Mark Madden: Without his 'it' factor, Kenny Pickett is one of NFL's worst quarterbacks

Kenny Pickett is one of the NFL’s worst quarterbacks. He should be benched.

The Steelers are 6-4, but when they’ve won, it’s mostly been despite Pickett.

“Fourth-quarter Kenny” was absent Sunday at Cleveland. Right after Pickett failed to summon a game-winning drive in the game’s final 15 minutes, Browns rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson did exactly that to cap off his second career start. DTR looked as composed as Pickett did rattled.

Pickett’s statistics at Cleveland were garbage: He completed 15 of 28 passes for 106 yards and no touchdowns. No interceptions, either, but that’s not difficult to achieve when you take very little risk.

Pickett has six touchdown passes in 10 games. That’s pathetic dipped in laughable.

Pickett’s critics get told he’s about more than numbers. He’s about clutch, the “it” factor. (The latter description is missing two letters.)

Clutch, as noted, was lacking at Cleveland.

Anyway, why don’t Pickett’s numbers accurately describe? Why is he the exception? We’re living in a time of fantasy culture, where every stat is analyzed, parsed, dissected, then put back together. Why does Pickett get to sidestep that?

Because the stats don’t tell the story Pickett’s stooges want told, that’s why.

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But those who proclaim offensive coordinator Matt Canada to be The Great Satan are progressively getting quieter. Even an offensive genius like Kyle Shanahan likely couldn’t do much with Pickett’s small hands, smaller talent and shrinking confidence. Like George Costanza emerging from cold water.

Pickett’s passing yardage totals in the Steelers’ past four games are 106, 126, 160 and 73. That is utterly unacceptable.

Since the NFL-American Football League merger in 1970, 315 quarterbacks have thrown 500 or more passes. Just one has registered a touchdown on fewer than 2% of his attempts: Pickett at 1.9%.

But, if you insist, let’s look beyond the numbers.

Pickett is scared to throw to the middle of the field. The receivers are there.

Pickett’s accuracy is haphazard at best. He misfires constantly. If he ever gets pulled over for suspicion of DUI, Pickett had better hope they don’t ask him to prove his sobriety by passing a football in a straight line. He’d have to Uber to practice.

Pickett escapes into trouble. His pocket presence is horrific, his sense of being pressured misguided. He often looks scared (that word again).

Pickett is going to lose the huddle and locker room. That seems to be happening. Running back Najee Harris was perturbed after Sunday’s loss, correctly concluding, “Winning how we did, it’s not going to get us nowhere.” Wide receiver Diontae Johnson was visibly agitated on the sideline.

Pickett’s incompetence is ruining the receivers’ seasons. George Pickens should get over 100 yards receiving every game. He had four catches for 38 yards vs. the Browns. He has had 114 yards total in the last four games.

Pickett is going backward, not forward. He shows no signs of improving.

Risk would provide a learning curve. But Pickett’s been made a bad, ultra-conservative game manager because coach Mike Tomlin never thinks about the big picture and, in the present, is scared (that word again) by his quarterback’s inadequacies.

Pickett has started 22 games in his two seasons. It’s no longer a small sample. He has thrown 13 career touchdown passes. That’s shockingly low. Houston rookie QB C.J. Stroud has 17 touchdown passes in 10 games this year.

The Steelers can still have a good season. But can you even remotely imagine Pickett winning a playoff game against a good team? If the Steelers play Kansas City or Miami in the postseason, it would be a slaughter.

The Steelers offense is so punchless that they could lose any of the games remaining. Arizona and New England both visit Pittsburgh. Each has two wins. Each should be beaten. But scoring 10 points might not do the trick.

Should Mitch Trubisky start instead? He hasn’t done any better. But at least he’s not afraid to throw downfield.

Maybe Mason Rudolph. He hasn’t had a chance to prove he stinks lately.

Neither could do worse than Pickett. That seems impossible.

Much of this column is harsh. None of it is untrue.

Pickett stinks. The Steelers erred by picking him in the first round of the 2022 draft. Perhaps they romanticized him having played for Pitt and just switching parking lots at the South Side football complex. (Tomlin likes a good story.)

He was 23 when the Steelers drafted him, had played five collegiate seasons and very likely had already hit his ceiling.

Pickett has a backup’s ability at best, perhaps not even that. He might be the NFL’s worst starting quarterback. (Roll over, Zach Wilson, and tell Tommy DeVito the news.)

If you think Pickett needs time, say how much. Forty starts? Fifty? Here’s betting he’s no better by then. (He’s a lock to start Sunday at Cincinnati, and for at least the entirety of next season. Because the Steelers don’t make mistakes.)

If the Steelers keep starting Pickett, they should do the courtesy of turning him loose. Don’t act like an interception would result in the entire roster catching an incurable disease. Force Pickett to get better or to flop in a way that’s undeniable. Take blaming Canada (or next year’s offensive coordinator) out of the equation.

The Steelers have failed Pickett only marginally less than he’s failed them.