The Steelers had three chances to prove they were a contender. They struck.
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The Steelers had three chances to prove they were a contender. They struck.

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

PITTSBURGH – As the Pittsburgh Steelers defense took the field midway through the fourth quarter on Wednesday, the video board at Acrisure Stadium went black and “Renegade” blared from the speakers.

Usually, this is one of the magical moments at every Steelers game. The fans wave their scare towels and scream at the top of their lungs as they try to force the defense into a crucial stop.

Not this time. With their team trailing the Kansas City Chiefs 29-10, the fans actually responded by going behind Boo their own defense anthem.

That moment, like everything else, summed up the state of the Steelers. With the AFC North in hand by a two-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh began a crucial stretch of three games in 11 days against the Philadelphia Eagles, Ravens and Chiefs. Given the quality of competition, these 11 days would tell us a lot about how the Steelers fare against legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

What have we learned? Well, the Steelers didn’t just lose all three. They were embarrassingly better coached, better played and outscored, resulting in a combined 90-40 lead. The Steelers had three chances to prove they were a contender. And struck out.

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“The last three weeks we played like crap,” defensive co-captain Cameron Heyward said. “It’s that simple. This is mine. Every player has to be in here.”

The AFC North championship hats and jerseys printed before the game in Baltimore last week can now probably be thrown in the trash. Unless the Ravens (11-5) – who beat the Houston Texans later on Wednesday – are defeated by the lowly Browns for the second time this season and Pittsburgh (10-6) beats Joe Burrow and the Bengals in next week’s finale , the Steelers must hit the road to begin the postseason. If that’s the case, it’s hard to imagine they’ll make much progress unless the product on the field changes dramatically.

“There has to be a will,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “You know what I mean? There’s not enough of that right now. It’s the time of year where we have two guaranteed games left. We’re going to find out who wants it. Everyone in this room has to want it.”

Just this week, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher spoke on national television about how Pittsburgh has a formula for winning in the playoffs: run the ball and play great defense. That’s the kind of football that travels, the Steelers will tell you. Well, right now they’re not doing either well enough.

At some point they certainly had the defenses they needed to travel. They have won two games this season in which the offense did not score a touchdown, including in Week 11 against the Ravens’ top-ranked offense. The current version of the defense doesn’t look like this.

“I don’t know where we went down the line and started becoming a completely different defense than we were,” safety DeShon Elliott said. “But we have to find our way back to who we are.”

Patrick Mahomes makes a lot of defenses look bad. But usually it’s not that bad. The two-time NFL MVP arguably played his best game of the season against what was supposed to be one of the best defenses in the league. He completed 76.3 percent of his passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns. The yardage was second only to a 331-yard performance against the Saints earlier this season, but he threw no touchdowns and no interceptions in that game. On Christmas Day in Pittsburgh, he posted a season-high 0.43 EPA per dropback and a season-high 127.1 passer rating, according to TruMedia.

But more than what Mahomes did to the Steelers, this is about what they did to themselves. A defense built on pressure and turnovers didn’t sack Mahomes once and failed to score a takeaway. Additionally, the same miscommunications or missed assignments that have plagued the Steelers in recent weeks reared their ugly head once again.

“First of all, guys can’t be completely open,” Elliott said. “That’s the first thing. Just do your job. I thought we communicated. The boys just didn’t do their damn job. So back to the drawing board. It’s week (17). We shouldn’t have these problems in week (17). This is a Week 1, Week 2 issue.”

That started with the opening drive. Coach Mike Tomlin shouts “Don’t let them hit you in the flat” so often in practice that the Steelers have jerseys printed with the slogan. But on the Chiefs’ first drive, they lined up speedy receiver Xavier Worthy in the backfield and – guess what – he beat safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in the flat.

“That’s what we’ve been preaching all week,” inside linebacker Patrick Queen said. “We knew they were going to pick up the pace and score in the backfield. We had a check for it. We’ve reached the check. We’re just not doing our job. It’s just a matter of doing our job.”

After allowing the Chiefs to march down the field and score a touchdown on the opening drive, the Steelers’ defense allowed a second touchdown drive on the following series for an early 13-0 hole.

Against an offense like the Chiefs’, the Steelers should have had a near-perfect game on offense. Instead, Pittsburgh shot itself in the foot again, especially in the red zone.

Late in the first quarter, running back Jaylen Warren cut into the end zone, but a hold call by tight end Darnell Washington returned the touchdown. On the next play, quarterback Russell Wilson tried to get Pat Freiermuth to commit to a two-high look before the snap, but was intercepted by Justin Reid.

The QB may not have been entirely at fault. Apparently, receiver George Pickens stopped running his route when he was trapped at the line of scrimmage and failed to get Reid’s attention by going vertical.

After the game, Wilson admitted he thought Pickens was going vertical, but the QB also took the blame.

“Yeah, I think you know he’s going to go vertical,” Wilson said. “But at the end of the day (the interception) can’t happen. I tried to give Pat (Freiermuth) a chance. He did a good job for us in the red zone and they played a good game.”

Facing a different five-man front than Pittsburgh expected — the Chiefs didn’t have star defensive tackle Chris Jones — Wilson was under constant pressure. He was sacked a season-high five times, completing 23 of 37 passes for 205 yards with one interception and no touchdowns, a season-low rating of 65.7.

Perhaps the only positive thing about the game was that Jaylen Warren averaged 6.5 yards per carry and threw the ball 11 times for 71 yards. But even that feels like a symptom of a problem, as one has to wonder why he isn’t being given more work. With Najee Harris shouldering the load this season, the Steelers’ collective rushing attack was the second most efficient in the NFL, averaging just 3.9 yards per carry.

Now, after losing all three games, the Steelers begin a mini-bye week with 10 days until the season finale. Wilson, the eternal optimist, tried to find positivity in adversity.

“I think how we approach this is going to be really crucial,” Wilson said. “There are all these teams we can beat. We can play better. And if we play better, I think we’ll be a scary team. We need to make sure that’s the case.”

After the way the last three games have gone, it would be difficult to play much worse.

(Photo by Russell Wilson: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)

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