At the moment, there isn’t much hope surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers. After being one of the best teams to start the year, the Steelers ended this season with a complete dud. For the past few weeks, they haven’t been good enough in all phases of the game. That was evident again during their final game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Although only the playoffs are left for the Steelers, Cam Heyward still has faith that the Steelers can get things back on track.
“I’m very confident in the group,” Heyward said after the game via the team’s YouTube channel. “As a professional, you work your ass off to be ready week in and week out. There’s belief in the group, and that’s all that matters.”
Of course, Heyward isn’t going to bury the team, but he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind last week. In that instance, Heyward called it like it was, stating that the Steelers had been playing poorly. However, despite the loss, there may be some things that provide a little optimism.
Maybe the most direct reason for Heyward’s continued belief in the Steelers is how their defense looked against the Bengals. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but it seemed like the defense played better compared to the past few weeks. Specifically, the missed tackles and miscommunication didn’t seem to hurt them as much.
That doesn’t mean they were perfect, but the Steelers’ defense got better as the game went on. Part of that is likely because Bengals receiver Tee Higgins left the game with an injury. However, they still managed to hold the Bengals to 19 points. Considering how amazing Joe Burrow has been this year, that’s a positive development.
With their defense looking more like themselves, maybe the Steelers’ chances in the playoffs aren’t hopeless. However, if their offense continues to falter, none of that will matter.
While the Steelers’ defense looked better this week, their offense continued to take steps backwards. Heyward might be confident in his unit, but if the Steelers don’t figure something out on the other side of the ball, that belief won’t matter. You need to score points to win games, and the Steelers seem to be allergic to the end zone.
