Although the Pittsburgh Steelers started 2024 hot, they fizzled out when games mattered the most. They lost control of the AFC North and failed to win a playoff game for the eighth season in a row. It was a disappointing end to the year, and many fans are frustrated. Things might look bleak, but Joey Porter Sr. believes the Steelers were close to getting to the Super Bowl in 2024.
“As crazy as it sounds, even this year, it wasn’t that far away,” Porter said Wednesday on The Bill Michaels Show, “It’s plays that separated, it’s a few plays in each game that determines whether you win or lose the game.
“I think when we went on that five-game losing streak, it was a chance in every last one of those games if we do X, Y, Z, don’t start off with a penalty, or don’t do this, that we had a chance to win those games.”
Porter is correct that the Steelers seemed poised to make a deep playoff run last year. At one point, they were 10-3 and in control of their division. Unfortunately, they allowed one loss to spiral into a demoralizing losing streak. By the end of the season, the Steelers looked like a completely different team than they were for most of the year.
While the Steelers got crushed in most of those games, Porter isn’t wrong to say it was just a few bad plays that hurt them. In their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Steelers looked poised to make a comeback, but a bad bounce after a toss to Najee Harris killed their chances. The story was similar against the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. Turnovers doomed the Steelers.
If those plays were cleaned up, the Steelers could have reversed their bad luck. Maybe winning even one of those games would’ve given them more confidence going into the postseason.
However, Porter might be a little optimistic saying the Steelers were close to being a Super Bowl-caliber team. Their offense wasn’t consistent, and their defense fell apart at the worst time. A few plays might have been a difference in the regular season, but in the playoffs, things were a little uglier.
Perhaps the season will serve as a lesson to the Steelers, and they’ll be more competitive in 2025. At one point in 2024, people thought they were actual contenders. A few moves this offseason could get them back to that status. It feels like a longshot, but crazier things have happened.
