesterday).

James Conner can’t be trusted as a No. 1 back. He’s hurt too much. His fumble lost the game at San Francisco. JuJu Smith-Schuster can’t be trusted as a No. 1 receiver. His fumble lost the home game vs. Baltimore. His drop went a long way toward losing Sunday’s game at the New York Jets. Conner and Smith-Schuster weren’t as advertised.

The defense was excellent but couldn’t win every game. Minkah Fitzpatrick got his hands on the ball once in the last six weeks. The Jets put together drives to score points at the start of each half Sunday. The splash plays dried up vs. the Jets. The Steelers had just two sacks and one takeaway. One of each came on the same play.

Coaching is a convenient scapegoat, especially offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner. But you can’t polish excrement.

That brings us to the real problem: quarterbacking.

It took a while before the chickens came home to roost, but: No Ben, no chance.

After Ben Roethlisberger got hurt in Week 2, the Steelers went into each Sunday with the NFL’s worst starting QB. Whether it was Mason Rudolph or Devlin Hodges, their quarterbacking was mostly rock bottom.

On a good week, the game got managed. On a bad week (like the last two), quarterbacking gave the Steelers zero chance. The Steelers scored just one offensive touchdown in seven of their last eight games.

Rudolph has a big-league arm, but his other flaws are many. Hodges has nothing. You can throw away your duck hats, duck calls, etc. After Sunday at Baltimore, Hodges will never start another NFL game. He probably won’t even play in another.

Robert Griffin III will start at quarterback for Baltimore, with Lamar Jackson rested/protected for the playoffs. Griffin is mostly regarded as a bust after starting his career hot with Washington. He has thrown just 17 passes this year.

Griffin is nonetheless light years better than Hodges. Hodges is a fourth-stringer from a small college who went undrafted and got cut by the Steelers this year. He’s got a popgun arm. The only thing good about Hodges was his story — up ‘til the recent chapters.

The NFL is about quarterbacking. (Duh.) The Steelers navigated their problem at that position even better than could be expected and longer than could be expected.

But it was always going to fall apart.

It seems early to look ahead to next year. It’s definitely presumptive to assume Roethlisberger will be 100% at 38 after having elbow surgery, but here’s hoping.

But the Steelers can’t go into 2020 with the same QB situation they had to start ‘19.

The Steelers need to cut Hodges. Make Rudolph the No. 3 quarterback if you don’t want to give up on your investment. Sign a veteran backup: a Ryan Fitzpatrick type, somebody of that ilk. The Steelers need better if Roethlisberger gets hurt again.

The Steelers’ situation became impossible the minute Roethlisberger went down. Battling bravely and coming close doesn’t count.

As mentioned, the knives are out for Fichtner. That’s not totally without reason. His game-planning and play-calling occasionally were dumbfounding.

Since the Steelers never fire a head coach, the coordinators become a realistic target for the citizens. They absorb the heat by proxy. But Fichtner did no worse this year than defensive coordinator Keith Butler did last year, and look at that defense now.

Did Butler coach better? Did Tomlin get more involved with the defense? Perhaps having 10 first-round picks to work with helped. Maybe all that talent organically coalesced.

Coaching means a lot in New England. In Pittsburgh, it’s more about the players. Blame the players. Specifically, blame the quarterbacks. Blame Roethlisberger for getting hurt, and blame Rudolph and Hodges for being in way over their heads.