Things were looking up for the Pittsburgh Steelers entering Week 13, hosting one of the league’s worst teams in the Arizona Cardinals.
The roster was as healthy as it’s been in awhile with the return of safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, a favorable stretch of games was ahead, and the Steelers were riding high after an impressive offensive performance one week earlier in Cincinnati.
Then, everything fell apart Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.
Injuries piled up as the Steelers lost linebacker Elandon Roberts, quarterback Kenny Pickett, and left guard Isaac Seumalo to injury on Sunday. Pickett will reportedly miss 2-4 weeks with an ankle injury that will require surgery to repair a high ankle sprain, while Roberts and Seumalo are still being evaluated. We’ll likely get updates on those two from head coach Mike Tomlin Monday afternoon during his press conference on a short week.
Not only did the injuries pile up, the Steelers played very poorly, dropping a 24-10 game in ugly fashion, which is one of the worst regular season losses of the Tomlin era. It’s a hard, bitter pill to swallow, and now it has the Steelers in a difficult spot entering the stretch drive on the year.
For ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the loss has him believing the Steelers will miss the playoffs.
“The Steelers have faced a bevy of backup and/or substandard quarterbacks and have built their record on their ability to ugly-up the games and have one of their stellar defensive playmakers do something to swing it late. Sunday was a reminder that you can’t always live like that,” Graziano writes for ESPN. “It’s not hard to imagine the Steelers going 2-3 or worse the rest of the way. That would result in yet another non-losing season for coach Mike Tomlin, but at 9-8, it surely wouldn’t guarantee them a playoff spot.
“This is a Steelers team that has overachieved to get to where it is today. But Sunday’s home loss to one of the worst teams in the league is a reminder that nothing comes easy for the Steelers, who are generally outmanned. You can’t assume they’ll beat anybody.”
As hard as that might be to read right now, it’s spot-on from Graziano. The Steelers have taken advantage of some backup/substandard quarterbacks on the schedule this season, like Deshaun Watson, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jake Browning, Jordan Love, and Will Levis. But then they’ve also beaten some good quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson and Matthew Stafford.
It’s far too inconsistent though, and Sunday’s performance against the Arizona Cardinals was a major red flag.
Pittsburgh looked unprepared and not up for the game against one of the worst teams in football. That’s very, very concerning.
It’s not the first time it’s happened under Tomlin’s tenure, and it’s unlikely to be the last. They have some stinkers along the way, almost every single season. It’s maddening.
And now, the Steelers have an uphill battle ahead thanks to their own doing.
Pittsburgh might finish with a winning record, but it doesn’t appear to be a playoff-caliber team coming out of Sunday’s performance, and that’s quite concerning. As Graziano stated, you can’t assume this team will beat anybody at this point. Therein lies the problem.
