A little weird to pick you up on this blue, day-after Christmas holiday. Actually, knowing the stats I’m about to outline, it’s probably not going to make you feel any better.
– Expanding on this for a separate article this morning but the Steelers have lost three-straight games by double digits for the first time since 1988. That’s the only other post-merger instance it’s occurred. Really twisting the knife of an ugly losing-streak.
– This is the seventh-straight season Pittsburgh has suffered a three-game losing streak during some portion of the season.
– In four starts against the Steelers, including the playoffs, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has thrown only 30 incompletions. He’s thrown for 17 touchdowns.
– Thanks to garbage-time stat padding, the Steelers finished the game with 202 rushing yards. It marks the first time Pittsburgh has lost a game in which it rushed for 200 yards since 1998 when it fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 21-3. The Steelers ran for 205 yards that day, led by Jerome Bettis’ 139 on the ground. Twice, Pittsburgh lost that season despite rushing for at least 200 yards, a 25-20 defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals the other instance.
These are the only three times it’s occurred to Pittsburgh since 1984. It’s just the 18th instance in franchise history.
It’s the first time an NFL team has rushed for 200 yards and lost by more than one possession since the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15 of last season, falling to the San Francisco 49ers, 45-29.
– QB Russell Wilson was sacked five times, the most he’s been dropped in a game this season.
– The Steelers have been sacked 45 times this season, the most in a single year since 2009 when they were taken down 50 times. The record is 66, set in 1966.
– Wilson rushed for 55 yards, his most in a game since rushing for 56 in Week 2 last season. That also came in a loss. In fact, he’s 0-5 the last three years when rushing for at least 40 yards.
– Since the Steelers’ Week 9 bye, opposing offenses are 23-of-33 in the red zone scoring touchdowns. That’s 69.7 percent.
– Excluding one game where he missed most of it due to an eye injury, this is the fourth time in 2024 WR Van Jefferson went the entire game without a catch.
– In his first seven starts prior to Pittsburgh’s three-game losing streak, Russell Wilson turned the ball over just five times. During the three-game skid, he’s turned it over four times.
– Across the Steelers’ first 13 games, they were plus-17 in turnover differential, 28 takeaways to 11 giveaways. Over the last three games, they’re minus-2, three takeaways to five giveaways.
– Entering the rest of the weekend, Cordarrelle Patterson ranks last in the NFL in kick-return average among those with at least 10 attempts. He’s sitting at 21.8 yards per return. Among those with 10-plus returns, their average is 27.8 yards, making Patterson exactly six yards worse.
If Patterson’s average doesn’t improve, it’ll be the worst figure of a Steeler with double-digit kick returns since RB Kerrith Whyte Jr.’s 18.9-yard mark on 14 returns in 2019.
– With his lone made field goal Wednesday, Chris Boswell hit No. 40 for the season. He’s the fourth kicker in NFL history to hit at least that many in one year joining Neil Rackers in 2005, David Akers in 2011, and Daniel Carlson in 2021. Rackers and Carlson hit 40 while Akers hit 44. Boswell’s hopes of tying or setting the record are greatly reduced but he will have the second-most field goals with at least one make against the Bengals.
– Pittsburgh’s offense has yet to score a first-drive touchdown all season. In fact, it’s gone 18 games without one. And the Steelers haven’t scored points on their opening possession since their Week 11 game against the Baltimore Ravens. Since, they have gone missed field goal, interception, punt, punt, punt, and punt.
– A little specific but to close things out. The Chiefs became only the third team in NFL history to allow 200-plus yards rushing, rush for under 70 yards themselves, and rack up at least 90 penalty yards in a victory. They join the 1984 Dallas Cowboys and 1962 Denver Broncos as the only two others to do it. Again, big asterisk knowing the Chiefs let the Steelers run late but still, the stat is the stat.
