The Pittsburgh Steelers had their chances to take home a win against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Although they lost by two touchdowns, the game was close for quite a while, and it only went out of their reach after they shot themselves in the foot repeatedly. Steelers insider Mark Kaboly thinks that’s a result of poor coaching, and the Seahawks simply being one step ahead.
“What came across to me, they weren’t physically up to the task,” Kaboly said on his Kaboly + Mack show on Tuesday. “But I think, now this is just game-specific, they looked like they were outcoached. It just felt, had that feeling, the Seahawks were one step ahead of them with everything they were doing.”
Kaboly is right, and you could make this argument for both sides of the ball. Defensively, the Steelers were much worse than anticipated. Many, including Kaboly himself, expected the Steelers to shut down a Seattle run game that struggled in Week 1. Then, Pittsburgh proceeded to allow Kenneth Walker III to run for over eight yards per carry and ice the game on a 19-yard touchdown run on 3rd and goal.
Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin’s defense had no answers. They couldn’t stop the run and gave up several 3rd and long conversions through the air. It was just an ugly performance all-around, including the offensive side of the ball. Aaron Rodgers was lucky to not be intercepted over the middle early in the game. Later, he was intercepted in the end zone thanks to a miscommunication from Calvin Austin III. Arthur Smith’s unit wasn’t any better.
Kaboly thinks the Seahawks’ win is a sign of a trend in Pittsburgh.
“This is permitted, over the course of the season,” Kaboly said. “But your argument is, where’s the history of that over the past 10 years? I mean, have they gotten better? Have they gotten the most out of their talent over the years?”
No team that’s lost six consecutive playoff games can argue they’re getting the most out of their talent. If you want to go back a decade, you can point to times the Killer B’s lost playoff games they absolutely should have won. Like their 45-42 loss to the Jaguars. Or you can think of the Steelers going down 28-0 to the Browns in the first quarter of the Wild Card round and losing at home.
Even last year, things got worse as the season went on. Pittsburgh leaped out to a 10-3 start and had a two-game lead on the Ravens for the division at one point. Then, Tomlin’s team fell apart on both sides of the ball. Pittsburgh never won another game.
While we all expect the team to improve with more chemistry together, is that really a sure thing? It didn’t happen for the Steelers last year. And this team has many more new faces than that one did. Still without a playoff win in nearly a decade, Mike Tomlin’s teams don’t seem to be on the verge of breaking that barrier anytime soon.
