When the Pittsburgh Steelers chose quarterback Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft, there was cause for celebration among Steelers fans. Pickett played his college ball at Pitt. The Steelers coaching staff knew him and liked him, and he looked pretty darned good on film.
While not everyone was convinced, throughout Steeler Nation there was an air of cautious optimism. Was Kenny Pickett the successor to Ben Roethlisberger’s legacy, the quarterback who would lead the team to glory over the next decade or more?
Nope.
Though the fault was not entirely his, Pickett sputtered through his first two seasons, tossing a woeful 13 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions in 25 games. As the 2024 season looms, Pickett is now a Philadelphia Eagle. With the additions of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, the Steelers quarterback room looks very different from a year ago.
The fact is, finding a franchise quarterback isn’t easy. The road from Bradshaw to Roethlisberger is littered with many former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks who suffered fates similar to Pickett’s. Even the quarterbacks who put up some big stats didn’t always get it done in the win column.
Here is a look at the five greatest Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks by passing yards. A few of the names might surprise you.
5. Bubby Brister
1986-1992
10,104 Yds, 51 Tds, 57 Ints
The name Bubby Brister brings up some complicated feelings for Pittsburgh Steelers fans who survived the 1980s. He was Steeler from 1986 to 1992, smack in the middle of a fairly rough stretch for the team.
Brister was the perfect Pittsburgh quarterback. He was fiery, tough as nails, and had a cannon of an arm. While he didn’t post a winning record over 57 career starts in the black and gold, he sure made things interesting. In 1989, he led the team to an overtime win in the Wild Card round versus the Houston Oilers, the Steelers’ first playoff victory since 1984.
Brister played for 14 total seasons in the NFL, including two where he earned rings as a member of the Denver Broncos.
4. Neil O’Donnell
12,867 Yds, 68 Tds, 39 Ints
Neil O’Donnell was on the roster when Bill Cowher took over as head coach in 1992. He had wrestled the starting quarterback job from Brister a year earlier, and in many ways, he was the polar opposite. Brister was a gunslinger whereas O’Donnell was much more careful with the football, which is reflected in his touchdown-to-interception ratio.
O’Donnell finished out his time in Pittsburgh with a 39-22 record and an AFC Championship win. In 1995, he brought the Pittsburgh Steelers to their first Super Bowl appearance since the 1979 season, where they lost to the Dallas Cowboys.
3. Kordell Stewart
1995-2002
13,328 Yds, 70 Tds, 72 Ints
Kordell Stewart was part of that AFC Championship Pittsburgh Steelers team as well. As a rookie that season, he played wide receiver, quarterback, and even lined up in the backfield from time to time. This earned him the nickname “Slash”.
Stewart got his chance to start at quarterback in 1997 and took the team to the AFC Championship, where they lost to the Denver Broncos, the eventual Super Bowl champs. The Steelers would struggle with Stewart at the helm for the next few seasons until 2001 when he earned a spot on the Pro Bowl roster and once again brought the Steelers to the AFC Championship. This time, they lost to an up-and-coming Patriots team with a young quarterback called Tom Brady.
2. Terry Bradshaw
1970-1983
27,989 Yds, 212 Tds, 210 Ints
Terry Bradshaw is a Hall of Famer, four-time Super Bowl Champion, two-time Super Bowl MVP, a Bert Bell Award winner, and the 1978 NFL MVP. But this list is based on passing yards, and there are a few reasons Bradshaw doesn’t stack up against the number-one guy on this list.
The biggest reason is the era in which he played. The NFL played 14-game seasons until 1978, and it was very much a run-first league back then. And Bradshaw had the benefit of playing with Franco Harris, the greatest Pittsburgh Steelers running back of all time, as well as some other very capable backs that carried the load.
1. Ben Roethlisberger
2004-2021
64,088 Yds, 418 Tds, 211 Ints
If we consider stats alone, Ben Roethlisberger is the best Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback of all time. He is the franchise’s career leader in every meaningful passing statistic. He’s thrown for over 4,000 yards in six separate seasons and currently ranks fifth all-time in NFL history for passing yards. He was named Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2004, and he made six Pro Bowls during his career.
All that wouldn’t mean much if he wasn’t a winner as well. Big Ben took the Steelers to three Super Bowls and won two. He’s won more regular-season games than any other Steelers quarterback with an impressive 165-81-1 career record as a starter.
Statistical Reference and Complete List of Pittsburgh Steelers All-Time Passing Leaders:
- Pittsburgh Steelers Career Passing Leaders | Pro Football Reference
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