As if the four-day stretch at Acrisure Stadium for the Pittsburgh Steelers wasn’t bad enough, losing on Sunday to the 2-10 Arizona Cardinals and then on Thursday night to the 2-10 New England Patriots, it gets worse.
The Steelers, with the 21-18 loss to the Patriots Thursday night, made NFL history by becoming the first team in NFL history to lose back-to-back games to teams that were at least eight games under .500 coming into the matchup.
Yikes.
That’s about all you can say. That’s a rather damning stat.
The two-game stretch against the Cardinals and Patriots was supposed to be a real opportunity for the Steelers, taking on two of the worst teams in the NFL so far this season. Instead, it ended up being missed opportunities and potential season-defining losses.
And now, the Steelers are on the outside of the playoffs looking in, and they might never get back inside the picture as the schedule gets even more difficult down the stretch.
For head coach Mike Tomlin, it’s back to work and get ready for the next opportunity, that being against the Indianapolis Colts.
“We get ready for our next opportunity next week. That’s what we always do. Obviously, this stings. But we’ll be back,” Tomlin said after the loss, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “…Because this is what we do. This is who we are.”
Right now, what the Steelers are is a bad team, one that made some dubious NFL history. It was supposed to be a bounce back week after seemingly hitting rock bottom Sunday against the Cardinals. But then, the Steelers kept digging Thursday night, going below rock bottom with the loss to the Patriots in ugly fashion.
Things feel rather bleak right now for the Steelers. It doesn’t get any easier moving forward, and the Steelers are really in a bad spot. How they respond will be rather telling coming off of a mini-bye between Week 14 and Week 15.
