Tim Benz: Art Rooney II feels urgency about ending Steelers' playoff win drought. Great, show us

During a season-ending media availability Monday, Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II was asked if there was a sense of urgency within the franchise to finally win a playoff game again. After all, it’s been seven years since that has happened, and Rooney’s franchise has accomplished that task in just two of the past 13 seasons under head coach Mike Tomlin.

“I think there’s an urgency,” Rooney II replied. “I think everybody, myself, Mike, guys that have been on the team for a while, T.J. (Watt), Cam (Heyward), everybody, we’ve had enough of this. It’s time to get some wins. It’s time to take these next steps. So, yeah, I think there’s some urgency here, for sure.”

Wonderful. I’m dying to see how that sense of urgency manifests this offseason.

What does that mean, exactly? Big signings in free agency or trade acquisitions, perhaps even at quarterback? An aggressive move up the first round of the draft board? Out-of-the-box, creative hires for the coaching staff?

The problem is I’m sensing zero indication any of that is going to happen. If there are other ways to show how urgently the franchise is taking its attempt to end this playoff win drought, I’d love to hear them.

So far this offseason, all we’ve gotten from Rooney and Tomlin are:

• Hearty endorsements as to why the team is standing behind the idea of Kenny Pickett resuming his starting status at quarterback. Rooney added to Tomlin’s declaration of Pickett reclaiming his “QB1” tag on Monday.

“The things about Kenny that we always like are his toughness, his competitiveness, his desire to be a winner. He has all of those sorts of intangibles,” Rooney said. “What I think we need him to be is, really, just continue to develop as a quarterback. Read the defense quickly. Get the offense into the best play for a given situation when he comes out of the huddle. He’s learned. He’s had some experience with that,” Rooney said.

• Lukewarm endorsements of maybe, possibly, bringing Mason Rudolph back as competition for Pickett. But no real indication that Rudolph would be retained with eyes toward him being a starter or indication that the franchise would be willing to outbid another legitimate suitor for his services.

“Mason did show what we’re capable of on offense with the personnel we have here right now,” Rooney said. “That’s encouraging in terms of Mason’s ceiling. I don’t know if we’ve seen his ceiling yet. We drafted him high for a reason. Felt like he had a lot of ability. I think we saw that. He’s probably going to have some options. It’s going to be a question of whether he wants to come back, whether we can make the deal to get him back. That being said, (we) still feel good about Kenny and his ability to evolve as well.”

In other words, Rooney is saying they’ll keep Rudolph — but only at the right price. More importantly, though, even if he doesn’t stay, Pickett will be juuuuuust fine!

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• Despite Tomlin being the steward of a ship that has run aground without a playoff win since 2016, the coach will be getting a contract extension.

“Still feel good about Mike,” Rooney said. “Obviously, if I didn’t, we’d make a change. I think if Mike wasn’t able to lead us to a championship, he wouldn’t be here. That’s why he’s here.”

• Regarding the coaching staff, Rooney confirmed at Steelers.com Monday that defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is getting a contract extension. As far as those who have been interviewed to fill Matt Canada’s vacancy as offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith is the only one so far with extended NFL play-calling experience (something Tomlin has stated he wants from the next coordinator). Smith is available because he was fired as Falcons head coach after three straight 7-10 seasons, the last of which was marked by criticism of his failure to properly integrate young, talented players on offense, such as Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson.

He got the job in Atlanta because he ran a successful, ground-oriented attack with running back Derrick Henry in Tennessee as the Titans offensive coordinator for two years. It featured 966 rushing attempts in 2019-20. The Titans were 31st and 30th in pass attempts in those years.

When it comes to “urgency” in terms of taking the “next step” toward winning playoff games in Pittsburgh again, does any of that sound “urgent” to you?

It doesn’t to me. I certainly don’t hear any Foreigner playing in the background. If I’m hearing any music at all, it sounds like Rooney whistling the opening to “Patience,” like Axl Rose.

I’m not going to condemn Rooney or his team for something it hasn’t done yet. The offseason hasn’t even begun. Unfortunately, though, it sounds like Rooney is preparing us for change while, at the same time, the franchise appears ready to maintain the status quo.