The Pittsburgh Steelers are watching Super Bowl LX from home this year, and the view isn’t pretty. Their season ended with a thud-a 30-6 playoff loss to the Houston Texans that exposed more than just postseason jitters. It laid bare a hard truth that’s been building for a while: this team still doesn’t have its franchise quarterback.
That reality stings even more when you look across the field at who's in the Super Bowl. Sam Darnold. Yes, that Sam Darnold-the one-time Jets castoff turned journeyman, who now has the Seattle Seahawks on the brink of a championship.
Let’s rewind to the 2025 offseason. The Steelers, led by then-head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan, had a decision to make under center.
They chose to go all-in on Aaron Rodgers. The move was bold, headline-grabbing, and ultimately, a gamble that didn’t pay off.
Meanwhile, Darnold-coming off a breakout year with the Minnesota Vikings-was available. Pittsburgh passed.
Seattle didn’t.
Fast forward, and Darnold has now led two different teams to 14-3 records in back-to-back seasons. That’s not a fluke-that’s consistency.
That’s leadership. That’s what a franchise quarterback looks like.
Darnold’s 2024 season with the Vikings should’ve raised eyebrows in Pittsburgh. He threw for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and just 12 interceptions in 17 games.
Those numbers aren’t just solid-they’re better than any single-season stat line Ben Roethlisberger ever put up in his 18-year career. And if you’re wondering how rare that is, consider this: Darnold’s 35 touchdowns in 2024 would’ve been the single-season high for Big Ben.
His passing yards? Good enough for fourth-best in Steelers history.
And Darnold didn’t just light up the stat sheet-he won. Over the last four seasons, he’s led four different teams to a combined 32-9 regular-season record.
Add the playoffs, and that number climbs to 34-10. That’s not just impressive, it’s unheard of for a quarterback who, not long ago, was considered a reclamation project.
At just 27 during the 2025 offseason, Darnold had the tools, the momentum, and the upside. He had just come off a Pro Bowl season. And now, after another Pro Bowl nod and over 8,300 passing yards with 60 touchdowns across two seasons, he’s four quarters away from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
Meanwhile, the Steelers are still searching. The Rodgers experiment didn’t work, and the team remains stuck in quarterback limbo. It’s not just that they missed out on a good player-it’s that the answer to their biggest problem was right there, and they looked the other way.
Now, as Darnold prepares to take the field against the New England Patriots with a Super Bowl title on the line, Pittsburgh is left to wonder what could’ve been. They didn’t just miss the playoffs-they missed their shot at stability, at long-term success, and maybe even a championship window.
Darnold is 28 now, and there’s no reason to think he won’t be playing at a high level for years to come. For the Steelers, that’s a tough pill to swallow. Because while they’re still searching for their next franchise quarterback, the one they passed on is playing in the biggest game of the year.