Steve Young does not like what he's seeing from Ben Roethlisberger or the Steelers.
To put things mildly.
On ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown," the Hall of Fame quarterback shredded Pittsburgh for sticking with Roethlisberger despite his horrendous play. The 39-year-old pass-thrower has posted a QB rating of 78.3 over his last three games. The Steelers have dropped all of them.
"It looks terrible," Young said. "I had hoped that Ben Roethlisberger post-injury would come back reborn, reenergized, lost weight, very much more out in front of the leadership position. It just now, for two or three weeks, we've talked about how tired it looks, how done it looks. Then you have to ask yourself, 'OK, if that's the case, then what is the future of the Steelers?' Because if you don't have a quarterback, you don't have a chance."
Later in the segment, Young asked Adam Schefter whether the Steelers even have an option in mind besides Roethlisberger. "Tell me there's a long-term quarterback plan that the Steelers have been hiding in the back room that's going to emerge over the next little while," Young asked.
Schefter attempted to answer, but in a matter of seconds, Young's inquiry turned into a rant. The three-time Super Bowl champ kept interrupting Schefter to demand the Steelers' plan.
"He got hurt. He's out for the year. Where's the plan?!," Young shouted.
Once again, Schefter tried to respond, saying "we could see where this was going" with Roethlisberger. Then Young chimed in again.
"Into the ground?!," he said incredulously.
When Schefter couldn't offer Young a satisfying answer, he became even more exasperated.
"Start from scratch? That's not a plan!," he yelled.
At this point, it's hard to argue with Young: the Steelers have no long-term strategy at the most important position in sports. Their best hope might be to finish well below .500 and position themselves for a top draft pick.
Or acquire Aaron Rodgers.
But for the time being, they have Mason Rudolph. He's not a plan, either, but at least he would probably throw the ball past the line of scrimmage on fourth down.
That's a start.
