For seemingly the umpteenth time over the past few seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers won a game where they looked bad through three quarters, flipped a switch, and played their best football in the game’s biggest moments in a 24-17 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. On Good Morning Football, analyst Peter Schrager said he’s beginning to think that it’s not just a coincidence that the Steelers are able to win so many close games and play their best football in the fourth quarter.
“Dang, these Steelers have a way about them,” Schrager said. “They will just hang around, and hang around, and then in the fourth quarters, things just magically happen. And I’m beginning to think it’s not just coincidence. They have a formula with how they do this, where they’re losing at halftime every game, they have no offense, everyone wants to fire Matt Canada 57 minutes into the game, and then the final three minutes, it’s like wait a second. They’re legitimate. Last night, as much as you want to blame the refs and the spot, they outplayed the Rams when it mattered most.”
Couple Pittsburgh’s defense, which has been a little bend-don’t-break this season and particularly yesterday, and Kenny Pickett’s penchant for being clutch, and you get a team that wins close and occasionally wins ugly. The Steelers lucked out with two Brett Maher missed field goals for the Rams yesterday, but the defense was also opportunistic with a T.J. Watt interception and two sacks on the day. Pickett didn’t throw an incomplete pass in the fourth quarter, and the Steelers outscored the Rams 14-0 in the quarter and 21-8 in the second half.
It wasn’t all that pretty of a win, but it was a win, and the Steelers offense got it done before the two-minute warning and could kneel out the victory. Even that’s something that hasn’t happened all that often this season, with the defense usually needing to make a stand before the Steelers can clinch a victory.
But at some point, this team is good and not just lucky. They did outplay the Rams the entirety of the fourth quarter, and much of the third quarter, as well. The Steelers have beaten good teams, among them division rivals in the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens. At 4-2, they’re in a position to make some noise the rest of the season and prove they can be contenders.
The return of WR Diontae Johnson provided this offense a spark yesterday, and that fourth quarter is one that they should build off and look at as a potential turning point for their season. It’s going to be interesting to see if this performance can carry over, but the Steelers have had success winning ugly. As long as they keep winning, I don’t think anyone will be upset.
