For most of this season, the Pittsburgh Steelers flirted with potentially being Super Bowl contenders. At their best, they looked like one of the best teams in the AFC. However, the past few weeks have revealed more of the cracks in their armor. The Steelers followed up an ugly loss to the Philadelphia Eagles with an even uglier loss to the Balitmore Ravens. Former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel believes the Steelers have shown what kind of team they really are now.
“The shine is definitely off,” Daniel said Monday on FS1’s The Facility. “Their first 10 games, they’re 8-2, their last five, they’re 3-2. I think this is a good team, not a great team. I thought this potentially could be a great team based on the defense. The defense has been a little leaky.
“Russell Wilson, two turnovers. Huge parts in the game you cannot turn the football over when you want to win a divisional game. I don’t think all the shine’s off of them because they’re still gonna make the playoffs, but I don’t know how they’re going to respond to this.”
Daniel isn’t wrong. Even when the Steelers struggled earlier in the year, their defense didn’t look this bad. That unit has been their backbone for most of this season, but over the past few weeks, they haven’t been as reliable. Missed tackles and miscommunication in particular have been huge issues. Those kinds of mistakes shouldn’t plague a real contender at this point in the season.
All of the blame shouldn’t be placed on their defense, either. The Steelers’ offense has looked terrible without George Pickens. They’ve actually had some moments where they look functional, but then turnovers have eliminated any of their progress. For the Steelers’ offense, every two steps forward comes with five steps back.
That doesn’t mean the Steelers are as bad as they’ve looked recently. They’re still a playoff team, and if they eliminate some of those mistakes, they could get back on track. They could even still win the AFC North. With two games left in the regular season, the Steelers can prove they can be a great team.
Unfortunately, the Steelers don’t have a ton of time this week to iron out some of their wrinkles. With only a few days of rest before they face the Kansas City Chiefs, the Steelers aren’t afforded a significant amount of time to grieve their loss to the Ravens.
Perhaps these two losses have lit fire under them, though. If the Steelers come out and beat the Chiefs, the narrative surrounding them might change. That would certainly send a powerful statement about the potential they have. However, until that actually happens, they’re only as good as their record says they are.
