NFL Fact or Fiction: Steelers Are End-of-Year Contenders After 2–0 Start

It's well established that Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season in Pittsburgh. But after a strong start, can his team finally make a deep playoff run? Plus, is it time to include Baker Mayfield in the MVP discussion?

Tomlin has the Steelers off to a 2–0 start for the first time since the 2020 season. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The many upsets in Week 2 served as a reminder that it’s way too soon to start forming a list of pretenders and contenders in the NFL.   

But it might be safe to write in pen that the Pittsburgh Steelers will again win at least nine games under coach Mike Tomlin, which makes them neither pretenders or contenders. The Steelers again look average on the offensive side, but, hey, they’re 2–0 after wins against the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos. 

To steal a line from Tomlin, the Steelers do not care how they win games. They might care, however, when the calendar turns to January. 

It’s also way too early to start MVP debates, but Baker Mayfield might find himself in the mix if he continues to make winning plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We’ll discuss the 2–0 Steelers and Buccaneers to open this week’s “Fact or Fiction.” 

Unbeaten Steelers will be end-of-year contenders

Manzano’s view: Fiction 

From all of the 2–0 squads, the Steelers are the least interesting. 

There’s really not much to discuss at this point besides the likelihood of Tomlin delivering another winning record at the end of the season to keep his streak alive, which goes back to 2007. 

Tomlin’s crew is playing Steelers football with a dominant defense and productive running game, but what else is new? They’re not Super Bowl contenders and they’re definitely not headed to a top-10 draft pick. 

They’re just average—again—because the offense generates more field goals than touchdowns. Justin Fields’s arrival hasn’t solved the team’s biggest weakness since Ben Roethlisberger’s final prime year, which was probably 2018 when he had 5,000-plus passing yards. It’s been a long time since the Steelers have had a dynamic passing attack, leading to a handful of one-and-done postseason exits since ’17.  

Fields is executing and protecting the football, but they only have one touchdown this season and beat the struggling Denver Broncos in a dull 13–6 game last week. In the Week 1 victory, Chris Boswell drilled six field goals to defeat the Falcons, 18–10. This is not a way of saying the Steelers should turn to Russell Wilson when he’s cleared from his calf injury, because the stagnant passing probably wouldn’t change with Wilson. 

Tomlin is an excellent coach who knows how to win at least nine games every regular season. But the Steelers must be tired of just being a wild-card team or coming up a game short of the postseason. Jeff Fisher once said he’s tired of the 7–9 animal dung. Maybe the Steelers’ motto this season should be no more mediocrity and open up the offensive playbook.    

Mayfield scores the game-winning touchdown during the Buccaneers' 20–16 win over the Lions. / Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Baker Mayfield will receive an MVP vote

Manzano’s view: Fact  

It’s way too early to discuss MVP candidates, but I’ve seen enough from Mayfield to say he’ll at least gain one MVP vote when ballots are due in January. 

Mayfield found a way to guide the Buccaneers to a gritty road victory against the Detroit Lions last week. Aidan Hutchinson made life difficult for Mayfield with 4.5 sacks and Detroit’s defense took away his rushing attack. That wasn’t enough to stop Mayfield, who stepped up with an 11-yard rushing touchdown that eventually won the game.

Perhaps the biggest concern heading into this season for Tampa Bay was the absence of Dave Canales, the former offensive coordinator who helped Mayfield find consistency last year before becoming the Carolina Panthers’ head coach. After a 2–0 start, it appears Mayfield’s breakout season wasn’t solely because of Canales’s play calls. Mayfield, the 2018 No. 1 pick, is doing his part and has an ideal situation in Tampa Bay with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin as his playmakers, and Tristan Wirfs as his blindside protector.  

It also helps that Mayfield already had a working relationship with new offensive coordinator Liam Coen from their short stint together in 2022 with the Los Angeles Rams, perhaps where Mayfield’s comeback tour originally started. If Mayfield’s up-and-down performances are truly behind him, he might gain a lot more than just one MVP vote this season. 

Panthers were wrong to bench Bryce Young this soon

Manzano’s view: Fiction

The Panthers put Bryce Young in a terrible situation after trading away their best players and top draft picks, hindering the development of the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft.

With that in mind, Young should view his benching as a failure on the overall team and not just his individual performance. It’s on the Panthers to make the situation right before making him a starter again—if they ever do. Young continuing to take punishment and alienate teammates with skittish performances wasn’t going to solve anything in Carolina.

Maybe this benching extends throughout the entire season, but it will allow Young to learn from the sidelines while Canales incorporates his offense and aims to gain belief inside the locker room during his first season. It’s probably not fair to make Andy Dalton the new crash-test dummy for this woeful offensive line, but he’s a proven veteran who knows how to adjust under difficult circumstances. 

Perhaps Young should be better at creating plays under pressure, because that’s one of the areas that made him the top pick last year. But we’re seeing the same issues with the Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams, who had a reputation for making highlights away from the pocket during his college days. 

The league’s best creators (Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers) either learned from the sidelines or had ideal surroundings before turning into the magicians they are today. Josh Allen could be the one exception, but it took him three years and a Stefon Diggs trade to find consistency. 

My memory might be bad, but I can’t recall a current star quarterback having a worse situation than what Young has had to start his career. Perhaps Trevor Lawrence with Urban Meyer during his rookie year, but they made the playoffs in his second season after the switch to Doug Pederson. And it might be too soon to call Lawrence a star based on his rocky performances the past two years. Developing quarterbacks into stars isn’t easy for NFL teams, and poor surroundings have lasting implications.  

Time will tell how Young’s career goes, but there might be hope in Carolina because of this surprising benching.

Barkley’s drop costs Eagles’ Week 2 game, not play call 

Manzano’s view: Fact 

This one is easy. Saquon Barkley, one of the best pass-catching running backs in the NFL, should have caught the pass from Jalen Hurts and converted on the critical third-and-3 play to put away the Falcons on Monday Night Football. 

Barkley even took the blame for the costly drop in the 22–21 loss that saw Kirk Cousins operate the two-minute drill to perfection, but this still turned into a TV debate about whether Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni should have called a running play to kill more clock and possibly give themselves an opportunity for a short fourth down. Hindsight is 20/20, but we can’t overlook that the pass play was well executed and had Barkley caught it, the Eagles would have killed the rest of the clock to seal the win. 

The Eagles signed Barkley for those types of moments and Sirianni chose to give his star playmaker an opportunity to win it. It’s tough to fault him and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore for that line of thinking.  

Through his first two starts, Daniels has completed 75.5% of his pass attempts with two rushing touchdowns. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Jayden Daniels will win Offensive Rookie of the Year 

Manzano’s view: Fiction 

I nearly went “Fact” because quarterbacks tend to win OROY. I was also impressed with Jayden Daniels’s performance in the 21–18 victory against the New York Giants.

But then I glanced at the many stout defenses Daniels has to face this season. There aren’t many Giants-caliber teams on the Commanders’ schedule, with matchups against the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Steelers, Bears, Tennessee Titans and Falcons. And that doesn’t even include NFC East games with the Dallas Cowboys and Eagles.

Daniels’s stats might not be pretty enough to hoist the award after the regular season. But doing enough to win games and staying competitive throughout the season is certainly something Daniels is capable of based on what he displayed against the Giants. 

If he can cut back on the hits he takes while on the run, the Commanders might finally take steps in the right direction in this new era. Daniels has a knack for creating plays to keep long scoring drives alive. Washington’s first three scoring drives last week each went for 10-plus plays. 

Maybe wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers are better picks at the moment for the award, but if Daniels finds ways to generate points against the upcoming standout defenses, he’ll be a strong favorite.