With four games left to play, the Pittsburgh Steelers are nearly through their home slate. They are currently 4-4 at Acrisure Stadium after dropping two this week, with a Week 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals set up for them to break the tie, one way or another.
The fans deserve better, and the players know that. They understand the reaction in the stadium, whether it’s boos or calls for coaches to be fired or for players to be benched. Fans have been particularly vocal this year, and nobody is pretending anymore not to hear it.
“Was I aware [of the boos]?”, RB Najee Harris asked rhetorically after the game when questioned if he’d heard them, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s YouTube channel. “Yeah, there was like 66,000 on that board [when they announced the stadium attendance]. But since I’ve been here I’ve been hearing boos, to be honest with you. It’s not like it’s gonna change. The fans are just eager to see their team win. That’s something that we should give to them”.
In the Steelers’ first game without QB Kenny Pickett, currently sidelined with an ankle injury, the offense mustered three points in the first half before finally adding a touchdown with under three minutes. They trailed 21-10 coming out of the locker room, and while they were able to make it interesting late, repeated self-inflicted wounds did them in.
“They want to see their team win, and we’re not doing that as of these past two games”, Harris said when asked what his message would be to the fans. “There’s not really much we can tell the fans right now. Just be patient. Nobody hates losing more than us as a team, so we know how you guys feel”.
“We’re still glad you guys are coming to the games”, he added. “We just need to do better, especially at home, providing the fans with a win”.
The Steelers posted their first non-winning home record of the Mike Tomlin era last season when they went 4-4 at Acrisure Stadium, playing only eight home games. They are already 4-4 this season after losing to the two-win Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots four days apart, as mentioned.
Chances are the Steelers fans will only see their team in-stadium one more time this year, on Dec, 23 against the Bengals. They managed to beat them in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago as backup QB Jake Browning made his first career start, but he looked a lot better this past Monday in a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Pittsburgh’s other two home losses came to the San Francisco 49ers and the Jaguars, admittedly two of its hardest games on the schedule. They recorded wins over the Cleveland Browns in Week Two with two defensive touchdowns, against the Baltimore Ravens amidst a series of drops, and last month against the Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans, surviving with last-second defensive stands.
The wins have not come easy inside of Acrisure Stadium, in which they are currently 8-8 all-time through two seasons. Not that any of them have come without some mild cardiac disturbance. But there is one thing everyone seems to agree on: the fans deserve better.
