Despite being 10-3 at one point, the Pittsburgh Steelers limped to the finish line this season. They lost their last five games, including their playoff game in embarrassing fashion. The Steelers had their fair share of doubters this year, and they proved all of those people right with their performance down the stretch. Former NFL quarterback Cam Newton was one of those people skeptical of the Steelers, and it looks like he’s taking a victory lap now.
“Watching the Ravens and Steelers game, Pittsburgh almost gave Baltimore 14 points before they even made a meaningful chunk play,” Newton said Thursday on his podcast, 4th and 1. “You can’t do that in the playoffs. Time is ticking.
“For everybody who’s still in the game, you see Denver and Buffalo, they started fast, but they kind of fizzled off. It’s almost like Buffalo took them in the deep and sank them. It was a great display of football over the weekend, but even for Pittsburgh, it was one of those situations, it was like they was frauds all along. It was just a matter of time.”
Based on how the Steelers looked over the last month of the season, it’s tough to disagree with Newton. Throughout the season, he preached that the Steelers only looked as good as they did because they were playing less competitive teams. Ultimately, that seems like the truth.
That’s not to say the Steelers were a bad team during the entire season. They did beat some very good teams, including the Washington Commanders and Baltimore Ravens, who are still in the playoffs. However, they also beat up on some worse teams, like the New York Jets, New York Giants, and Las Vegas Raiders.
It’s not the Steelers’ fault that they played some bad teams. All they can do is play whoever is in front of them. Still, when the time came for them to play some tougher competition, they totally wilted. The Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, and Kansas City Chiefs absolutely crushed them.
Then, in the playoffs, the Ravens proved that wasn’t a fluke by throttling the Steelers a second time. Newton is correct that it felt like the Steelers had already lost when the Ravens went up 14-0. They looked asleep at the wheel in the biggest game of their season.
The Steelers just looked lost to end the year. They became the team Newton believed they were. Their offense couldn’t seem to ever get going, and their defense became a liability. It was ugly on all levels for the Steelers. They had an opportunity to prove Newton wrong, but instead, they looked like they didn’t even belong in the postseason.
