The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers hit the field for a game, things didn’t go very well.
Against the Cleveland Browns on a short week on Thursday Night Football, the Steelers dropped an ugly game to their AFC North divisional foe, 24-19.
Prior to that loss, the Steelers were riding high, having won five straight games while looking like legitimate contenders in a tough AFC. Yet now, following the Week 12 loss, there are seemingly more questions than answers regarding the Black and Gold.
The Steelers also experienced a sizable drop in the power rankings across the NFL media landscape, as all that good will built up within the five-game winning streak seemingly disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Below is a chart of aggregate power rankings from several major outlets.
| Outlet | Rank | +/- |
| CBS Sports/Prisco | 9 | -5 |
| ESPN | 7 | -2 |
| NFL.com/Edholm | 8 | -2 |
| Pro Football Talk/Florio | 8 | -4 |
| The Athletic | 8 | -4 |
| Average Rank | 8.0 | -3.4 |
It took just one loss for the Steelers plummet in a handful of power rankings. That’s rather bizarre, but it is a knee-jerk reaction world when it comes to the NFL, and what the Steelers have done lately is lose to what many believe is a bad football team on the road in a game that they should have won.
That takes out the context of a short week, another AFC North matchup just four days after a battle with the Baltimore Ravens, and the blizzard the Steelers found themselves playing in.
So now, sitting at 8-3, the Steelers are more of a fringe top-10 team, rather than a top-five team that they were considered just one week ago.
In CBS Sports’ power rankings from Pete Prisco, the Steelers landed at No. 9 overall, a drop of five spots.
“That was a bad loss on the road at Cleveland for a team pushing for the top seed in the conference. They face a tough division game at Cincinnati this week,” Prisco writes.
Yes, it was a bad loss. Any way you try and slice it, it was bad. But it seems like Prisco put more weight on the Steelers losing to the Browns than he did for other teams that dropped bad games this week. Prisco dropped the Commanders just two spots for losing to the Cowboys and dropped the Texans just one spot for losing to the Titans.
Yet with the Steelers, it’s a five-spot plummet. He even moved the Chargers up one spot above the Steelers despite losing on Monday night to the Baltimore Ravens. Finicky world, these power rankings.
In The Athletic’s power rankings compiled by Josh Kendall, the Steelers fell to No. 8, dropping four spots, the second-largest drop for the Steelers in the Week 13 power rankings.
Despite that, Kendall has the Steelers reaching the AFC Championship Game as their best scenario, which is encouraging.
“Mike Tomlin hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season, so ending that drought is the first order of postseason business. This team has a higher ceiling than that, though,” Kendall writes. “The Steelers defense, better known as T.J. Watt and Friends, is fourth in points allowed (16.9) and top 10 in yards per play allowed (5.2), defensive success rate (60.9 percent) and EPA (9.0 per 100 snaps).
“The offensive limitations (23rd in yards per play, 5.0) put a ceiling on things.”
The Steelers’ defense didn’t have a good showing in Week 12 against the Browns, especially in the fourth quarter, allowing two touchdown drives. Still, the defense held Cleveland to 1-for-10 on third downs, forced three turnovers and largely did its part.
Make no mistake about it though: with a 19-18 lead, the Steelers’ defense couldn’t get off the field. It’s a great unit and the numbers bear that out, but in big spots this season it has come up small more often than not, and that’s concerning.
This team could still certainly go on a run in the playoffs and reach the AFC Championship Game and maybe even a Super Bowl, but the offense needs to get into gear, and everyone needs to be firing on all cylinders at the same time.
In ESPN’s power rankings, the Steelers dropped two spots to No. 7, overtaken by the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings.
“The Steelers’ strength is their defense, as reflected in their FPI ranking. They’re second to the Bills with a plus-1.2 turnover margin per game, and they forced three in their loss to the Browns,” ESPN’s Brooke Pryor writes. “But even with new quarterbacks and a new offensive coordinator, the offense is still too inconsistent to dub the team a legitimate Super Bowl contender. A boom-or-bust group under quarterback Russell Wilson, the Steelers scored twice in the fourth quarter against the Browns, but they went more than seven quarters without a touchdown prior to that. And yet, they still beat the Ravens thanks to kicker Chris Boswell.”
The Steelers’ defense certainly remains the strength, and their offense is boom or bust, but it was working for much of the season until a short week. Again, context matters.
You can’t praise them for winning ugly football games in the past and doing enough offensively to all of a sudden rip the rug out from underneath them after a rough loss on a short week in which some of those issues compounded. It happens. It’s the NFL, after all.
In the NFL.com power rankings from Eric Edholm, the Steelers fell two spots to No. 8, so still firmly a top-10 team in the eyes of Edholm.
“There were obvious signs the Steelers were walking into the ultimate trap last Thursday — and yet, they still succumbed, in Cleveland of all places. The offense has been spotty since the Week 9 bye; Russell Wilson’s brilliance on third down against the Browns was undone by his fumble and the four sacks he took. And for all the correct moves Mike Tomlin has made this season (and over the years), that loss was not his finest,” Edholm writes. “He mishandled the game and clock at the ends of both halves, costing the Steelers valuable time. Throw in a subpar performance from the defense and a missed field-goal try, and we’ve covered just about every box on our trap-game Bingo card.
“The AFC North tour continues with the Bengals next, followed by a rematch with the Browns in Pittsburgh. These two dates will speak volumes about the Steelers’ playoff-run viability — and whether a division crown still remains in reach.”
There were obvious signs that the Thursday night game wouldn’t be easy. It wasn’t a trap game because those don’t exist in the NFL, but it was one that the Steelers could certainly lose. And they did.
They have a chance to regroup this week when they visit the Bengals for more AFC North play and then have a rematch with the Browns in Week 14. Opportunity is there for the Steelers. They have to take advantage of it and shut out the noise this week.
