The three-games-in-11-days stretch for the Pittsburgh Steelers was supposed to tell us quite a bit — hopefully positive — about the 2024 version of the team, one that had been good for much of the season and entered the stretch sitting at 10-3 and looking like a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Things were disastrous in the difficult stretch, though, as the Steelers lost all three games, falling to 10-6 on the season. In the process, the shine has come off the Steelers. The offense has struggled to do much of anything right, and the defense has completely fallen apart, having issues with communication and execution in the process, leading to some ugly blowout losses.
What that difficult stretch told many was that the Steelers are a good team but far from a great team ready to compete with the league’s elite.
That was reflected in the power rankings across the NFL media landscape entering Week 18, too. The Steelers continued to fall from a fringe top-five team to one that is just outside the top 10.
Below are aggregated power rankings from several major outlets.
| Outlet | Rank | +/- |
| CBS Sports/Prisco | 12 | -3 |
| ESPN | 10 | -2 |
| NFL.com/Edholm | 10 | -1 |
| Pro Football Talk/Florio | 11 | -2 |
| The Athletic | 11 | -2 |
| Average Rank | 10.8 | -2.0 |
Fresh off a 29-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day to cap the tough 11-day stretch in ugly fashion, the Steelers have fallen in a number of power rankings.
The biggest drop came in CBS Sports’ power rankings from Pete Prisco. In Prisco’s power rankings, the Steelers fell from No. 9 to No. 12.
“Three straight losses has this team reeling. The good news is they’ve lost to three good teams,” Prisco writes. “But they have to be better this week against the Bengals and in the playoffs.”
The team is reeling a bit, but as Prisco points out, it’s not as if the Steelers dropped a game or two that were winnable and in which they were favorites. They lost three games to three legitimate Super Bowl contenders. The loss to the Ravens stings the most as the Steelers gave up control of the AFC North in the process, and it came against a team they had defeated earlier in the season.
The losses to Philadelphia and Kansas City? Largely expected. Just maybe not in that ugly of a fashion.
Right now, the Steelers are reeling, but they get a shot to right the ship on Saturday night against the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium. Having a mini-bye week to prepare for it coming off the Wednesday Christmas Day game is huge and should have given the Steelers plenty of time to get healthy and regroup.
In ESPN’s power rankings, the Steelers fell two spots to No. 10 but remain inside the top 10. In the power rankings, ESPN took a look at the biggest offseason contract situation to watch. Steelers’ reporter Brooke Pryor obviously highlighted QB Russell Wilson.
“Though Wilson jump-started the Steelers’ passing game when he took over the starting job in Week 7, he has been uncharacteristically turnover-prone (four since Week 15) and inefficient during Pittsburgh’s three-game losing streak,” Pryor writes. “Because the Steelers don’t negotiate contracts during the season, the final two guaranteed games of the season will go a long way to dictating Wilson’s future in Pittsburgh — or elsewhere in the NFL.
“Wilson says he wants to play five to seven more years, but the Steelers aren’t likely to make a long-term commitment to a 36-year-old quarterback.”
For much of the season since taking over in Week 7 as the Steelers’ starting QB, Wilson was a key catalyst for why the offense was humming and the team looked like a legitimate Super Bowl contender. That’s all disappeared in recent weeks as Wilson has turned the ball over in big spots, taken far too many sacks, and hasn’t been able to truly elevate the offense.
Prior to the tough three-game stretch, it seemed like a lock that Wilson would be the Steelers’ QB in 2025 and beyond, but his play in recent weeks, particularly the turnovers, has brought upon some caution there.
It’s still very likely he gets a new contract from the Steelers before hitting free agency, but what that contract will look like is very much up for debate.
In The Athletic’s power rankings compiled by Josh Kendall, the Steelers fell two spots to No. 11, dropping outside of the top 10.
In Kendall’s power rankings, he focused on what’s next for the Steelers, which he believes is finding a QB.
“Pittsburgh’s playoff potential is low. The Steelers have lost three straight and haven’t scored more than 17 points in any of those games. It’s time to start thinking about the future, and Russell Wilson’s comeback story looks stalled,” Kendall writes. “He has had a negative EPA per drop back in each of his last four games. The 36-year-old and Justin Fields were both one-year experiments in Pittsburgh, which doesn’t have a quarterback under contract for the 2025 season.”
The last three games from Wilson and the Steelers’ offense have been ugly. Wilson’s turnovers haven’t helped either. He’s forcing things, trying to do too much to elevate the offense, which isn’t what he was doing earlier in the year when things were rolling.
Granted, not much else around him has gone right. The offensive line has struggled to protect, and the Steelers were without George Pickens for three games. But as a veteran quarterback with his experience, Wilson needs to be better, and it starts in Week 18 against the Bengals, a team he threw for 414 yards against in Week 13.
If he can get back on track and right the Steelers’ ship, they could make some noise in the playoffs. They’ve shown the ability to play high-level football this season. The rough stretch was brutal, but it’s behind them now, and they’re healthy.
