The Pittsburgh Steelers’ problems are many, and they are great.

Most of you blame offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Mike Tomlin’s reputation has one ally remaining, namely widespread willful ignorance. Tomlin is a fraud. How many more flat starts do you need to witness? How many more years without a playoff win?

But the greatest problem is Kenny Pickett. Pickett stinks.

Pickett is no longer a rookie. His sample size isn’t small anymore.

Pickett has played 17 NFL games, starting 16. He has shown just brief flashes: A few memorable drives, several OK games.

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But the numbers don’t lie, and they spell disaster for Pickett and the Steelers.

In those 17 NFL games, Pickett has amassed more than 300 yards passing once. He has thrown for two touchdowns once. His quarterback rating has been over 90 twice.

Compare that to Houston rookie C.J. Stroud, who badly outplayed Pickett in his team’s 30-6 victory against the Steelers on Sunday.

In four NFL games, Stroud has passed for over 300 yards twice, thrown two or more touchdowns twice, and his passer rating has been over 100 three times.

Stroud’s composure and delivery stand out above Pickett’s. Stroud seems to be making progress weekly, whereas Pickett makes none at all. Pickett is regressing.

Pickett’s problems can be boiled down very simply: He just can’t make throws, not least when the throw is there. Calvin Austin III was open deep when Pickett served up a first-quarter interception Sunday. Pickett badly underthrew. Between inaccurate delivery and poor decision-making, Pickett doesn’t give himself much chance.

The NFL is so largely quarterback driven, and Pickett might be the league’s worst.

Ex-Steeler Josh Dobbs, a career practice-squad player, is getting a chance to start, albeit for woeful Arizona. Dobbs’ stats are clearly superior to Pickett’s. Only Zach Wilson’s comedy act with the New York Jets is propping up Pickett. (Wilson actually played better in the Jets’ 23-20 loss to Kansas City on Sunday night than Pickett has in any game this year.)

It’s easy to deflect blame to Canada, Pickett being everybody’s golden boy.

But Canada wasn’t drafted in the first round. Canada isn’t expected to be the centerpiece of the franchise.

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No matter how much Pickett is perceived to be handicapped, he simply must do better with whatever he’s presented. Canada, a poor game plan, bad play-calling in the moment, a rotten offensive line … none of it excuses this level of incompetence by Pickett.

Pickett hurt his knee Sunday. If Pickett is out for a while, that won’t hurt the Steelers. Mitch Trubisky simply can’t be worse. (Though Trubisky likely will test that notion.)

Pickett is so bad that, barring profound improvement by season’s end, the Steelers should give thought to the future of their quarterback position. (They won’t. Not yet. Pickett will start next season no matter what.)

Would Pickett do better with a different offensive coordinator? Here’s betting you think so. I’m not so sure.

If you think Pickett will be fine, you’re ignoring stats and what you’re seeing. He provides no cause for optimism short of snatching at extremely small snippets like a decent pass or a successful series. He’s played 17 games and mostly done terribly.

Maybe the problem was drafting Pickett, especially in the first round.

It took Pickett five seasons at Pitt before he broke through to be outstanding in the last of those. He was average before that, less than average since.

If not for the NCAA mandate granting an extra season because of covid-19, Pickett isn’t anywhere near a first-round pick. Maybe that fifth campaign at Pitt was an outlier.

Pickett being a first-round pick makes this harder to solve. It’s difficult to abandon that. Looks bad for the player, even worse for the team.

There’s no ruling out Pickett turning things around. But given what’s happened so far, it would come out of nowhere and after a lengthy period of being excrement.

But you’ll keep pretending. So will the Steelers.

That’s where the real trouble might start.

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