A timeline of Steelers' quarterback blunders in ongoing journey to find Ben Roethlisberger's successor

It's been a long time coming since the glory days of Big Ben

Bryan DeArdo

Apr 29, 2026

1:34 pm ET

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9 min read

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Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger's onstage embrace during the opening night of the 2026 NFL Draft was nothing short of ironic. It took the Steelers 20 years to find Bradshaw's long-term successor in Roethlisberger, and despite their efforts to not repeat history, Pittsburgh is still in pursuit of Big Ben's heir apparent.

Pittsburgh's inability to find its next long-term quarterback has contributed to the ongoing saga regarding Aaron Rodgers, whose plans for the upcoming season remain a mystery. Instead of having a concrete plan at quaterback for the upcoming season, the Steelers continue to wait for the 42-year-old Rodgers to make up his mind.

In the interim, the Steelers added another quarterback to the room when they selected Drew Allar with the 85th overall pick. The pick drew skepticism from Roethlisberger, who said that he was more impressed with Will Howard's tape coming out of college. Howard and Allar will now be in direct competition in Pittsburgh.

How did the Steelers get here? To find the answer, let's take a look at each of the team's significant quarterback moves over the past decade.

Steelers pass on Lamar Jackson

By 2018, it was clear that Roethlisberger was well into the back nine of his career. He had openly contemplated retirement after the 2016 season, which compelled the Steelers to draft Josh Dobbs in the fourth round of the 2017 draft. But while Dobbs had potential, he was merely drafted for depth and was never in the conversation to be Roethlisberger's successor.

In the 2018 draft, the Steelers were in prime position to draft someone who could have been Roethlisberger's successor: Lamar Jackson. But instead of drafting Jackson, the Steelers selected safety Terrell Edmunds with the 28th overall pick. Jackson was selected four spots later by the Ravens.

The Steelers ended up selecting Mason Rudolph in the third round of that year's draft, but like Dobbs, he has also never gotten a legitimate chance to be the Steelers' long-term quarterback.

Promoting Matt Canada to offensive coordinator

Following the 2020 season, the Steelers basically decided that the Roethlisberger era was coming to a close. The team started to make decisions that echoed that sentiment, including the replacement of Randy Fichtner (a Roethlisberger favorite) with Matt Canada, a former college offensive coordinator who spent the 2020 season as the Steelers' quarterback's coach.

At the time, Canada's promotion was met with optimism. He was credited with helping Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh's offense enjoy a fast start in 2020 that culminated in an 11-0 start. Canada had interviewed with the Dolphins regarding their offensive coordinator opening before the Steelers promoted him.

It didn't take long, however, to realize that Canada wasn't going to work as an NFL offensive coordinator. The Steelers' offense largely struggled in 2021, specifically early in games, which led to several furious late-game comeback attempts by Roethlisberger. Shortly after the season concluded, it was reported that Pittsburgh's late-game success on offense was a byproduct of Roethlisberger going rogue and basically scrapping Canada's game plan.

It would only get worse from there.

The Trubisky/Pickett acquisitions

Following Roethlisberger's retirement after the 2021 season, the expectation was that the Steelers were going to sign a veteran quarterback in free agency in addition to possibly selecting a quarterback during the draft. The Steelers ended up doing both, but that turned out to be a mistake.

The NFL's legal tampering period was barely underway when the Steelers came to terms with former Bears' No. 1 overall pick Mitch Trubisky on a two-year deal. Pittsburgh then selected former Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett with the 20th overall pick.

Trubisky went into the season as the team's starting quarterback, but he was benched midway through the fourth game of the season. Pickett, to the roaring approval of Steelers fans, entered the game and scored two quick touchdowns on the ground. But his three interceptions proved costly as the Steelers' comeback bid came up short.

Pickett made his first career start the following week in what was an embarrassing 38-3 loss to the Bills in Buffalo. At that point, though, it appeared that the Steelers were committed to starting over with Pickett and using the 2022 season as a bridge.

Pickett endured the typical growing pains associated with rookie quarterbacks. Not helping matters was Canada's predictable offense, which was called out by Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt during a midseason loss to Cincinnati that dropped Pittsburgh's record to 3-7.

After that loss, the Steelers summoned the resolve that was a trademark during Mike Tomlin'