The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in a rather uncomfortable position at 1-4 coming off of a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills on the road, that being rock bottom.
No, they haven’t been on the receiving end of the wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s famous finisher — though it certainly feels like it based on the last month of football. However, they are a team trending in the wrong direction, and fast, with four straight losses, the last of which came in a 38-3 fashion to the Super Bowl favorite Bills.
That loss keeps the Steelers in the bottom half of the league in the latest NFL Power Rankings from NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus, who surprisingly kept the black and gold at No. 27 overall despite the putrid loss to the Bills, remaining ahead of the Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders, Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers in the weekly power rankings.
Not great company to be in for the black and gold.
“The Steelers were overmatched by a vastly superior Bills team on Sunday, falling behind by four touchdowns by halftime in an eventual 38-3 loss in Western New York. Pittsburgh’s defense — lost without T.J. Watt — surrendered a 98-yard touchdown strikefrom Josh Allen on the third play from scrimmage and rarely looked competitive after that,” Hanzus writes regarding the Steelers’ ranking at No. 27 overall in the Power Rankings. “Mike Tomlin didn’t mince words after the game. “Satisfied with the effort?” the coach replied to a reporter’s query. “We got smashed. What are we doing here, man?” With an unforgiving schedule ahead, Tomlin appears destined to finally endure his first losing season as head coach. It’s fair to wonder if Pittsburgh ends this rebuilding campaign with one of the worst records in football.”
Things are…not going well in the Steel City right now, that much is certain. With an unforgiving stretch coming up featuring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Acrisure Stadium in Week 6, and then trips to Miami and Philadelphia for matchups with the Dolphins and Eagles before the Week 9 bye week, it could get way worse for the Steelers, who appear destined for Tomlin’s first losing season and a top 10 draft pick for the first time since the 2000 season when the Steelers picked eighth overall and selected wide receiver Plaxico Burress.
Sunday’s performance against the Bills was the worst showing the Steelers have had in 33 yards, dating back to the 51-0 loss to the Cleveland Browns to open the 1989 season. That year, Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Noll was at the helm.
Turns out, the end was near for the Noll Era that day.
Sunday’s display was concerning on a number of levels for the Steelers, starting with the coaching and seemingly not having depth players prepared at the highest level to take on an absolute wagon of a team in the Bills. That started right away on the third snap from scrimmage, leading to Allen’s 98-yard strike to Davis to kick off the party in Orchard Park.
It feels like the first losing season of the Tomlin era is all but certain right now, especially with the upcoming stretch of games and the health of the roster at the moment, especially defensively. Things aren’t magically going to get better all of a sudden, though Tomlin stated that everything is on the table regarding changes from a personnel and coaching staff standpoint.
We’ll see what changes, starting Tuesday with Tomlin’s weekly press conference. Right now though, this is rock bottom for the Steelers — at least for the time being.
