The Pittsburgh Steelers’ problems in the playoffs can’t be easily forgotten
[ad_1]
This is a new season.
And that, friends, is largely good news for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they head into the NFL playoffs with a four-game losing streak.
New session? No one can point out the bright side of that anything-can-happen challenge better than All-Pro hopeful Russell Wilson, who is adopting amnesia as a tool for the trip to Baltimore.
“When you get to the playoffs, everybody’s 0-0,” the veteran quarterback said after Saturday night’s loss. “You have to beat everyone anyway. Right now our focus is on this. “Obviously it’s been a tough few weeks.”
Nice try. Difficult can be underestimated. And not all versions of 0-0 were created equally. The sixth-seeded Steelers (10-7) are the first team since the 1986 New York Jets to enter the playoffs having won at least 10 games but losing at least four games.
NFL Stats Central: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
The idea of the Steelers suddenly switching on the clock for Saturday night’s playoff opener against the Ravens (8 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime) represents a lot of the wishful thinking we’ve seen lately.
While Pittsburgh’s defense lost its big-play mojo and allowed an average of more than 27 points per game during the slump, the once formidable offense has been a debacle. The Steelers did not score more than 17 points in any of the four losses, when they scored a total of four touchdowns.
Blame and harsh patterns are cut across the board. Turnover. Dropped passes. Short-yardage crisis. Questionable tactics employed by offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Pass protection breakdown. George Pickens.
Following Saturday night’s 19–17 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals, coach Mike Tomlin lamented his offense’s inability to play regular game. This would include a failure to convert on third and fourth-and-1 plays during a sequence – which used to be more in line with Pittsburgh’s physical identity.
“If you can’t get a yard, you don’t deserve to win,” Tomlin said, offering a mantra he has expressed repeatedly over the years.
Of course, he is right about that. But he also missed several opportunities for big plays. On the last snap, perhaps a fourth-down opportunity to set up a last-second field goal attempt from top kicker Chris Boswell, tight end Pat Freiermuth ran a slant and dropped a perfect throw. And Freiermuth was the most reliable goal all night.
Pickens, the most prolific playmaker for most of the season, had another kind of issue. On top of his stat line – zero yards on one catch, three drops – he was seen being harassed by a teammate on the sideline as he was apparently yelling toward someone in the home crowd.
What a bad look. Yet it’s hardly a surprise anymore, considering a third-year professional has repeatedly demonstrated hot-headed tendencies that can drain energy, disrupt focus and derail his team in myriad ways. Can cause harm. Wilson, again publicly defending Pickens after the game, was apparently conscious of the choice.
“He’s been a star for us all season long,” Wilson said, adding that Pickens missed three games due to a hamstring injury that disrupted his streak. “He will be a difference maker for us in the playoffs. I’m looking forward to it and what he can do and what we can do together. I’m not blinking at George. If someone believes in him then I definitely do.”
Go ahead, Russ. Speak it into existence. And while you’re at it, it wouldn’t hurt to talk about the need to control offense from the very beginning of the game.
It was believed for several months that the Steelers’ potential as a playoff threat would be revealed during a grueling stretch run. After trips to Philadelphia and Baltimore, the Steelers finished the season at home against Kansas City and Cincinnati. That’s three division champions and a red-hot team that barely missed the playoffs when they finished with a five-game winning streak.
No, it never seemed easy. But the Steelers never led in any of the four games. There was a certain symmetry to the first-half defeat: 17-3, 17-7, 13-0, 10-0.
Despite all the benefits of complementary football, the Steelers enjoyed a 10-3 record and a two-game lead in the AFC North, the offense was wrapped in a different red flag during the four-game skid. The loss in Philadelphia began with three consecutive three-and-outs, then the next three games began with three-and-outs in the opening series. During the four-game skid, the Steelers had a total of 2 net yards in the first four possessions of the game. pathetic.
Talk about a lack of momentum. The pattern Pittsburgh follows in the playoffs consists of points tied to sluggish starts. This certainly increases the pressure on Smith, the former Atlanta Falcons coach, whose game-opening scripts have been a disaster.
When someone asked Wilson about patterns, he replied, “I don’t really want to talk about the past. We have been here for some time.”
Of course, everything that has happened in recent days does not bode well for the challenge against a hot Ravens team (12-5) with a four-game winning streak. On a visit to M&T Bank Stadium in Week 16, Wilson fumbled at the Ravens’ 4-yard line in the second quarter, changing the momentum of a tie game. Then, after trailing 24–17 early in the fourth quarter, his pick-six to Marlon Humphrey essentially sealed the 34–17 result.
It’s no surprise that Wilson doesn’t want to dwell on the past.
“We have to have amnesia in this,” Wilson said. “Just win the next game. Win the next game. “We’re going to have the best week we possibly can this week.”
Tomlin definitely doesn’t have amnesia. He’ll want to forget some of the shortcomings of recent weeks, but he won’t shy away from a reality check.
“I don’t know if you’re completely clean,” he said. “You’d better learn from these lessons. We are a mentally strong group. It’s okay to learn from these lessons and remember the things that made it happen. Because there is nothing mysterious in it. That’s going to be my mentality and that’s how I’m going to relate to people.
Tomlin, in his 18th season as Steelers coach, extended his streak of never having a losing season. But that impressive feat has been interrupted by playoff results. The franchise, which boasts six Lombardi Trophies, has not won a postseason game since 2016.
Wilson was brought to Pittsburgh to help change this. And after Tomlin switched from Justin Fields in Week 7, it seemed as if the jolt Wilson added with his veteran understanding and knack for connecting on deep “moonshot” passes were the needed ingredients. The franchise’s best quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger raised hopes of a long-denied deep playoff run.
Now it’s about survival in a different context. Maybe a trip to the Charm City will spark some flashbacks to another edition of the NFL’s most intense rivalry. Before the loss in the last meeting, the Steelers had the answer to winning eight of the last nine games against the Ravens in 2020, including a 4-0 score against Lamar Jackson during that span.
Yet that last matchup of Jackson linking up with Derrick Henry also meant something. Unless you have amnesia.
New session? This could be seen as half-full or almost empty for the Steelers.
x Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell at @JarrettBell.