For several years now, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense has been the heart and soul of the team, able to carry the squad along through countless bouts of inconsistency from the offense. However, that started to fade in 2024, when the Steelers lost the final five games of the year, including their Wild Card appearance. Both ESPN’s Mina Kimes and The Athletic’s Robert Mays agreed one position group in particular struggled.
“I think the biggest issue is linebacker… I do think the linebacker group needs to take a step forward for this to be one, an elite unit, and two, to compete in their own division next year,” Kimes said on the Mina Kimes Show Featuring Lenny on Wednesday.
Early in the year, things were going well with this unit, and the Steelers were doing well in their division at the same time. Kimes has been on the record saying the Steelers’ defense has a “Ravens problem“, but this unit actually made some massive plays against Baltimore in their first meeting in 2024, a game the Steelers won 18-16. In that game, Patrick Queen stripped Isaiah Likely, then recovered the fumble. Later in that game, Payton Wilson took the ball away again with an incredible interception.
That was a game the Steelers might not win if not for their linebacker room coming up huge. However, in many ways, the 2024 season was a tale of two different stories for the defense. There were worries when Pittsburgh struggled to stop the run early, even against lowly teams like the New York Giants. Once the home stretch of the season started, everything went downhill.
It wasn’t just the Steelers’ linebackers, but miscommunications were an often occurrence. That’s something Queen himself spoke about last season. Speaking with Kimes, Mays thought the unit was undisciplined.
“It’s just a very undisciplined group,” Mays said. “When you watch them, I think that’s the reason they have a Ravens problem. They’re like a cat chasing a laser pointer, every single time there’s any sort of movement. You go back and watch those Ravens games, and they’re [Ravens] just toying with them [Steelers]… They’re good athletes, they’re explosive athletes, but I think you saw how easy it is to manipulate that group.”
As uninspiring as these comments may be, it’s hard to blame Kimes or Mays in their lines of thinking. The entire defense struggled, but towards the end of last season this unit wasn’t helping against the run, and they weren’t consistent against the pass.
However, there is room for optimism going forward. Patrick Queen is in his second year in the system and sounds motivated. Pittsburgh will likely be getting Payton Wilson in a full-time starting role as he hopes to build off a promising rookie season. Pittsburgh’s also getting Cole Holcomb back after injuries caused him to miss the entire 2024 season.
The Steelers’ linebackers must show more consistency. The Steelers have depth everywhere else on their defense. If the linebackers pull their weight, the ceiling for the defense as a whole is sky-high.
