The Pittsburgh Steelers’ disastrous five-game losing streak to end the 2024 season is old news at this point. However, as the offseason progresses, we’re starting to learn more about what went on behind the scenes during that streak. Longtime Pittsburgh stalwart Cam Heyward spoke about one moment in which he lost his cool.
“It was a teammate I kind of went off on,” Heyward said via his Not Just Football podcast on Wednesday. “We were in meetings, and he kept talking, and I said something really disrespectful. And I felt horrible about it. Like ‘why the f— are we even answering this question’… And it hurt me all week. I’m telling my wife, like, ‘I feel horrible about this’.”
Heyward doesn’t mention the teammate. That’s out of respect for the teammate, as there’s no good in leaking any of that information. Heyward prides himself as a leader, and his tone when explaining this story shows how much this moment weighed on him.
Cam Heyward has his reasons for frustration. He’s been with the Steelers for a long time, meaning he’s experienced each of their past six postseason losses in a row. The 2024 season was especially frustrating because it felt like the Steelers were evolving into Super Bowl contention for once. Going from 10-3 to 10-7 with a wild card exit must have been extremely disappointing inside the locker room.
Some of those issues were present on Cam Heyward’s defense. Late in the year, he complained about lapses in communication on that side of the ball. Unfortunately, things never got fixed from that point on. The Steelers were dismantled in the postseason by the Baltimore Ravens in one of the worst defensive performances we’ve seen from the team during Heyward’s time here.
The frustration Cam Heyward felt was a shared one, and there’s a decent chance there were more flare-ups that we haven’t heard of. However, those will happen in any NFL locker room. Pittsburgh has strong leadership, and Heyward is a part of that. He even felt so bad about lashing out that he wanted to make a peace offering.
“I felt bad about, in front of my teammates and my coaches, doing that,” Heyward said. “And so, I ended up buying a bottle of wine. Trying to have a peace offering ’cause I felt horrible about it.”
Cam Heyward is one of the better humans in the NFL, and his reaction to the situation shows it. Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Pittsburgh needs Heyward to repeat his impressive performance from 2024. While they’ll likely address the interior of the defensive line at some point this offseason, there’s not a ton of depth aside from Heyward right now. Heading into the second season of his three-year deal, Pittsburgh hopes Heyward can continue to impress.
