The Pittsburgh Steelers were completely embarrassed on their home field yesterday in a 24-10 loss to the previously 2-10 Arizona Cardinals. It was an awful game in all phases for the Steelers, and it’s led to a lot of questions about whether the Steelers are actually a good team at 7-5. One person who doesn’t think they’re very good is former NFL head coach Rex Ryan. The ESPN NFL analyst said on Get Up! this morning that the Steelers are “frauds” while acknowledging that they’ll probably still make the playoffs.
“They’re frauds. How do you score 10 points at home against the 30th-ranked defense? That’s ridiculous. Here’s the funny thing, we’re gonna watch them in the playoffs,” Ryan said.
For a team that’s struggled offensively all season but has taken care of business against teams it should, there was some level of respect for the Steelers and how they were able to keep winning. But losing to a Cardinals team that isn’t good, coupled with how fluky some of its wins have been this season, makes it fair to assume that this team isn’t actually very good.
But the Steelers are still 7-5, and they have a very winnable game coming up against the New England Patriots on Thursday. They’re still in the playoff picture, and Ryan said they’ll probably make the playoff field. While the injury to QB Kenny Pickett complicates things, there’s still a shot the Steelers can make it given their upcoming schedule and the play of their defense, which has generally been solid this year, even if it was rough at times yesterday.
The Steelers have to move on from the loss. It can’t become the point in the season where they really end up getting exposed, like the loss to Washington was in 2020 that ended Pittsburgh’s unbeaten season. The Steelers weren’t the same team after that loss, and they can’t afford to spiral now after unexpectedly losing to Arizona and really getting outplayed by an inferior team.
It’s honestly a good thing that the Steelers have a short week this week, so they can wipe this game as soon as possible and move onto New England. That’s a game that will really determine what this Steelers team is. If they struggle against the 2-10 Patriots with an offense that’s worse than Pittsburgh’s, then that will be quite telling about this team, even with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback. The Steelers need to put away New England, and if they struggle with them, then they really don’t deserve to be a playoff team, and it might be an uphill climb to get there at that point.
It’s fair by Ryan to call the Steelers frauds after their ugly performance Sunday, and we’ll see if they can rebound against New England. If they can’t, the fraud sentiment is going to be much more widespread.
