{"id":697604,"date":"2026-01-23T00:29:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/697604\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T00:29:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:29:21","slug":"steelers-should-go-all-in-to-pick-fernando-mendoza-to-replace-aaron-rodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/697604\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Should Go All-In to Pick Fernando Mendoza to Replace Aaron Rodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is a new era of Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> football.<\/p>\n

After seven-straight playoff losses, Pittsburgh is in purgatory. Mike Tomlin stepped down as head coach, but bringing in a new or young leader won’t entirely change the book on the Steelers franchise.<\/p>\n

Right now, Pittsburgh might be in the worst spot of any team in football. No, they aren’t terrible, but if the ultimate goal is to win a championship, then they might be far behind teams that barely won a few games this year while they suited up for the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The words “good enough” in the NFL<\/a> might be the bane of any fan. Too good to get a high draft pick or fully rebuild, but not at the level to truly contend with the best-run organizations in the league. The Los Angeles Rams won a Super Bowl, rebuilt, and are now on the verge of another shot at the Lombardi Trophy, while the Steelers haven’t even won a single playoff game.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh, a team known for being safe, consistent, and proper, needs a stunning move this offseason that is unlike them.<\/p>\n

The Steelers need to go all-in for Indiana<\/a>‘s Fernando Mendoza.<\/p>\n

More News: Steelers May Have Found Their Next Head Coach Prodigy: Report<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More news: Ex-Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin Makes Choice on Football Future: Report<\/a><\/p>\n

Since Ben Roethlisberger retired, it’s been a journey to find the next franchise QB for Pittsburgh, and it’s been nearly impossible. Because Tomlin always gets the team at least 9 or 10 wins, they’ve never been in a position to acquire a blue-chip thrower in the draft.<\/p>\n

They’ve tried with Kenny Pickett and given chances to former first-rounders who didn’t pan out in their original situations, like Justin Fields, but it’s been a cycle of offensive misfires propped up by a heroic defense.<\/p>\n

With Aaron Rodgers<\/a> most likely not returning to Pittsburgh, it’s time for the Steelers to go for that all-in, dangerous move that, if it goes sideways, ruins the franchise for the next half-decade. Fernando Mendoza is seen as possibly the only true starting QB in this year’s draft, and it will need to be a lot for the Las Vegas Raiders to part with the pick.<\/p>\n

But unlike the Steelers, the Raiders have numerous holes across the lineup that need to be replaced, plugged, and upgraded before Mendoza could do anything offensively in Las Vegas. In a world where the Steelers take a chance and go for the big swing, it could be enough to land the Heisman-winner and national champion in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Would two to three firsts, a second, a young player, and possibly a few later-round picks get the job done?<\/p>\n

You don’t know if you don’t ask, Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is a new era of Pittsburgh Steelers football. After seven-straight playoff losses, Pittsburgh is in purgatory. Mike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,7,932,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-697604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indiana","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115941589972575581","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}