The Pittsburgh Steelers have experienced a roller coaster of a season, almost as if they have played three different seasons in one. At one point they were 7-4, before going on a three-game losing streak to even out their record at 7-7. Then, with every remaining game acting like a playoff game, the Steelers won three-straight to secure their spot in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
DB Patrick Peterson joined Rich Walsh on KDKA’s Steelers Pregame Show on Sunday and talked about the team’s fight over the last three weeks of the regular season.
“Our lives [have] been on the line,” Peterson said with a laugh. “And that’s what I love most about this team is when it gets thick, guys really, really show their true character, how much they really love the game and how much they’re willing to do to give back to the players and coaches to get the end result that we’re looking for.”
During the three-game losing streak a month and a half ago, there were countless members of the media and even former Steelers players that were openly criticizing the culture of the team. The trending media narrative was centered on whether the team had lost the “Steeler Way,” or the tradition passed down since the great teams of the 1970s.
WR George Pickens and WR Diontae Johnson had plays of questionable effort on the field during that losing streak which amplified the negative media narratives. The team had also suffered a large amount of attrition up the center of the defense with multiple inside linebackers and multiple safeties being unavailable over that stretch of play.
Between the intangible stuff like the media narratives, and the tangible stuff like the injuries, the Steelers very well could have spiraled out of control, but they turned the season around and qualified for the playoffs.
T.J. Watt credited head coach Mike Tomlin for keeping the team together over that time, and that is just one example of players refuting any speculation of a fracture in the locker room. Peterson’s comments here serve as further proof that the locker room is still very much intact.
Battling through that level of adversity and coming out on the other side with a playoff berth only serves to bolster the locker room. With everything on the line, they battled through.
