Tim Benz: Potential Russell Wilson-Aaron Rodgers matchup illustrates Steelers' QB struggles post-Ben Roethlisberger

When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season, a lot of us in Pittsburgh had plenty of opinions about what the Steelers should do to replace him.

Here’s one thing none of us are saying today: “ I told you so. ”

That’s because none of the available options have worked out — wherever they went or decided to stay.

This week’s Steelers game at Acrisure Stadium underscores that reality

. It is a matchup that features Aaron Rodgers as a New York Jet, and Russell Wilson as a member of the Steelers.

When Roethlisberger hung up his cleats in the winter of 2022, the Steelers basically had four paths they could travel.

A. They swim in the deep waters of trying to acquire one of the three big-name quarterbacks who were likely available on the trade or free agency markets. At the time, they were Rodgers, Wilson and Derek Carr.

B. They go a less expensive route and try to find a mid-tier quarterback such as Mitch Trubisky.

C. They give the job to Mason Rudolph.

D. They draft a quarterback in the first round at pick No. 20 — likely Pitt’s Kenny Pickett or Liberty’s Malik Willis.

The Steelers infamously decided to try options B, C and D all at the same time.

That worked out great, didn’t it?

The club ended up signing Trubisky, keeping Rudolph and drafting Pickett. Trubisky was benched four games into his starting tenure here. Pickett was given the starting job.

The Steelers missed the playoffs in 2022 and only made the postseason in 2023 because they turned to Rudolph out of desperation for the last three weeks of the season. Trubisky was bad as a starter and sometimes worse as a backup. Now he’s No. 2 in Buffalo again. That is the same job he had when the Steelers signed him in March of ‘22.

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As a first-round selection from the hometown college, Pickett only lasted two years. Now, he’s a backup in Philadelphia. Willis is also on his second team, having been traded from Tennessee to Green Bay after being displaced by Will Levis and — you guessed it — Rudolph, who went to Nashville after the Steelers elected to let him walk in free agency this spring.

So, basically, none of the options the Steelers tried (or considered in the draft) worked out except for Rudolph’s three-game run at the end of last year. Even that didn’t result in a playoff win. Nor did it result in Rudolph being retained in 2024.

Meanwhile, none of the options the Steelers stayed away from proved to be any good either.

Carr may have been the best. He stayed with the Raiders, signing a three-year, $121.5 million contract extension with Las Vegas.

By the end of 2022, the Raiders were 6-11. Carr was benched in favor of Jarrett Stidham and eventually released despite having a 24-14 touchdown-to-interception ratio and 3,522 passing yards. In March of 2023, Carr signed with the New Orleans Saints and started all 17 games, finishing with 3,878 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and eight interceptions. However, the Saints went 9-8 and missed the postseason.

While completing 70% of his passes for 984 yards and eight touchdowns so far this year, Carr is dealing with an oblique injury and missed last Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay.

On March 16, 2022, Rodgers signed a three-year contract to stay in Green Bay for $101.5 million guaranteed. He remained there just one more season as the Packers went 8-9. Then they traded him to New York where he missed all of 2023 with an Achilles injury suffered on the first series of the season.

So far this season, the Jets are 2-4. Rodgers already has five interceptions and 16 sacks. He’s also completing 61.8% of his passes. That’s pacing at his lowest rate since 2015.

As for Wilson, the Steelers elected to avoid pursuing him in 2022 because he went from Seattle to Denver for two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, three players and a $245 million contract. He washed out with the Broncos after only two failed seasons. He was also eventually benched for Stidham.

The Steelers eventually deemed Wilson worthy of signing. But that was two years later when he inked a deal in Pittsburgh for a mere $1.2 million, only to endure a calf injury on Day 1 of training camp. It later flared up before Week 1 of the regular season. Justin Fields has been starting. Wilson has yet to play a regular-season snap for the Steelers, although that may change Sunday with Rodgers and the Jets in town.

That’s seven quarterbacks. Each of them was brought up as a potential target to replace Roethlisberger in the spring of 2022. Not one of them is with the same team he was with to open training camp that summer.

It’s true. A lot has gone wrong for the Steelers at QB since Big Ben retired. But the Wilson-Rodgers backdrop this weekend on the North Shore is also a reminder of how little has gone right for the all of the options they had.

As it is for so many other organizations that are throwing darts in the dark in hopes of hitting a franchise QB bull’s-eye.

Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter recap what Mike Tomlin had to say about the Steelers quarterback situation this week heading into Sunday’s game against the Jets.