“How many more years of T.J. Watt’s career are the Steelers going to waste?”

That’s a rhetorical question that gets asked often by Steelers fans when talking about the dynamic and dominant outside linebacker from Wisconsin. Watt, the man with 96.5 career sacks, the one Defensive Player of the Year award, and countless “Shoulda Been DPOY” awards, will turn 30 in October.

Needless to say, Watt probably has more sacks behind him than he has in front of him. So, seriously, when are the Steelers going to stop wasting his career?

Of course, what fans mean when they rhetorically ask that question is, when is Pittsburgh going to hurry up and win a championship during Watt’s career? I mean, the Steelers have this great player, how can they not do more with him? Fans asked similar questions about Ben Roethlisberger during the Killer B’s era.

Fans are also worried about Cam Heyward being drafted by the Steelers and then retiring as a Steeler without ever winning a Super Bowl as a Steeler.

Somewhere, someone is likely mad that Minkah Fitzpatrick’s career as a stellar Steelers safety is being wasted.

But we will stick with Watt for now because he is the face of the Steelers franchise. He’s the straw that stirs the drink. He’s the one with the $80 million in guaranteed money. He’s the one homegrown talent on the roster who is surely destined for Canton when his playing career finally ends.

The only questions surrounding Watt’s personal achievements have to do with things like the number of sacks he will finish his career with. How many All-Pro honors will he rack up when all is said and done? Will he win another DPOY award before he’s through? Will he win more than that? Will he be a First-Ballot Hall of Famer or will he have to wait a bit?

As for his team accomplishments, again, when will the Steelers get up off their butts and win a title for him? Let me change the rhetorical question to a statement: Pittsburgh MUST stop wasting T.J. Watt’s career!

If only it were that simple.

Watt, who is heading into his eighth season, has never won a playoff game with the Steelers. Pittsburgh hasn’t won a postseason game since the 2016 campaign–or right before Watt was selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Talk about your bad luck. Talk about your bad timing.

OK, maybe this drought has lowered your standards and expectations just a tad. Perhaps you’re asking another rhetorical question: How can the Steelers go Watt’s entire career (up to this point) without winning a playoff game?

That happens, sometimes.

There are plenty of superstars who go their entire careers without even sniffing the playoffs, let alone a championship.

Take Ernie Stautner, for example. He was a ferociously good defensive lineman for the Steelers from 1950-1963. He made the Pro Bowl nine times. He was an All-Pro nine times–including four First-team honors. He’s a member of the 1950s All-Decades Team. He was a First-Ballot Hall of Famer in 1969.

Only three Steelers have had their jersey numbers retired, and Stautner’s No. 70 is one of them.

But Ernie Stautner never played in a postseason game.

Imagine if the Steelers had two of the first four picks of the NFL Draft. Just think what they’d be able to do with those selections and how quickly they’d be able to rebuild their roster! That was the Bears reality when they had the third and fourth picks of the 1965 NFL Draft. The third pick would have been the Steelers, but they traded it away the year before in exchange for Chicago’s second and fourth-round picks in the 1964 NFL Draft (it’s true).

Anyway, enough about that. The Bears used the third pick to select Dick Butkus, the menacing middle linebacker from Illinois. Chicago then used the fourth pick to draft running back Gale Sayers, the Kansas Comet.

Both players went on to have stellar careers for the Bears. Both players were First-Ballot Hall of Famers when their careers were over.

Neither player saw the postseason, not even once.

Imagine if those two guys had joined the Bears a few years earlier.

What if Watt had come along in the early-2010s, right when Roethlisberger was entering the true prime of his career?

Again, it’s all about timing.

Yes, the goal of the draft–the goal of acquiring players by any means–is to build a team good enough to compete for and win titles.

It doesn’t always work, though.

And when you think about it, are the Steelers really wasting Watt’s career? They’re like 1-11 all-time without him. Imagine if Watt wasn’t around?

This is just my two cents, but I believe the Steelers are getting their money’s worth with Watt.

“Yeah, but what about those titles?”

Great players come and go all the time in the NFL, and most of them don’t win championships.

T.J. Watt might be one of those players when all is said and done.