It’s hard to overlook just how awful the last two games have been for the Pittsburgh Steelers on the North Shore.
Just how bad? In the two losses to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots, the Steelers made NFL history — not the good kind, either — becoming the first team over .500 to lose to teams eight games under .500 in consecutive games.
Not great!
Steelers’ running back Najee Harris thinks the Steelers are still headed in the right direction as a team though, even after the two embarrassing, frustrating losses.
No, seriously.
“I think that we’re still going in the right direction. It’s hard to say that now after two past two games, but just as a team, just gotta ignore all the distractions. Just worry about the next game,” Harris said to reporters after the loss, according to video via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on YouTube.
Yeah, it’s pretty hard to say that after the last two games.
Harris is trying to be a leader and remain as positive as he can, but sometimes you have to call it like it is.
The Steelers are doing anything but moving in the right direction. They are a train running off the rails. They are a multi-car pileup. Use whatever analogy you want. It fits the Steelers currently.
Sure, things looked good after the firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada in late November. The Steelers’ offense responded with a 421-yard day against the Cincinnati Bengals in a 16-10 win. Since then, it’s been a lot of ugly football and quite a bit of misery for the Steelers — and the fan base.
The Steelers couldn’t do anything right on either side of the football in the 24-10 loss to the Cardinals. Sure, the run game had 130 yards, and the passing game looked good to open the game. But still, the Steelers scored 10 points against the worst defense in football. Ten points! Granted, the Steelers lost quarterback Kenny Pickett for the game in the second quarter, but that doesn’t excuse the 10 points.
Then, Thursday night, the Steelers allowed 21 first-half points to Bailey Zappe and the Patriots’ offense. That same offense had scored 13 points…in the last three games combined!
Pittsburgh isn’t going in the right direction, period, regardless of how much sugarcoating and positivity Harris tries to spin as the leader of the team, measuring his words carefully. There are now nine days to sit and stew on this. The Indianapolis Colts are up next Saturday on the road.
Maybe getting away from home will be a good reset for the Steelers. Or maybe not.
