The Pittsburgh Steelers’ standard is supposed to be competing for Super Bowls every year. With eight years gone by without a playoff victory, the Steelers haven’t come close to living up to that standard. Speaking to the media today, Pat Freiermuth acknowledged that the Steelers understand that they haven’t lived up to the standard and that they’re all working to make sure that it’s established once again.
“We have guys that have been with guys like Troy [Polamalu] and Heath [Miller], I played with Ben [Roethlisberger] for a year, and Cam’s [Heyward] played with those guys and same with T.J. [Watt] and Minkah [Fitzpatrick]. So we understand the standard, we understand the greatness of the past of the Steelers,” Freiermuth said via Steelers Live on Twitter. “We’re trying to fight every we can to get back there. It hasn’t been what it has been of recent, but we’re not gonna lay down and not try.
“Part of being a Pittsburgh Steeler is playing for the city, playing for Super Bowls and winning football, and we gotta get back to that.”
There are grade-school kids who haven’t been alive to witness a Steelers playoff victory. That’s simply unacceptable, and Freiermuth acknowledged as much. The Steelers have fallen flat when they’ve made the playoffs, getting down early and not being able to even really make games competitive. That was the case on Saturday in Pittsburgh’s Wild Card Round loss to the Baltimore Ravens, and losing to a division rival had to sting just a bit more in the locker room.
The Steelers need to find a solution to what’s preventing them from competing for Super Bowls on a yearly basis. Quarterback play has been a problem recently, and their defense, which looked like one of the best in the league early in the season, wilted in the second half of the season, blowing assignments and not forcing enough turnovers, especially during the five-game losing streak to end the season.
It’s nice to hear someone come out and say that the Steelers haven’t lived up to what’s expected of them. Analyst Kyle Brandt said on Sunday that the Steelers shouldn’t just be content with making the playoffs, and they have never been in their history. They’re supposed to be winning in the playoffs as one of the preeminent franchises in the league, but they simply haven’t been doing that. It’s nice to hear that they’re working toward that, but they have to show it on the field.
