If you tuned into the Super Bowl LIX beatdown that the Philadelphia Eagles handed to the Kansas City Chiefs, you probably thought to yourself at some point in the first half, “This sure feels familiar.” I know I did, and it turns out former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was thinking the same thing.
“Man, this feels like a Steelers offense in terms of production,” Roethlisberger said of watching the Chiefs struggle offensively throughout the first half of the Super Bowl via his Footbahlin podcast. “…They couldn’t get a first down. They couldn’t sustain drives. They didn’t even get past midfield until halfway through the third or into the third.”
The Chiefs’ first half of the Super Bowl resembled the Steelers’ first half of their Week 15 game in Philadelphia. In the second half of that game, the Steelers only possessed the ball for 11 plays and 5:50 out of a possible 30 minutes. It was a historically bad time of possession game for Pittsburgh.
Nothing they did seemed to work. Najee Harris had 14 yards on six carries, and Jaylen Warren only had 12 yards on four carries. Their leading receiver was Calvin Austin III with 65 yards on five receptions, and Pat Freiermuth was next with just 22 yards.
Pittsburgh was an abysmal 3-for-10 on third down against the Eagles compared to the Chiefs’ 3-for-11 in the Super Bowl.
The crazy part is that the Chiefs beat down the Steelers pretty well on Christmas day, with a final score of 29-10. That was despite the Chiefs going 3-for-10 on third down. The turnover battle decided that game, with the Steelers losing two turnovers to none.
If you boil it down to philosophy, the Steelers are pretty similar to the Eagles in many ways. They aren’t as aggressive in their decision-making, but they both like to run the ball, leverage quarterback mobility, and control the clock on offense. They both want to get pressure without blitzing and suffocate teams on the back end with their defense. The Eagles make that philosophy look dominant and viable, while the Steelers make it look outdated.
The Eagles handled both the Steelers and the Chiefs pretty well, but there are levels to this, and it makes the Steelers feel even further away from competing.
