The Pittsburgh Steelers have dropped two games in a row and three of their last four, and their last two losses were among the worst in the team’s history. Losing back-to-back games to 2-10 opponents is completely inexcusable, especially for a team in the thick of the playoff hunt. While it’s incredibly maddening to see this team continually play down to its competition, ESPN analyst Dan Graziano says this stretch is actually good for the Steelers.
“I think there are big, significant franchise decisions that have to be made in Pittsburgh this offseason,” he said Friday morning on Get Up. “It stinks for the fans, but it’s probably better for the team to go through a stretch like this, so they know that.”
Ryan Clark agreed that it’s good because he said watching the Steelers “is like a silent movie,” and they play like one of the worst teams in the league but have just found ways to win in spite of not playing all that well. Given these last two games, he thinks it’ll open the organization’s eyes to some of the team’s problems.
I’m never going to agree that losing back-to-back games to 2-10 teams is a good thing. It’s a problem, and this is a team that has the talent to win this season. Instead, they’re now 7-6 and fighting for their playoff lives with three of their final four games on the road. The Steelers already fired Matt Canada, so I’m just not sure what significant decision they’re going to make, as Graziano says.
Despite the fact they’ve been underwhelming and unprepared the last two weeks, an indictment on the coaching staff first and foremost, this team isn’t going to fire Mike Tomlin. It took the Steelers almost three seasons to pull the plug on Canada; they’re certainly not getting rid of Tomlin after two bad games, right or wrong. It’s unlikely they address the starting quarterback position, especially with Kenny Pickett injured and the team not being able to fully get a sense of how he looks post-Canada. It’s just not a team that’s going to make these big decisions.
Firing Canada ahead of Week 12 was a big and surprising step for the Steelers because they showed that they were committed to improving. It’s almost felt like mediocrity is accepted to a degree, with the team consistently being just good enough to eke out a winning record and maybe even make a playoff appearance. But when they get to the playoffs, all too often they’ve been unprepared, which is going to be the word of the week in Pittsburgh. This once proud franchise with six Super Bowls hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016. The franchise’s all-time sack leader has never won a playoff game.
That’s just not acceptable. Neither is losing to two 2-10 teams isn’t acceptable. So I disagree with Graziano. This is not a good thing for this franchise, which would’ve had a chance to go 9-4 and fight for a division title, not just a playoff berth. It’s not like there are going to be any significant measures to address this team’s continual failures, so losing here doesn’t help the Steelers see anything differently. It just likely keeps them out of the playoffs again, an all-too-common occurrence for a team that is talented enough to make it.
