Steelers in rare franchise reset mode

It's not often the Pittsburgh Steelers, as a franchise, hit the reset button in substantial ways. But 2022 is one of those rare times.

Longtime GM Kevin Colbert has retired, replaced by Omar Khan.

Longtime QB Ben Roethlisberger has retired, after 18 years of mostly standout play.

Longtime head coach Mike Tomlin remains, and it has been his daunting task to pick up the leftover pieces and try to field something of a competitive team this NFL season.

And, unexpectedly, it has been a struggle.

At 3-7, Pittsburgh has one of the worst records in the AFC heading into this week's Monday Night Football game at 4-6-1 Indianapolis.

On offence, there are perhaps three players of hope, long-term.

First, rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett. The 20th overall draft pick watched from the sideline for the first 3½ games of the season, as Chicago Bears discard Mitchell Trubisky impressed pretty much no one as a QB starter.

Pickett took over at halftime of an eventual 24-20 loss to the New York Jets. It's been mostly a rough go for Pickett; he threw his eighth interception before tossing just his third TD pass of the season last week in a 37-30 loss to Cincinnati.

He does have two wins to his credit, both at home, both against NFC South teams — Oct. 16 over Tampa Bay, and two Sundays ago against New Orleans.

He'll go for road win and AFC win No. 1 against the Colts.

The second ray of hope is rookie wide receiver George Pickens. The Round 2 draft pick (52nd overall) is averaging only 3.3 catches per game, and has caught but two touchdowns. But his top-shelf talents are undeniable — both in how he can make routine catches simple, and otherworldly catches possible.

Thirdly, in the past two games the Steelers finally have been able to scrounge an effective ground game — something utterly absent for most of the past two seasons, at least.

So there is a potentially prolific QB/WR pairing with Pickett and Pickens.

The fact the Colts might have to play Monday without three of their top defensive linemen — end Yannick Ngakoue (back), end Kwity Paye (ankle) and tackle Deforest Buckner (ribs, illness) are all questionable — would help the Steelers offensively, perhaps immensely.

And the Steelers can use all the help they can get in that regard.