The old saying goes, “if you play with fire, you’re bound to get burned.”
Well, the Pittsburgh Steelers got burned Sunday in an embarrassing 24-10 loss to the lowly Arizona Cardinals at Acrisure Stadium. Now, they’ll be without their starting quarterback in Kenny Pickett for at least Week 14 on Thursday Night Football against the New England Patriots, and they might be dealing with some injuries down the stretch to key veterans Isaac Seumalo and Elandon Roberts.
Those injuries are made worse by the fact that the Steelers let a very winnable game — one they absolutely should have won — get away. Now, Pittsburgh is 7-5 and without much margin for error down the stretch.
Though they still sit in the No. 5 seed for the AFC playoffs and hold a tiebreaker over the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts (for the moment), things aren’t feeling all that great in the Steel City.
Former NFL defensive back Kerry Rhodes thinks the season is over for the Steelers after the loss Sunday. Appearing on Fox Sports Radio, Rhodes said that while he doesn’t want to go against head coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers have played with fire so much this year and now it seems like it’s catching up to them.
“It is over for the Steelers. I never want to go against my boy Mike Tomlin as well,” Rhodes said Monday on Fox Sports Radio, according to audio via the show’s podcast page. “I’ve known him for a long time, ever since I’ve been in the league, he recruited me coming outta college. So I’ve known him for a while and so I don’t want to say that, but they’ve been playing with fire so much this year and they’ve had some remarkable comeback wins in the fourth quarter and all those things.
“But it just won’t equate to them actually making the playoffs this year.”
Rhodes, who played for the New York Jets from 2005-2009, and the Cardinals from 2010-12, is right that the Steelers have been playing with fire all season long.
They’ve relied on winning ugly games, and doing so in late, dramatic fashion. Granted, it’s worked more often than not as the Steelers sit here at 7-5 on the season. But the Steelers have been decimated with injuries, and though they were relatively healthy heading into the Arizona game, they are a walking M*A*S*H unit again with Pickett down, Roberts and Seumalo dealing with issues, and star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick set to play through a broken hand.
Without Pickett, the Steelers are turning to backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky. The good news: Trubisky has plenty of starting experience with the Steelers. The bad news: that starting experience hasn’t been all that good. That said, the last time he started a game for the Steelers, Trubisky played very well on the road against the Carolina Panthers last season.
There is some hope there, but it’s very concerning for the Steelers to be pinning their playoffs hopes on a quarterback like Trubisky. He has a tendency to turn the football over and put the defense in difficult positions, like he has done a few times this season after coming on in relief of Pickett due to injury.
There are still five games on the schedule. Plenty of time to right the ship and pick up some big wins. But it’s not looking all that great right now for the Steelers.
