The Pittsburgh Steelers defense looked like one of the best in football to begin the 2024 season, but things fell apart down the stretch, with the defense not playing up to its standard. After allowing 299 rushing yards to the Baltimore Ravens in Pittsburgh’s fifth straight loss to close the season in the Wild Card Round, LB Patrick Queen said the defense took their foot off the pedal and got too comfortable late in the season.
“I think we just got too comfortable. Started chasing too many bands. I think we just let off the pedal,” Queen said via video by Mike DeFabo of The Athletic.
The level of play defensively just wasn’t good enough down the stretch, and the Steelers got bullied on the ground by Baltimore in their playoff loss. The Steelers couldn’t get off the field, getting dominated in time of possession. While fatigue could’ve played a role in some of their struggles, it’s a group that had to be better.
You can’t get comfortable when you don’t accomplish anything. A 10-3 start to the regular season is great, but it doesn’t mean a whole lot of anything at the end of the season. No one is going to care that this Steelers team had a 10-3 start and a two-game lead in the AFC North. They’ll remember the five straight losses to close the season and yet another playoff loss. It’s ridiculous that the defense felt like they could be “too comfortable” to the point where it impacted their play, and then that nothing was done to correct it.
It’s just not the right attitude to have, especially for a Steelers organization that hasn’t won anything lately. With their last playoff win coming in 2016, this is a team that should’ve been hungry to make that happen and keep playing hard down the stretch. That wasn’t the case, and the Steelers season ended the same way far too many have lately.
Even when the Steelers defense was playing well, it’s a group that still had some warts, as we saw in Week 4 against the Colts. It was by no means a perfect unit. There was still room to grow and improve. Instead, they took their foot off the pedal and struggled late in the season. Today, the Ravens showed the Steelers what they should be, and it was just pure domination on the ground from Baltimore. Getting run over by Derrick Henry probably doesn’t feel great, but it happened because the defense got too comfortable and bought into the idea that they were one of the best groups in the league. Now, they’re going home early.
