Most of my weird stats go in my stats of the weird column, which will drop a little later this morning. But I’m making an exception for this one. It’s so weird, so bad, hurts my soul so much that it deserves its own article.
Let’s rip the Band-Aid off.
With their 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers have lost six games by at least 22 points over the last three seasons, 2021 to present.
From 1998 to 2020, a span of 22 years, the Steelers only lost by 22-plus points six times.
I gotta repeat that. And lay it out crystal clear.
Number Of Steelers’ Losses By 22 Or More Points
2021-2023: Six Games
1998-2020: Six Games
What Pittsburgh used to do in two decades it has “accomplished” in three seasons. Far less than that, really. It started in Week 12 of the 2021 season, the Steelers blown out by the Cincinnati Bengals, and has gone through yesterday, a similar defeat by the Texans. Here’s the six games that have happened over that 28-game span:
Week 12, 2021: 41-10 Loss To Bengals
Week 16, 2021: 36-10 Loss To Chiefs
Week 5, 2022: 38-3 Loss To Bills
Week 8, 2022: 35-13 Loss To Eagles
Week 1, 2023: 30-7 Loss To 49ers
Week 4, 2023: 30-6 Loss To Texans
In the 1997 Week One opener, the Steelers were destroyed by the Dallas Cowboys, 37-7. They would not suffer another loss by 22 or more points until 2006 when the Baltimore Ravens shut them out, 27-0. The Steelers were blown out again by the Ravens in their second meeting that season. Baltimore did it a third time in 2011, 35-7, while the New England Patriots won big, 55-31, two years later. It wasn’t until 2016 that the Steelers had a similar defeat, 34-3, to Philadelphia before they stunk up the 2019 opener against the Patriots, 33-3.
That’s all the 22-plus point losses they had over that 22-year span. Since then, it’s been happening at an alarming frequency. Get this: 22 percent of the team’s games in that 28-game span have been losses by 22 points or more. It’s symmetry that you want to avoid at all costs.
That’s not to say the Steelers have been an uncompetitive team over that span. They made the playoffs in 2021, though they were blown out by the Chiefs (a 21-point loss, I did not include playoff results in my data set). In 2022, they nearly stormed the castle and captured a Wild Card spot. And who knows what happens in 2023 even if things don’t look rosy right now.
The issue is how many individual games the Steelers have just been lifeless in. This is a team built on staying in the fight, being resilient, and playing every team tough. No matter how things looked on paper, Pittsburgh would be in the game. They’d lose some they shouldn’t have, sure, but they’re the close-game kings. Now more than ever since Chuck Noll arrived, they’re getting throttled.
That standard has fallen. There are weeks where the team looks bad. Really bad. Arguably, it’s a result of how the team is constructed. Pittsburgh’s designed to win low-scoring affairs, to play good defense, keep a lid on things, make plays late to come out on top. But in an NFL that’s scoring more than ever, Pittsburgh can’t keep up. When the defense can’t lock things down, or when the second-half dam breaks, the floodgates open and the Steelers get crushed in the process.
Since 2021, when we’re starting this streak from, Pittsburgh has scored 30 points in a game just twice, tied with the New York Giants for the league’s lowest mark. Both games were losses, 41-37 in 2021 to the Los Angeles Chargers and in 2022, a 37-30 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals. Including the postseason, they have lost the last three games in which they scored at least 30 points and haven’t won such a game since Week 10 of the 2020 season.
Sure, in some of those games, you could’ve guessed it would get ugly. To the Chiefs, the Bills, the Eagles. Some of the NFL’s top squads and Super Bowl contenders, which the Steelers are most certainly not. But the Texans? A better team than given credit for entering the week, no one should underestimate them now, but not the type of game where the Steelers should be dog-walked.
The transition from Ben Roethlisberger to this new era is one reason for this sudden surge. With a franchise quarterback, you rarely get blown out. And the Steelers don’t look like they have one right now. At least, not in its current form.
Of all the negative things being said about Mike Tomlin right now, maybe that’s the most damning thing. He gets credit for “never having a losing season.” But with this loss, the Steelers’ six defeats by 22-plus points tie the New York Giants for the most since 2021. They’re a team that wins by close margins and gets blown out by huge ones. That’s not how the Steelers are supposed to be. It’s a bigger and bigger problem and one I don’t know if Pittsburgh is capable of solving anytime soon.
