PITTSBURGH — Russell Wilson scrolled through Instagram on Saturday afternoon, as he was preparing for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ regular-season finale at Acrisure Stadium, when he came across a post from Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis.
The photo depicted Pittsburgh’s 2005 Super Bowl team circled up in the locker room on a knee, joining hands in prayer. The caption read, in part, “The key to our championship run was selflessness. It wasn’t about who got the glory; it was about winning together.”
When Wilson saw the post, he exchanged a few texts with Bettis. A few minutes later, the current Steelers quarterback and the beloved former running back were chatting on the phone, drawing parallels to the current team.
That 2005 team dropped three consecutive games to fall to 7-5, risking missing the playoffs entirely in Bettis’ final season. Backs against the wall, the Steelers responded with four consecutive wins to qualify for the postseason. Then as the No. 6 seed, they won three more on the road in the playoffs before capping Bettis’ career in his hometown of Detroit with a storybook victory in Super Bowl XL.
“It was us against the world,” Bettis remembers telling Wilson.
This season, the Steelers stormed out a surprising 10-3 record. At 36, Wilson was writing his redemption story following two tumultuous seasons in Denver and making his case for a lucrative contract extension. Mike Tomlin was getting buzz for Coach of the Year.
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Then, like in 2005, the Steelers hit a roadblock. They faced a grueling, 11-day gauntlet against the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs. The stretch was supposed to tell us how close the over-performing Steelers could be to legitimate Super Bowl contenders. They struck out, going 0-for-3 to blow a two-game lead over the Ravens and squander the AFC North title.
Then, a few hours after Wilson’s conversation with Bettis, Pittsburgh fell to the Cincinnati Bengals, 19-17. Like in 2005, the Steelers will enter the postseason as the No. 6 seed with the odds stacked against them, beginning Saturday in Baltimore, where the Ravens are 9.5-point favorites, per BetMGM.
“I wanted to get some perspective on how the (2005) team approached it,” Wilson said of his chat with Bettis. “It’s like, man, this week is the only week that matters. That team overcame a lot of obstacles. That team was able to respond the right way. I believe that’s who we’re going to be.”
In a proud football town like Pittsburgh — where the team is worshipped on Sundays like a second religion and the tale of the “Immaculate Reception” very well might be part of the school curriculum — locals know the story of the 2005 season quite well. A vocal and engaged fanbase has been telling and retelling tales of playoffs past for years.
But the Steelers haven’t added a new chapter for some time.
Wednesday will mark eight years since Chris Boswell kicked six field goals to beat the Chiefs in the divisional round of the 2016 season. That was the Steelers’ last playoff win. They are 0-5 since, beginning with a blowout loss in the ensuing AFC Championship Game against the Patriots, followed by four one-and-done appearances. During that five-game skid, the Steelers have been outscored by an average of 13.6 points.
Only eight teams have a longer active drought without a playoff win, just four in the AFC — the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins.
“(The drought) is my story,” Tomlin said this week. “It’s not this collective’s story. Many of these guys involved do not tote those bags. I happily tote those bags, but it’s not something that I would project on the collective.”
Not only does second-year cornerback Joey Porter Jr. know the story of the 2005 Super Bowl season — he was actually there, wearing his dad’s No. 55 jersey as Joey Sr. celebrated in the confetti.
“I was talking to my dad about that not too long ago,” the 24-year-old Porter Jr. said. “He was like, ‘This is the perfect time to just get hot and lock in as a group.’”
Joey Porter Jr., left, with his dad after Super Bowl XL. (G. N. Lowrance / NFLPhotoLibrary via Getty Images)
Less than a year after coach Bill Cowher helped the Steelers capture the elusive “one for the thumb,” they hired a 34-year-old Mike Tomlin on Jan. 22, 2007. In his second season, Tomlin took the Steelers back to the Super Bowl, where they beat the Arizona Cardinals for what was then a record sixth Lombardi Trophy for the franchise. In 2010, Tomlin again led the Steelers to the Super Bowl, where they fell short to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.
With Ben Roethlisberger in his prime and Tomlin showing he could push the right buttons for a talented team, the future appeared bright.
However, in the years since, Tomlin’s repeated playoff letdowns have complicated his legacy.
To many, Tomlin is unquestionably one of the NFL’s best coaches. With a regular-season record of 183-107-2 (.630), his win percentage is higher than both of his most recent predecessors, Cowher (.623) and Chuck Noll (.566). Currently 12th all-time in wins, the coach who has famously never had a losing season will almost certainly move into the top 10 in 2025.
With 10 more regular-season wins, which feels attainable next season, Tomlin will tie Noll for the most in Steelers history. If he can match or break Noll’s mark next season, he’ll do so in at least 33 fewer games than Noll’s 342.
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But in Pittsburgh — where Tomlin’s non-losing season streak is often meant as a tongue-in-cheek jab instead of a compliment — most fans measure success starting in January. Coaches are defined by trophies, not seasons above .500. The vocal majority will point out Noll went 16-8 in the playoffs with four Super Bowl wins. Tomlin is 8-10 in the postseason with one Super Bowl. Since winning the 2010 AFC Championship, he’s 3-9.
This dichotomy has created a chasm between those who tout Tomlin as a top coach and those who believe change at the top is the only thing that can end the postseason drought. The national media trumpets Tomlin’s non-losing seasons, while the local radio shock jocks blast him for postseason failures. It’s a dramatic divide.
“People are going to talk s— regardless,” said Porter Jr., who grew up with Tomlin’s sons and knows the family as well as anyone in the Steelers’ locker room. “That’s just what it is nowadays. But definitely, we’re all trying to fight for one thing, and that’s to win (playoff games) and get Super Bowls.
“And obviously we’re all fighting for Coach T. We know what he brings to the table and what kind of character has. We’re always trying to get those wins for him. But at the end of the day, the media, the outside noise, is going to always talk, and we just got to worry about what’s going on in the inside.”
Well before Wilson dialed Bettis for help navigating a rough patch, he sat on FaceTime for about an hour with Cameron Heyward.
Drafted in 2011, Heyward has been an anchor of the Steelers’ defense for well over a decade. But at 35 years old, with time ticking, he’s played in just one postseason win. Beginning with Heyward in 2011, the Steelers spent nine of 10 first-round draft picks on defense — including T.J. Watt in 2017 and the 2019 trade for Minkah Fitzpatrick — trying to give Roethlisberger another run at a Super Bowl.
But since Roethlisberger retired, the defense has risked aging out before Watt or Fitzpatrick could win even a single playoff game. After the group lugged an anemic offense quarterbacked by Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett to the playoffs in 2023, they aggressively recruited a QB in March, hoping to maximize this window.
“Do you like to compete?” Wilson remembers Fitzpatrick asking him during his recruiting pitch. “You like to get after it? You like to win?”
The Steelers signed Wilson to a one-year contract for the veteran minimum after the Broncos essentially paid him to go away. Due to contract offsets, Denver paid Wilson $37.8 million this season, while the QB counted just $1.2 million against Pittsburgh’s cap.
The agreement set the stage for two possible redemption stories. Tomlin and the Steelers sought the quarterback to push them over the edge and lighten the stout defense’s load. Meanwhile, Wilson wanted to prove his time in Denver was a blip, not a sign his career was fizzling. If it all went well, Wilson could be in line for a big payday, and the Steelers would have a multiyear solution at QB.
For a while, Wilson looked like one of the best bargains in football. After injuring his calf pushing a sled during a pre-training camp conditioning test and missing the first six games, he made his Steelers debut in Week 7. At the time, it was controversial for Tomlin to turn away from 25-year-old Justin Fields amid a 4-2 season and pivot to a castaway veteran.
But over the next several weeks, Tomlin’s decision was vindicated and Wilson was a revelation. The QB’s veteran presence rallied a young (and sometimes immature) group of offensive players. His experience allowed the offense to change plays more fluidly at the line of scrimmage. And, more than anything, his trademark moonball unlocked the outsized potential of star receiver George Pickens.
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The Steelers marched on, with Wilson winning six of his first seven starts, including a 10-point second-half rally in a Week 10 road victory over the 7-2 Washington Commanders. In Week 13, the offense — and team as a whole — hit its high-water mark in Cincinnati. Facing Joe Burrow and the Bengals, the Steelers needed to score to keep pace. Wilson answered the call, totaling 414 passing yards — his second-most in 199 career starts — and three touchdown passes in the 44-38 win.
For so long, the Steelers needed Watt to put on his cape and wreck a game to steal a win against a top-tier opponent. Now, they finally looked like they had the quarterback who could stand toe-to-toe with a quality counterpart in the postseason.
“I just turned 36 the other day,” Wilson said after the game. “I feel like I’m 26. OK, maybe I’m 30.”
Wilson has said repeatedly he’d like to play about six more seasons. After improving to 6-1 against the Cleveland Browns, it was reasonable to think he had put his Broncos disappointments in the past. Maybe he could sign a deal for $30 to $40 million per season — comparable to other older veterans like Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, Derek Carr and Matthew Stafford.
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A month ago, Tomlin and Wilson were riding high at 10-3. Then, the bottom dropped out. (Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
Unfortunately for the Steelers, Wilson and Tomlin, those good vibes wouldn’t last. A season once full of optimism devolved into a chorus of criticism during the four-game skid.
Sacks — an issue for Wilson as his mobility has declined in recent years — became problematic. He was dropped 3.5 times per game from Week 15 to 18 and finished with 33 this season, the fourth-most in the NFL since he became the starter in Week 7.
The deep shots stopped connecting, as Pickens sat out two of the four losses and teams aggressively game planned to take away the main source of offense in a boom-or-bust system. Through Wilson’s first seven starts, he completed 17 of 33 (51.5 percent) pass attempts that traveled 20-plus yards downfield, with four touchdowns. During the losing streak, he completed just 4 of 12 (33.3 percent) such passes with no touchdowns. Shots weren’t there, and when they were, they didn’t find their mark (or were dropped).
Perhaps most concerning for a risk-averse Steelers team, turnovers plagued Wilson and the offense. The QB turned the ball over five times in his first seven starts. He committed four from Week 15 to 17 before cleaning things up in the finale against the Bengals.
The way the team has unraveled against quality competition makes it challenging to evaluate Wilson’s 11-game sample size. Which section of the season tells the true story? Is Wilson the quarterback Broncos coach Sean Payton paid to be rid of? Or does he still have enough magic in that moonball to out-duel a quality QB or lead a comeback?
The playoffs could help answer those questions. Asked whether he feels any pressure to prove himself, Wilson responded predictably.
“I just always think about the moment,” Wilson said. “I’m not really worried about down the road or anything like that.”
But the truth is, Saturday’s game against the Ravens could very well shape the future of the franchise, in one way or another. With a win, Tomlin would cut into the narrative of his postseason disappointments. He would get Watt and Fitzpatrick their first career playoff wins — and maybe have Steelers fans believing Heyward could cap his career like Bettis did.
But with a loss, you can bet the outside noise would be louder than ever, with many asking why a coach who is so often praised for getting the most out of his teams during the regular season is three games below .500 in the playoffs.
Two months from free agency, Wilson has a chance to prove to the Steelers — and the NFL at large — that he can still be more than just a one-year Band-Aid. Maybe he is worth a $30-plus million investment. But if his season ends with five consecutive losses, perhaps teams will heed the cautionary tales of failed big contracts for aging veteran QBs. How many would be interested in making him their starter?
Some version of history will repeat itself. Only time will tell whether the end of the story sounds more like Bettis’ improbable 2005 run or Tomlin’s all-too-familiar letdowns.
“I’ve been fortunate to be able to play in the playoffs a bunch,” Wilson said. “It’s a new slate. It’s a new opportunity. That’s just the truth. That’s just the reality of what it is. No matter how successful you’ve been in the regular season, no matter how tough the last part has been for us, we have a choice to respond the right way.
“We believe there’s nobody on the list that we cannot beat. We just gotta be ready.”
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Patrick Smith, Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
