The old joke around here is the Pittsburgh Steelers are at their best when they’re the underdog.
They’re definitely in that role now.
Three days ago, they were everyone’s trendy AFC pick. To make the playoffs, to win the division, heck to become the conference’s top seed. One San Francisco loss and a likely Cam Heyward roster deletion later and those predictions are looking more like Y2K than Nostradamus.
The worst player on Acrisure field Sunday was QB Kenny Pickett. No sugarcoating it here. Pickett played the worst game of his career, especially relative to expectations of a promising second-year with plenty of weapons to throw to. Pickett was inaccurate, skittish, made poor reads, and turned the ball over twice, more than he did after the team’s bye week last year. Everything he’s supposed to be, everything he looked like during the summer, he wasn’t against the 49ers.
Now the Steelers are backed into the corner. An offense that hasn’t progressed, a defense that got run all over, and a unit now missing one of its anchor points in Heyward. Monday night, they’re hosting a Cleveland Browns team feeling as good as anyone after torching the Cincinnati Bengals and looking to go two-for-two in the AFC North.
Kenny Pickett’s gotta step up. He’s the guy. He’s the man in the arena. Everything that sucked about Sunday is in his control to change. His accuracy, his reads, making a play when the team needs it. He’s capable of doing it. He showed it last year. Calling Week Two “must win” is a stretch but this is sink-or-swim. Are the Steelers really better? Or did they just offer the illusion of it?
Did Sunday suck? Absolutely. It was miserable. But the only thing worse than a terrible Sunday is carrying that over into Monday night. Put in the past. Move on. Play better. It’s the only option.
Playing quarterback is all about being mentally tough. Not that Pickett doesn’t already know that. The NFL humbles you like no other sport. One moment, you’re riding high. The next, just trying to keep your head above water. Pittsburgh’s loss, ugly as it was, doesn’t mean the Steelers lack talent. There’s still a solid supporting cast surrounding him. Guys who can make plays. And they will. It just needs to happen a whole lot sooner than later.
Pittsburgh knows how to rally. They’re getting really good at it. Too good, really, digging a hole to make themselves counted out only to prove everyone wrong. As much as a Week One loss sucks, it’s Week One. It’s the one moment of the NFL calendar where it’s hard to draw conclusions about anyone, good or bad. For the Steelers, they better hope this is a fluke. Rise and meet the moment. That’s this squad’s mission.
Can Pickett do it? Sure. The thing about young quarterbacks is you don’t want to ride the roller coaster. One good week and he’s the franchise savior. One bad week and you’re reading scouting reports on next year’s draft class. That’s torture. The long view is what matters. But that’s made up of little moments. Like Monday night, against the Browns, when Pickett can command this team and put back up a falling sky.
