Based on the headline alone, most Pittsburgh Steelers’ fans will disagree with CB Patrick Peterson’s assessment. On his All Things Covered podcast prior to Thursday night’s game, Peterson made it clear good teams don’t lose two in a row. And Pittsburgh better “damn sure” not lose consecutive games to 2-10 teams.
But that’s what’s staring back at the Steelers in the mirror. A Sunday loss to the Arizona Cardinals, a Thursday loss to the New England Patriots. Both at home and in both, Pittsburgh was out-schemed and out-executed. By Peterson’s own logic, the Steelers aren’t a good team. But trying to keep things together for the final four games, Peterson is trying to reckon with this losing streak.
“Like Coach [Mike Tomlin] always talk about during the time we were in Latrobe, two is a pattern,” Peterson said, as tweeted by The Trib’s Chris Adamski. “So we’ve gotta find a way to get out of this funk we’re in. We’re way too good of a team to be losing games like that.”
Pittsburgh may look like a good team on paper but in play, it hasn’t materialized. A fragile team right on the razor’s edge between winning and losing, never building a lead, never scoring many points, and not playing fundamental football. That’s especially been true the last two games where careless mistakes and turnovers have doomed Pittsburgh and played key roles in these upset losses.
Peterson understands the Steelers are running out of time.
“The window is only opened so wide and you have to take advantage of the opportunity that’s at hand,” he said. “Hopefully guys gravitate towards that message.”
Presumably, a message that was shared after the Cardinals’ loss, a wake-up call if there ever was one. But Pittsburgh couldn’t answer the call last night, the first team in NFL history with an above .500 record to lose consecutive games to teams with such poor records like Arizona and New England.
Forging ahead, the Steelers will be on the road against the Indianapolis Colts next Saturday. The Colts have proven that even with injuries, including missing RB Jonathan Taylor for chunks of the year and rookie QB Anthony Richardson for most of it, they’re still 7-5. And if the Colts do what the Steelers can’t, take care of business, they can come close to cementing their playoff spot while putting the nail in the coffin of Pittsburgh’s.
