For the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 2024 regular season ended not with a bang, but with a sharp silence. Although they’re guaranteed to play in at least one playoff game, they do not look like a serios postseason threat. They had opportunities to reverse their fortunes against the Cincinnati Bengals, but more of the same problems held them back. Analyst Adam Schein seems fed up with any talk praising the Steelers.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers are not a serious team,” Schein said Sunday on CBS Sports’ That Other Pregame Show. “I’m sorry, they’re not a serious team. And I remember the TOPS show right after the Steelers lost in Cleveland, and I said over there, ‘Final six games, they’re gonna go 2-4.’
“Steelers fans went wild on me. They went 2-4 and this team is not very good. They’re not good on offense. They’re not good on defense. The coaching, there are major issues, offensive coordinator, head coach.”
Things might not be as terrible as Schein makes them out to be, but they probably also aren’t much better. Although their defense looked better against the Bengals, before that, they were seriously struggling to close out the year. The Steelers’ offense was dreadful too. On that side of the ball, there’s way more bad than good.
Schein was right to doubt the Steelers down the stretch too. They faced some better competition, and rather than meeting that challenge, they got punched in the mouth. Three of these final four losses were embarrassing, with the Steelers getting blown out. They didn’t do much to prove Schein wrong.
However, the Steelers still have a chance to turn things around. Despite looking awful to end the year, they’re still in the playoffs. Winning a postseason game would do a lot to restore people’s confidence in them. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t look likely right now.
The Steelers’ defense does seem to be getting back on track, but their offense is holding them back in a big way. Nothing looks fluid. If they aren’t hitting chunk plays down the field, they look lost. It just isn’t a recipe for success.
The Steelers did ultimately have a fine regular season, but with the way they looked for most of the year, fine just doesn’t feel good enough. This year feels like more of the same. The Steelers win enough games to sneak into the playoffs, only to get trounced by better competition. Considering the Steelers’ standard, that’s not going to cut it.
