Mahomes had a season-high 127.1 passer rating in the win, and his stats of 320 passing yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions were his first such performance since Week 11, 2021.

“First of all, guys can’t be completely open,” Steelers safety DeShon Elliott said after the game. “That’s the first thing. Just do your job, you know? I thought we had an understanding. The boys just didn’t do their damn job. So back to the drawing board. It’s Week 18. These problems shouldn’t happen anymore.” Week 18. This is a problem from Week 1, Week 2. I don’t know where we went down the line, started becoming a completely different defense, than we were, but we have to get back to who we are.”

Senior defensive lineman Cameron Heyward added: per The Fan: “If 10 people do their job and one doesn’t, we’re screwed.”

The last three losses – all against teams that will play in the postseason – represent a historic swoon for the proud franchise. The last time Pittsburgh lost three straight games by more than 14 points was in 1988. The Steelers had not allowed at least 25 points in three consecutive games since 2018. And this is only the second time in the last 35 seasons that Pittsburgh has had a point differential of -50 or worse in three games, according to NFL Research.

“It’s definitely frustrating to have a performance like that two weeks in a row,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said. per The Athletic. “We just have to look in the mirror and admit it to ourselves. We have to realize that we only have two guaranteed games left. Whatever we have to do, we have to put our heads down and work.”

The Steelers will look to right things up next week in their regular season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.