Colin Cowherd is singing the tune he often has about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Winning with defense and grit only get you so far. And right now, the Steelers aren’t even managing that. Weighing in on the team’s three-game losing streak, Cowherd offered a bleak picture.
“Offensively, they are incredibly dependent on George Pickens, a wide receiver who is a moody, inconsistent player,” Cowherd said Thursday on FS1’s The Herd. “And you do not want to be dependent on him. Defensively, they’re getting worn down in regressing and they can’t beat Kansas City. That’s now 0-4 against [Patrick] Mahomes. That’s just the facts. So we knew before the season, the final seven or eight games would decide the season.”
Cowherd noted the Steelers are “sound” enough to beat middling-to-bad teams, dispatching the New York Jets and New York Giants like most teams have this season. They’ve failed the biggest test and stretch of the year, falling to the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Chiefs in 11 days. Games that weren’t competitive and cementing the team’s seventh-straight season in which it experienced a three-game skid.
After falling to 10-6, the Steelers’ season is tracking to end up like so many before it. Finish in the 9-10-win range, make the Wild Card, and get bounced on the first weekend.
“The problem with the Steelers is their floor has become their ceiling, their floor is, they’ve never had a losing season with [Mike] Tomlin,” Cowherd outlined. “And their ceiling is, they’ve never had a losing season with Tomlin.”
Pittsburgh is in danger of its playoff drought extending to an eighth season, something the team hasn’t done since the merger. The Steelers’ ability to sustain and avoid bottoming out is something most teams can’t avoid post-franchise quarterback but they’ve struggled to break through being anything more than a playoff contender. It’s created frustration and angst inside the organization, but the results haven’t changed.
Cowherd summed up where the team is.
“They’re offensively limited. Very dependent on a pass rush defensively,” he said. “And they don’t really belong in the upper class of the AFC.”
The last three games have clearly shown they’re not a Tier 1 team. At best, a Tier 2 squad. Their only saving grace is the possibility of facing the Houston Texans in the Wild Card, a similarly skidding team. But if the Steelers can’t beat the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday, they could slip below the No. 5 seed and face the Baltimore Ravens or Buffalo Bills at their place in a test they can’t afford to fail.
