Three games in 11 days, three ugly losses for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After vibes were sky-high coming off a Week 14 win over the Cleveland Browns to get to 10-3 on the season, the Steelers now sit at 10-6 and look like a far cry from the Super Bowl-contending team they appeared to be earlier in the season.
On Christmas Day in a 29-10 loss at Acrisure Stadium to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Steelers were unable to make some big plays with the ball on the ground. They also couldn’t get necessary stops in the second half due to communication issues defensively, resulting in an embarrassing loss.
That has team captain and standout defensive end Cameron Heyward very frustrated. Speaking to reporters after the game, Heyward said the Steelers are squandering their opportunities defensively and that things aren’t translating from meetings to practice field to in-game.
“The last three weeks we’ve played like shit. Simple as that. I own that, every player’s got own that in here,” Heyward said, according to video via KDKA. “Man, just can’t squander opportunities, whether it’s turnovers, whether it’s getting off the field, whether it’s scoring touchdowns. It’s a multitude of things and it has reared its big head. But, my confidence is never gonna lack in the group. It’s just, from an execution standpoint that is just dumbfounding.
“We have to get it done on those plays. We sit up in meetings, we take it out to the [practice] field. That means nothing if you don’t do it in the game.”
Well, they certainly have played very poorly, there’s no sugar-coating that.
In the difficult three-game stretch across 11 days, the Steelers have been outplayed, outcoached, out-everything you want to name. They’ve been bad. The last three games, they’ve also had plenty of opportunities but been unable to make that game-swinging play, especially in the last two games against the Baltimore Ravens and Chiefs where multiple fumbles occurred, and the Steelers couldn’t jump on the ball.
That’s not all that Heyward is talking about either. It’s about executing in a 3rd-and-long situation, playing situationally sound, communicating well, all of it. The Steelers have been a mess at it the last three weeks. They might be putting the right work in during the week, like wide receiver Calvin Austin III stated after the loss, but that work and preparation isn’t translating to the game, and it’s a real problem.
How that gets corrected is unclear. But right now, the Steelers are coming out flat time and time again and are failing to execute when it matters most. That is a major change from the things they were doing earlier in the season while stacking wins.
Time to regroup on this nice mini-bye week and get prepared for the Bengals. This thing has to get turned around in a hurry.
